South African Jewish Groups Compare Israel-Hamas Conflict To Holocaust

Jewish groups in South Africa have likened the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinian organization Hamas to the Holocaust.

In a press briefing held on Monday, the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) and the South African Zionist Federation (SAZF) said the South African Jewish community stands with Israel. The organizations also called the Hamas attack "barbaric."

"The terrorist group Hamas' unprovoked and barbaric attack on innocent Israeli civilians include the massacre of teenagers at a music festival, the abduction of children and elderly women and the killing of helpless babies on the streets," they said, as reported by News24. "This is reminiscent of the Holocaust."

"It is pure evil, and there are no shades of grey," they added.

Hamas launched more than 5,000 rockets into Israel on Oct. 7, killing at least 700 people. Israel responded with airstrikes that killed over 400 people in Palestine on Sunday.

SAJBD national chair Karen Milner said that while "it seems like a conflict happening very far away" from South Africa, the Jewish community remains strongly connected on a global level.

"The Jewish community in SA has religious, historical and cultural — and most importantly in this context — very close family connections to Jews in Israel. What happened ... the barbarism, the extent of the attack, has shaken our community to its core," Milner said, as per Business Day.

"If you think of the number of people who are affected by these attacks in the context of the entire Israeli community and the global Jewish community, you realize that the numbers are a significant proportion of Jews in Israel," she added.

The national chair further noted that every South African Jew personally knows at least one Israeli affected by Hamas' attack.

"Everyone of us knows someone or knows of someone who has been killed or is missing in Israel ... there are two people I know personally. The one is a friend of my daughter, he's 21 years old and he was at the concert," she said.

In a video posted on social platform X, formerly Twitter, one can see Hamas members entering a music festival using parachutes and then kidnapping civilians.

SAZF national chair Rowan Polovin, on the other hand, said that although South Africa has the capability to act as a mediator, it "takes the anti-Israel line."

South Africa, has already called for the immediate cessation of violence after Hamas' recent attack against Israel.

However, South Africa's ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), did mention that it stands with "the people of occupied Palestine as it is clear that the degenerating security situation is directly linked to the unlawful Israeli occupation."