Ramaphosa lacks the courage of the righteous

In the Joburg council, we are familiar with the keffiyeh, an Arab scarf frequently worn by ANC councillors to show support for Palestinians.

Nothing dramatic about that, especially as the nonreligious garment, which has different names in different countries, is worn by Arab Christians, Muslims, Druze and others in the Middle East. Cultural appropriation is condoned by wokes when it accords with their prejudices.

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However, when President Cyril Ramaphosa and the ANC national executive committee donned keffiyehs for their meeting in Boksburg, days after Hamas committed unspeakable atrocities in Israel, they were being crass. Waving miniature Palestinian flags added to the insult.

Although the scarf may represent broader issues, in this context it was interpreted as showing solidarity with Hamas, whose hands drip with the blood of decapitated babies and bayoneted, pregnant women being raped.

Hamas stands for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya (Islamic Resistance Movement). Its main sponsor is Iran which, at an August meeting in Johannesburg, was invited to join the Brics group of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

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Our new best friends are funders of terror. And Russia shows breathtaking hypocrisy by condemning attacks on civilians in Gaza, as if that’s not what Vlad’s invaders have been doing in Ukraine.

Ramaphosa compounded Saturday’s blunder in a statement pledging solidarity with the Palestinian struggle and likening Israel to apartheid South Africa. At no point did he highlight any distinctions between Hamas and Palestinians in general. Hamas is indeed comprised of Palestinians, but not all Palestinians support Hamas.

The level of support for Hamas among Palestinians varies over time and place. After winning legislative elections in Gaza in 2006, Hamas cracked down brutally on opposition. There is rivalry between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority that governs the West Bank.

ALSO READ: Hamas chief accuses Israel of war crimes in Gaza

Thus, apart from seeking to terrorise Israelis, Hamas’ 7 October atrocities were also an attempt to assert leadership of the Palestinian struggle.

Perhaps chastened by strong reactions, Ramaphosa changed his tune slightly on Monday. In his weekly letter, he decried “images of the killing of civilians in Israel by Hamas just over a week ago” and “the wanton attack on civilians in Israel”. But each such reference contained, within the same sentence, a condemnation of Israel.

This attempt at moral equivalence displays Ramaphosa’s quintessential pusillanimity. This is no time for neutrality. Ramaphosa lacks the courage of the righteous. He has no backbone.

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Entertained as we are by the exploits of our sporting heroes, who have plenty of backbone, we should not be beguiled by what second-century Roman poet Juvenal called bread and circuses.

Wikipedia says the bread and circuses approach seeks “to generate public approval, not by excellence in public service or public policy, but by diversion, distraction, or by satisfying the most immediate or base requirements of a populace, by offering a palliative: for example food (bread) or entertainment (circuses)”.

So we put up with electricity blackouts, water outages, crumbling municipalities, crime and a panoply of troubles as we rally behind the Springboks.

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Unshakeable resilience, such as the Boks showed in beating Les Bleus in a partisan-packed Stade de France, is what we need to overcome SA’s woes. Best keep keffiyehs out of it. Go, Bokke!

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