Pro-Palestinian activists shocked after assault in Fish Hoek Photo: Ross Jansen
Cape Town - The Palestine Solidarity Campaign said they were concerned by the attacks on activists protesting in Cape Town.
This comes after a video of pro-Israeli protesters attacking a man and woman during a solidarity protest in support of Palestine made its rounds on social media.
The assault took place where people who stand against the Israel-Gaza conflict usually protest at the corner of Buller Louw Drive and Ou Kaapse Weg in Sun Valley, Fish Hoek.
The two-minute clip also shows a woman telling a pro-Palestinian female she would be raped by Hamas because she is “beautiful”.
The first shot is of the two men, whose names are now known, holding the pro-Palestinian protester in a choke-hold while a woman standing close by mouths profanities.
One of the men pushes the woman wearing a beige top. The woman video recording the incident shouts and tells the man to not touch a woman.
The assaulted man’s long hair is pulled and at some point he breaks free from the aggressors.
The woman behind the camera then confronts both men and tells them that she has everything on camera.
One of them was wearing a black T-shirt with a golden Star of David logo.
The pro-Palestinian woman shouts: “You are so indoctrinated, you are a maniac, a genocidal maniac. It’s not okay for your wife to tell me I would have been raped.”
The pro-Israeli woman says: “That is what would have happened to her in Gaza, it’s so sad.
“You would have been raped by Hamas, because you’re beautiful. It’s the truth … What do you guys need to be free from? Have you seen the videos?”
The video ends with the pro-Palestine protesters telling their opponents they would go to the police and the pro-Israel picketing.
Police spokesperson Wesley Twigg said the SAPS had no record of a complaint.
Palestine Solidarity Campaign co-ordinator Professor Usuf Chikte said the allegations of an attack on a couple in Sun Valley, Cape Town, last weekend are clearly apparent from the video taken at the scene.
“This is a shocking display of violence and thuggery which we have come to expect from Zionist Israeli supporters against pro-Palestinian supporters. It’s not the first time that acts of violence have been perpetrated against supporters of Palestine.
“By not sanctioning the violent conduct of their fellow supporters of Zionist Israel, political parties such as the Democratic Alliance and the Patriotic Alliance, which are clearly on the side of Israel, are creating an enabling environment for horrific acts of this nature.
“Their silence essentially amounts to condonation. The Palestine Solidarity Campaign takes this attack by Israeli supporters, which appears to have been unprovoked, in a serious light. Sadly, this is not an isolated anti-Palestinian incident. The misogynistic overtones in the video clip are clearly apparent.
“There is also the routine Islamophobia associated with such repulsive attacks.
“Attempts at silencing pro-Palestinian voices engaged in peaceful and unarmed protest against apartheid and genocide is increasing and taking on a dangerous aspect.”
He added that it was clear from the video that the violence inherent in Zionism is being turned outward in South Africa against pro-Palestinian supporters and activist women in particular.
“The threat inherent in the utterance by the Israeli supporter that the women ‘are beautiful’ and ‘would be raped’ by Hamas is a case in point. Earlier this year, a pro-Palestinian woman activist was viciously assaulted by a male participant at a marathon.”
Chikte said there were more incidents reported of attacks on pro-Palestinians.
“This was followed by an attack on another pro-Palestinian woman by a male supporter of Israel in Green Point.
“A further incident was reported in Sea Point by an activist pro-Palestinian woman against a male supporter of Israel at a business in Sea Point. These acts mirror the violence currently being perpetrated against women and children in Palestine.”
mandilakhe.tshwete@inl.co.za
Cape Argus
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