According to the woman, the Deep South Palestine community had been meeting at the corner of the church for the last seven months, picketing on Fridays in solidarity with the Palestinian cause. Picture: Ayanda Ndamane / Independent Newspapers
[Edit: The Cape Argus has removed the name of one of the people involved in the confrontation at their request]
Cape Town - The people involved in a brawl outside a church in Fish Hoek have spoken out about the clash between the pro-Israel and pro-Palestine groups.
The incident, which happened on April 20, was recorded on video by several people.
Nadine Bentley’s husband, Richard, and another man are seen holding a man with blond hair in a chokehold. A few seconds later, a woman tries to intervene but is unsuccessful.
On that Saturday, the Israeli group went to stand at the corner of Buller Louw Drive and Ou Kaapse Weg in Sun Valley, Fish Hoek.
When the other group arrived, an altercation took place.
According to the woman, the Deep South Palestine community had been meeting at the corner of the church for the last seven months, picketing on Fridays in solidarity with the Palestinian cause.
“About two months ago, this pro-Israeli group started picketing on Saturdays and we decided to counter that and we started to peacefully come together on that same corner alongside them.
“On the day we were attacked, there were three of us: the man who was assaulted, the woman who was shooting the incident and I.
“I said to Nadine that the hostages in Gaza have likely been bombed or starved to death by the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces), to which she replied that I would have been raped by Hamas if I were in Gaza because of my looks and in response to that, the man who was assaulted spat at her feet and Nadine’s husband pulled him by his hair and beat him up.
“I ran and tried to separate them to protect my friend to no avail, and hence my shouting and screaming at that point.
“Nadine kept repeating that we would have been raped because of how we look. Someone called the police and we made the case of assault.”
Nadine Bentley said she didn’t talk about rape until the end of the fight.
“When there was intimidation we decided to change our times to 9.30am in the morning and on April 20, we got there at 4.30pm.
“The lady and the man with blond hair arrived and they came over to our side and said we are genocidal maniacs, we are murderers and yelling at us.
“I said I would hate to know what Hamas would have done to her on October 7. She went insane.
“The blond man spat at me. A fight happened after that.
“My husband grabbed his long blond hair, and moved him from the road and prying eyes.
“When I said that she would have been raped by Hamas because she is beautiful it was at the very end of the altercation.
“She brought it up. We pray for Israel and Palestine and Hamas for everybody.
“My husband is a good husband, he protected me.”
Police spokesperson, Wesley Twigg, said they were investigating an assault case with no arrests.
mandilakhe.tshwete@inl.co.za