There is no wrongdoing by South Africa’s Members of Parliament who chose to visit Israel/Palestine to observe what they have read or heard over the long decade of conflict between Israel and Palestine, says the writer.
Image: IOL/Independent Newspapers
Joseph Goebbels once said, “Propaganda works best when those who are being manipulated are confident they are acting on their free will.” It does not augur well that there are people who demand that others should be barred from taking trips to Israel for either fact-finding mission, leisure or business.
The hatred against Israel or Jewish people should not undermine our logic and intellect. It is immaterial to demonise or vilify people who want to see with their own eyes the claims made against Israel by its nemesis. Why should we expect people to believe stories they are told by people who have probably never been to the Middle East region?
In any war situation, propaganda is weaponised to help shape the thinking and perception for past, present, and future purposes. It is important to formulate the political thought of people about political events, which may not necessarily be a true account of events. It is for this reason that it becomes important for lawmakers, researchers, journalists, academics, and other opinion makers to embark on fact-finding missions to satisfy themselves with the secondary data that they receive from other sources, impartial or not.
As someone who spent almost a year studying in Israel’s Ben Gurion University of the Negev (BGU), I can detect what is true from what is not. I know when a lie is being perpetuated to fulfil a political goal, especially in South Africa, an important country in Africa. It is for this reason that I applaud everyone who's been to Israel to see for themselves what is going on in that part of the world.
Being in the Middle East region is a life-changing event as it changes how you perceive life in general. Like Africa, it is also riddled with multiple conflicts, but being there instills a love for peace. It makes you honour and respect peace.
There is no wrongdoing by South Africa’s Members of Parliament (MPs) who chose to visit Israel/Palestine to observe what they have read or heard over the long decade of conflict between Israel and Palestine. We should encourage many others to go and witness for themselves if what is being preached by the Israeli nemesis is to be believed or not.
We are living in an age of misinformation that is peddled to advance a particular political cause while neglecting and overlooking the actual accounts of events. One of the mass media theories, known as framing, explains how media can be used to shape how audiences understand and interpret events.
We are continuing to see how media is being used and abused in the Israel-Palestine conflict, which escalates tensions between the two people by identifying the “victim” while isolating the “bad guy”. The role of the media in the war is much bigger than we might think. The media’s role goes further than reporting the news events as they are also entrusted with the role of conflict management and post-conflict reconstruction (nation-building project). They should not be used to inflame and instigate unnecessary tensions in a war situation.
There is a hullabaloo created by Israeli critics on the recent visit of some of the South African MPs to Israel. These individuals would prefer the country to treat these honourable members to be treated like criminals who offended the state by visiting another country. How is that even possible?
It is important to remember that the ANC did not win the last general elections and that the current government is made up of more than 10 political parties with different policies when it comes to the Israel-Palestine impasse and other political and ideological issues. Unlike the ANC, these parties are not fixed on hatred towards Israel.
They hold different perspectives, and we should allow and enable diversity of ideas to thrive as a precondition of democracy. The ANC cannot and does not have powers to tell other parties what political beliefs to uphold, they are independent parties.
It is time for people to realise that the ANC’s hostility towards Israel does not represent all our views in South Africa. It remains the government policy for as long as the ANC is in power, and that will change once they are out of the Union Building, which is a likely possibility soon. We are not empty vessels to be told what to think and what to believe. In a democracy, people are entitled to their political thoughts, beliefs, and opinions. Nothing shall be imposed upon people, it can only happen under the dictatorship setting.
Kenneth Mokgatlhe wa Kgwadi is a political analyst, writer, and journalist. He is completing his MA in African Studies with the Israeli-based Ben Gurion University of the Negev (BGU).
