I made this request to AfricanCrisis a year ago, but I since have all but forgot about it. I am pleased to say that the article is finally available on AfricanCrisis, courtesy of its original author. Special thanks to Jan Lamprecht for making it available.
EXCLUSIVE: From Ha-Aretz 1988 - Alliance of Small Nations - An Israeli Jewish article supporting Apartheid & Afrikaner rule in S.Africa
[Well, what a story we have here. Back in June 2007, I put out a request on AfricanCrisis on behalf of the Jewish Task Force. This was the request I got:
TorahZionist, a South African Jew from the JTF board, asked me if I could find an article written by Yoel Lerner that supported the old South African government. I tried searching it on Yahoo!, and Google, but to no avail. Could you please help us look for it? Here is the original story and link: URGENT: WANTED: Old Jewish Article supporting Apartheid Govt
Eventually, the request was answered by the original author who wrote it. Yoel Lerner actually contacted me in person a week ago. I was totally amazed. It turns out that Yoel may now be a Right Wing Jew living in Israel, but he actually did live in South Africa earlier in his life during Apartheid and he knew how South Africa worked.
The article was actually written in Hebrew and published in an Israeli publication. Just for us here on AfricanCrisis, Yoel has actually translated into English that portion which was published. His original article was longer, but they only published a shortened version of it. That is the version he has translated. I will ask him if it is worth translating the entire original article. It may be worth it.
Yoel has some very interesting ideas. One of them is the "Alliance of Small Nations". Even Conservative Americans might appreciate Yoel, because he is suggesting, as has another Right Wing Jew in Israel that I know, that Israel should STOP getting money from the USA. Yes, you heard me right. The Right Wing Israeli Jews do NOT want American military aid. So, there could actually be a point where Conservatives (and anti-Zionist's) in the USA might find common ground with the Zionists!! It appears American aid to Israel is a Liberal American and Liberal Jewish idea, and the Right Wing Jews in Israel would prefer to rather TERMINATE THE DEPENDENCY ON THE USA. I know why.
Let me digress and explain what one of my contacts in Israel in their intelligence services told me. America tries to keep a monopoly of high tech weapons. We saw the same in South Africa. We produced the Rooivalk attack helicopter which is much cheaper and yet almost equal in capability to the American Apache helicopter. America railroaded all our sales and killed off our arms industry. America gives aid to Israel as you all know - about US$3 billion worth per annum. What you do NOT KNOW is that the USA also does it with strings attached which some Israelis do not like. For example, they are forced to buy F16's and other American weapons rather than continue on with their own weapons which they feel are better suited to their needs. So while America gives foreign AID, it also dictates various things. I have it on good authority that the very messy recent war in Lebanon was directed on orders from Bush and Rice. That war was a messy, stop, go, stop, go affair and it was not fought the way the Israelis like to fight, and the results were very mediocre, in fact, they were shocking. This was, according to my Israeli sources because America kept telling Israel when to fight and when NOT to fight. The result was a demoralising mess with little positive outcome.
Anyway, Right Wing Jews would like freedom to look after themselves and to fight for their country their way. So Yoel proposed, back in 1988, that ULTIMATELY Israel should break away from the USA. He did not feel that America was an ally that Israel could trust. Now let me point out that: Taiwan, and Chile and South Africa (and Israel), used to be GREAT FRIENDS in those days. I heard on good authority from a friend of mine who went to work for National Intelligence in Pretoria, that the Taiwanese once said they regarded South Africa (under white rule) as a more RELIABLE ALLY than America. And folks, what do you think we whites in Africa think of America as a reliable ally? Well... not much.
A long time back, in the 1960's, Portugal and Spain and France were all very friendly with each other and with South Africa. PW Botha told me this himself. Dr Richard Cummings, in his book, THE PIED PIPER described how the CIA helped to break the Portuguese presence in Africa.
Portugal was manoevred out of Africa first. Then the focus shifted to South Africa and Rhodesia. Little by little, the "small nations" were broken apart, and taken out of the game. Until they fell one by one.
Israel and Taiwan are the only survivors from that time. And Israel is going down next. The plan for Israel has already been devised. Israel will be split, and over a long period of time Israel will probably end up under Arab rule. That is what the US State Dept's long term goal for Israel is.
So, let's see what Yoel wrote then and now. Here is Yoel's email to me last week:-
Dear Jan,
I appreciate your rapid response.
A little bit about me which you might find relevant: twelve of my first 18 years were spent in South Africa, six years in Cape Town as a child and then six "teen" years in Johannesburg (I graduated - or should I say "matriculated" - from Parktown Boys' High in 1957). I have been living in Israel since the summer of 1960. I am a linguist by academic training (I actually remember a little of the Afrikaans I studied many years ago), specializing in ancient Semitic Languages, and have taught in Israeli high schools for some twenty-five years. Since my formal retirement from teaching, I have engaged in translation (English-Hebrew and Hebrew-English).
I have always looked back at my years, especially my adolescent years, in Suid Afrika fondly, and was quite disturbed by the world-wide attack on the country that reached a sort of peak in 1986-8, which was when I sat down and composed a long article on South Africa as I viewed it: I submitted the article to the liberal "Ha-Aretz" daily, and was pleasantly surprised to see about 60% of it - the rest was edited out, but the core parts were retained - appearing on the main op-ed page of the paper. This is undoubtedly the article we are referring to. I shall begin its translation presently, and will get it to you in a few days. It was published (in Hebrew, of course) under the title: "South Africa: Positive Points". About two weeks later, I was contacted by the South African Embassy in Tel-Aviv, who informed me that they had sent my article on to Pretoria and thanked me profusely for writing it.
I was a supporter and personal friend of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, and twice was a candidate for the Knesset on his party ticket.
That's enough about for me - you probably know me now as well as I know myself.
All the best.
Yoel
Then another email from him:-
Hi, Jan
Here it is. As I noted, a little earlier than promised. By a day or two.
Personally, I think that my "moral analysis" (much of which appears in italics) is the most important aspect of the article.
Naturally, much of what is mentioned there is not really relevant today. Yet, if the Afrikaner population of what I still call the Transvaal and perhaps of the Orange Free State as well were determined, I trust my "moral analysis" could be of use.
Anyway, as I said in my last communication, any way I can help, I am more than willing to try.
All the best,
Yoel
In the article below you will see a reference to the "Lavi Project". In Al Venter's new book about How South Africa built and dismantled 6 atom bombs (which is for sale in my book store), he mentions the intense Israeli and South African co-operation on the building of nuclear weapons as well as ballistic missiles. The Lavi project dates from the 1980s. Essentially Israel wanted a fighter suited to its own conditions. It did not want American fighters. Remember what the Israelis did with their own tanks which, for their conditions, are superior to American Abrams tanks? Well the Israelis wanted a jet fighter of their own. It was to be named the Lavi. The Lavi project eventually died away. But here's what many might not know: After the Lavi project died, most of those engineers and scientists from Israel came to the Atlas Aircraft corporation in South Africa where they brought their knowledge and came to work on South African aircraft. As best I recall this was in about 1987. I remember it was mentioned here and I heard a lot about it from friends here. I think the Cheetah, which is the upgraded Mirage which could take on the latest MIGs of that time, was the result of this work. The bottom line is that these top Israeli people did work here in South Africa and DID contribute to our military under white rule.
So, after all that, here is the article which was published in Israel exactly 20 years ago at the height of the anti-Apartheid struggle:-
Twenty years ago, in the summer of 1988, the campaign in Israel and abroad against the apartheid regime in South Africa reached a peak. On a July Thursday the “Ha-Aretz” daily published the following article, written by Yoel Lerner, at the time the chairman of the directorate of the Sanhedrin Institute.
SOUTH AFRICA: POSITIVE POINTS
The twenty-seventh anniversary of the independence and proclamation of the Republic of South Africa, which fell on the 31st of May, was undoubtedly an appropriate opportunity to evaluate the relations between Israel and South Africa. However, it may safely be assumed that no official in the Israeli Foreign Ministry gave more than a fleeting thought to what will one day be recognized as one of the most intriguing dilemmas in the history of Israel.
Since the Israeli Cabinet convened, back in 1987, to consider the entirety of Israel-South Africa relations, the subject has sunk into a kind of diplomatic coma, and at the same time journalistic fervor on the topic has also subsided. World public opinion reached a boiling-point at the time because of the unrest of the black population of South Africa, and parliaments and governments in several Western countries resolved to impose sanctions on Pretoria, while ignoring indications that the imposition of sanctions might actually act as a boomerang. The various limitations eventually imposed by the South African government on attempts by representatives of the world media to reached sensitive regions and events in that country resulted in the rapid subsiding of the violence and released TV crews to search out easier prey elsewhere.
The Israeli Cabinet, under strong pressure to align itself with the policy of the western world, adopted a series of resolutions limiting the extent of commercial relations between the two countries and imposing further limitations in the future. What we have to consider is Israel’s economic situation today and her future economic requirements, in light of the sanctions our government has imposed on South Africa.
An Alliance of Small Nations
The average Israeli has been programmed to live at a level beyond his true capabilities, and this is especially true regarding the State of Israel. Israel has mortgaged many of its future years for the pleasures of the current year. Today Israel is learning that economic dependence leads to political dependence, and that the United States has much to say regarding the solution of Israel’s political problems.
In my opinion, no one will argue that the Republic of South Africa can and should play a key role in the required sharp shift in Israel’s political and economic policies. It is vital that Israel detach itself from the economic embrace of the American grizzly bear, as a step towards the restoration of Israel’s political independence. No true Israeli patriot can accept the brutal pressure being brought to bear by the U.S.A. on the Israeli government over the question of the completion of the “Lavi” [jet fighter] project.
The barely concealed threats voiced by various personalities in the American administration, when Yitzhak Shamir did not appear overly enthusiastic regarding Shultz’s plans for an international conference, suffice to keep sleep from the eyes of the most somnolent Israeli leader.
Israel must strive to bring about an alliance of small nations, who will then be able, collectively, to withstand the pressures of stronger states, both “allies” and “foes”. In order that this alliance be able to stand up to the erosion brought about by external influences, each member of the alliance will be required to play its vital role within a comprehensive framework.
Many factors will have to be taken into consideration when we come to select potential candidates for membership in the proposed alliance. Some of these will be political considerations (states existing in relative political isolation, states whose basic interests do not clash politically with Israel’s national interests), others will be economic in nature (states with the characteristics needed for the development of an advanced technological economy), and there will be still others as well. From every point of view, the Republic of South Africa is most suitable for membership in such an alliance of nations.
While no one will deny the fact that the practical relationship that has developed between white-skinned and black-skinned South Africans, the latter being far more numerous, has been one characterized by exploitation, it has nonetheless lacked any element of brutality per se; the concept of racial separation (apartheid) has not been based on pseudo-scientific racial considerations – as has occurred in the not so very distant past in Europe – but rather as the quite reasonable result of the innate ambition of the white minority to survive, physically and culturally. When a minority senses that its very survival is threatened by the majority, it can choose between four possible reactions: (a) it can surrender in silence, either to slaughter or to assimilation; (b) it can pack its collective belongings and move on elsewhere; (c) it can shut itself up in a ghetto and hope that the outside world ignores its very existence; (d) it can take its fate into its own hands and become the driving force in the country.
The four-pronged choice is not new to us as Jews: we have experienced it on innumerable occasions in the past, and our various communities have preferred any of the first three alternatives on more than one occasion. Only a hundred years ago did a few Jews come to the conclusion that the only viable solution is the fourth alternative and as a result of this conclusion the State of Israel came into being. The Afrikaner population of South Africa reached the very same conclusion faster than we did.
In my estimation, no one reaction of the above-mentioned four possible reactions is any less moral than the others. Just as an individual has a right to stand up and defend himself when he is threatened and when outside assistance is not imminent, so, too, ethnic groups may take all means necessary to ensure the existence of conditions it considers necessary for its survival. From an historical-objective perspective, the very existence of the white minority in the Republic of South Africa was and still is in danger, and it would appear that this fact is in itself moral justification for any reasonable step they have taken or take at present to ensure their survival.
Contrary to the opinions of people who strive to “be good to everyone”, there exists no moral obligation whatever for a state or for an ethnic group within a state to invest its resources in order to improve the conditions of any other group. Such an investment can be justified only after a careful consideration of interests; again, the state or the ethnic group that is called upon to assist others is the entity that must weigh its own national interests. This is what the U.S.A. has done to date and what it does today in deciding how to distribute its “foreign aid” – and there is no earthly reason for the white population of South Africa to act any differently.
Israeli interests
And yet it seems that the picture is not nearly so “black” as various groups, each with its own interests at heart, would have us believe. For years now South Africa has been faced with a serious problem of infiltration over its borders, not on the part of hostile forces, but rather on the part of black-skinned people seeking a better place to live. The “racist” Republic of South Africa is, in fact, the only country on the African continent that provides modern medical treatment for its black population. South African universities are open to black students, though there exists a university of a high academic level intended specifically for the black population. Black-skinned people enjoy South Africa’s beaches, which were previously intended for the white population only, and in the business world racial integration is the rule.
The main stumbling-block is, of course, the question of political rights. The authorities, with their determination to maintain the white-man’s culture, have done all in their power to avoid granting the black population the right to vote. For this purpose they have set up bantustans – homelands – that enjoy formal independence, though economically they are dependent upon their white neighbor, and these homelands make it possible for their black inhabitants to exercise a certain degree of political rights.
The best way for Israel to proceed is clear. Israel’s national interests require a gradual weakening and eventual snapping of our economic relations with the United States, and the setting-up of an alliance of small nations on the basis of mutual political and economic interests. Branding South Africa as a racist state is almost irrelevant when speaking of a country whose friendship for us has been proved time and again ever since the State of Israel was founded. There is no reason whatever for Israel’s collective conscience to disturb us in connection with our continuing and even deepening of our relations with the Republic of South Africa.
Source: Yoel Lerner
http://www.africancrisis.co.za/Article.php?ID=34487&
Topic: An Israeli article supporting Afrikaner rule in S.Africa (From AfricanCrisis) (Read 688 times)