Brooke Goldstein: ANC “complicit in genocide” of black African Christians

The African National Congress’ (ANC’s) collaboration with the IRGC (The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) “is akin to them being complicit in the mass murder and genocide of black Christians throughout Africa through IRGC funded terrorist entities”. That is the charge from Brooke Goldstein, the executive director of the Lawfare Project, who says black African Christians throughout the Middle East were also being slaughtered by Islamist terrorist groups funded by Iran. In this interview with BizNews, She warns: “…it’s dangerous because again, ANC members can be sanctioned, their accounts can be sanctioned. I think that's really where we're going… And so the ANC really has to look long and hard to see what they're doing and at what cost their relationship with the IRGC.” She also warns that millions of dollars of funding from the United States for the University of Cape Town (UCT) is at risk because members of Hamas and Hezbollah have allegedly addressed students on campus. Giving an update on the war in the Middle East, she says: “All of the Iranian regime proxies are still active. They still have weapons. They still have declared war. There's Muslim Brotherhood sleeper cells, Hamas and Hezbollah sleeper cells around the world. They are continuing to threaten world stability and security. I don't think the '12 Day War' is really an accurate description of what's going on here.”.Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here.The auditorium doors will open for BNIC#2 on 10 September 2025 in Hermanus. For more information and tickets, click here..Watch here:.Listen here:.Edited transcript of the interview.Chris Steyn (00:01.394)How have 12 days of war changed the world? We speak to Brooke Goldstein, the executive director of the Lawfare Project. Welcome, Brooke. Brooke (00:13.4)Hi, thank you for having me, Chris. Chris Steyn (00:16.262)That 12 day war, who gained what - and is it really over? Both sides claim victory. What do you say? Brooke (00:24.28)Well, first of all, I say that the 12 Day War is a little bit of a misnomer. This is not a 12 Day War. It didn't start 12 days ago and it's certainly not over. Iran has violated the ceasefire. There's ongoing conflict every day. There's more missiles being aimed at Israeli children coming from Iran or its proxy Hamas in Gaza. There's a danger for us and we do this in the West to see this as these like small little wars that have nothing to do with each other, but really what we've been seeing since the rise of the IRGC and the Iranian regime is a very intentional spread of Islamist terrorism and radical ideology throughout the Middle East. And also it has now come to our shores in North America with the goal of reestablishing the Caliphate and engaging in war against the infidel and this is a global war. This is not just a war between Israel and Iran. This is a war between Western values and democratic ideologies and freedom and good against evil and Islamist radicalism and the Iranian regime which is the number one state sponsor of terrorism in the world. All of the Iranian regime proxies are still active. They still have weapons. They still have declared war. There's Muslim Brotherhood sleeper cells, Hamas and Hezbollah sleeper cells around the world. They are continuing to threaten world stability and security. And so again, I don't think 12 Day War is really an accurate description of what's going on here. Chris Steyn (02:06.194)What about reports that the US airstrikes did not in fact destroy Iran's nuclear capability but only set it back by a few months? Brooke (02:16.526)Well, I trust completely President Trump and the Israeli government when they give us their analysis. I do not trust the journalistic reports that have time and time again proven to be inaccurate. But again, this is war and there's also disinformation campaigns. And we know that in the days prior and in the week before Israel first struckthe Iranian military and nuclear capabilities that we were fed the narrative that Bibi Netanyahu and the Trump administration were at odds and negotiations were about to happen and Bibi's son was about to get married. But lo and behold, that was not true. I do not think the combined force of the US Army, you one of the greatest army in the world, the greatest military power in the world and the Israeli army, I do not think that they've only set back the Iranian regime six months. I just don't find that a credible possibility. The question then is, you know, what has happened? And I don't think we, the public, are going to know for quite some time the exact extent of the damages, but I assure you the Iranian regime, the RGC will not survive this. Iran's nuclear program will not survive this. The number one goal of both the United States and Israel is to demilitarise and denuclearise Iran, which is why these strategic strikes were so targeted, right? They weren't targeting the Iranian people. They were targeting specific capabilities so that Iran no longer becomes a threat to world peace - and under no circumstances will the United States or Israel stop or cease their warfare until those objectives are accomplished. Chris Steyn (04:11.346)Don't you think this could lead to Iran avenging itself in various places in the world with terror attacks? Brooke (04:21.048)You know, to that question I always say, you know, well, what was Iran threatening before? And how credible are its threats now with less capability to carry them out than they were before? Iran was threatening to nuke Israel, was weeks, if not days away from obtaining a nuclear weapon, has repeatedly said it's going to annihilate the Jewish state, has said that, you know, death to America, death to Israel, was actively funding terrorist groups. 1,500 people were slaughtered on October 7th, 2023. Over a thousand Americans have been killed by Iran over the year, if not more. So Iran's threats were credible when it had the capability to carry them out. And now we see a regime that was so desperate that it bombed a US base in Qatar. Qatar and Iran were allies just a week and a half ago. So I see this regime. Really my concern is for the Iranian people first and foremost, because we're dealing with Mullahs here. They're not logical, they're theological, and they would rather burn the place down and murder thousands of Muslims before they release power, their grip on Iran. And so I think that the world has to support the Iranian people in terms of a transition to a freedom-loving country. That's my number one concern. Chris Steyn (05:55.282)What are the chances of a regime change coming out of this? Brooke (06:00.6)Well, the chances of regime change are 100%. The question is what kind of regime are we going to get? And when you leave a power vacuum in the Middle East, one of two things can happen. It can get better or it can get worse. And the chances of either happening again is entirely dependent on the Iranian people. This is not about Israel or the United States or the West coming in and forcing regime change. That's not what's happening here. They're taking away the capability of this government to engage in nuclear warfare. Iran was also planning an attack against Israel where it was going to, they were threatening to have October 7th times 100, a new Flood, attacking and arming all of their proxies on the borders with pick-up trucks that were going to invade the sovereign space of Egypt and Jordan and come through Lebanon on the north while at the same time firing thousands of ballistic missiles. So what is the future around look like? We know what the potentials are, but we'd be silly to start making predictions about the Middle East. It's entirely dependent on the Iranian people. Chris Steyn (07:10.642)As you know, South Africa has a close relationship with Iran. What do you think recent developments could mean for that relationship? Or for South Africa being able to count on Iran's support?.Read more:.BN Briefing: BEE, or BEE; Starlink's 'equity' reprieve; Mulder's 'Gotcha' moment; Springboks.Brooke (07:26.998)I don't know what they're going to count on. Iran is the IRGC, let's call it. We're not talking about the Iranian people. The IRGC is no longer in power. Its banking systems are going to be and are being attacked. If you are a bank that has banked or thinks you're going to continue to bank with a state sponsor of terrorism and with their terrorist proxies, you better think twice because the American government is coming after you. There's the potential for civil lawsuits on behalf of victims of terrorism. There was actually a very important decision by the US Supreme Court which ruled that the victims of terrorism can now recover against entities like the Palestinian Authority Courts are not going to grant immunity anymore for sponsors of terrorist organisations whether they're proxy states or states or just terrorist organisations pretending to be states. I think it's incredibly problematic that we've had even universities in South Africa such as UCT, University of Cape Town. Brooke (08:44.834)I think what's problematic is the fact that you have not just government officials' cooperation with foreign terrorist entities, but apparently you have universities like the University of Cape Town, which has had allegedly members of Hamas and Hezbollah, both US designated terrorist groups, and speak to the students on campuses that could open up the way for a cessation of the funding. University of Cape Town has a lot of, I think it's $600 million of funding from our NIH programs from the United States, which is at risk. And I frankly think, you know, the South African people are sick and tired of their government politicizing the pain of others and entering into conflicts that have nothing to do with the South African people who are more concerned with how they're going to get food on their table, what the economy looks like now, 30% unemployment is disgusting. So what is the ANC doing instead of concentrating on the welfare of its own civilians, making deals with foreign terrorist states? It's both unwise, it's unpatriotic, it's a dereliction of your duty in a democratic state as a government to represent your people. And it's dangerous because again, ANC members can be sanctioned, their accounts can be sanctioned. I think that's really where we're going. Chris Steyn (10:01.426)I was going to ask you that I understand that the Trump administration has been conducting a long investigation into allegations that African National Congress officials were bribed to take Israel to court for genocide. Do you know anything about how that investigation is going? Brooke (10:25.164)I don't know anything other than what's being reported on the media but I'll tell you it's just inevitable. And so the ANC really has to look long and hard to see what they're doing and what cost, at what cost their relationship with the IRGC. It's completely perverting the basic mission of the ANC which was to protect minority rights and now ironically they're dealing with the largest, not only state sponsor of terrorism but an Islamist entity that is against minority rights. I look at the slaughter of black African Christians throughout the Middle East by Islamist terrorist groups that Iran is funding. So you can make the argument, I would say that the ANC collaborating with the IRGC is akin to them being complicit in the mass murder and genocide of black Christians throughout Africa through IRGC funded terrorist entities. Chris Steyn (11:22.706)Do you think this could end up in personal sanctions for some of these African National Congress leaders? Brooke (11:29.71)100% that's a possibility. Chris Steyn (11:31.952)Okay, now please tell us about your work with the End Jew Hatred Movement. Brooke (11:39.406)Sure, so I am the founder of the End Jew Hatred Movement, which is the only Jewish civil rights movement in modern history. We have chapters across the globe, have tens of thousands of activists. And the central mission of the movement is to advocate for the Jewish community as a minority community. In fact, we're the oldest, most persecuted minority community in human historyand to advocate for the equal protection of Jewish communities around the world. And we do this, for example, by mobilising, by protest, but also working with the Lawfare Project, which I'm also the founder and director, filing impactful, groundbreaking civil rights cases on behalf of Jewish communities and courts of law around the world. And actually one of the things that has struck me so much about being here in South Africa are the parallels between the black civil rights struggle and the Jewish civil rights struggle and how Jewish activists were really instrumental in the black anti-Apartheid civil rights movement here. And now fast forward, it's the Jewish people who need the help of the black African Christian Zionists to help us mobilise and to mobilise for us and show real allyship because Jewish communities, and students and professors and businesses are being targeted around the world the same way that black Africans were targeted during the Apartheid movement. We're being boycotted, we're being mistreated, we're being discriminated against and now there's instances of harassment and assaults on college campuses around the world against Jews. So we need allyship and that's what I'm here doing with the End Jew Hatred Movement is building those relationships and the allyship and I have...a lot of hope for the collaboration between the two organisations, between the two movements. Give me one second, please. Give me one second. Chris Steyn (13:38.3)Do you? Brooke (13:55.478)Okay, sorry about that. Chris Steyn (13:57.106)Somebody has just sent me a message to say DIRCO, our International Relations Department, is to remind me that they issued a statement reaching out to South Africans in Iran to ensure that they are registered at the embassy and to keep in contact with the SA embassy in Tehran. However, that they never did that with South African citizens in Israel. Brooke (14:22.848)Sorry, I don't understand exactly. So the embassy. Chris Steyn (14:27.41)Our international relations department asked South Africans in Tehran to get in touch with the embassy there. However, they did not do that for South Africans in Israel. Brooke (14:41.422)So they're not willing to help South Africans in Israel get repatriated back to South Africa during a conflict. Well, that's absolutely disgusting. And another example of how political bias and corruption is against the best interests of the South African citizens. The government even discriminating like this in a time of war, refusing to help repatriate South Africans just because they decided to visit Israel versus Iran. That is discrimination. Again, I really don't think it's in the best interest of anyone in government, ANC or otherwise, or campuses or banks or schools, to continue aiding and abetting terrorist entities. Chris Steyn (15:24.912)You are in South Africa now. Do you think there is a lot of hatred towards Jews outside officialdom? Brooke (15:33.556)Absolutely not. And that's why I see such amazing potential here because you don't have systemic Jew hatred, even though certain people are trying to radicalise and come into your schools and present a narrative that is anti-Jewish and anti-Israel and frankly anti-minority and pro-hate and they're trying to radicalise the population right now and Islamicise the population. That's not what it is. And we have to fight together both as the Jewish minority community and the black community. We have to fight together to prevent the globalization of the Intifada, which a large part of that is to bring over hate education here to this country the same way that they have done that on American college campuses. But I think the South African people are incredible people and don't have even a drop of hatred in their hearts. Obviously everyone has born with the emotion of hatred, but no child is born hating Jews. There is not a culture of anti-Semitism here. That is something that is taught and is indoctrinated and becomes systemic only if we sit here and we do nothing about what we're seeing when radicalization happens, which is why it's so important for the black community, the Jewish community, the Afrikaans community, even the gender-based, the community against gender based violence to all get together and fight together against hatred and hate education and radicalisation. Chris Steyn (17:12.166)Thank you. That was Brooke Goldstein, the Executive Director of the Lawfare Project speaking to BizNews. And I'm Chris Steyn. Thank you, Brooke. Brooke (17:21.336)Thank you for having me, Chris.

Brooke Goldstein: ANC “complicit in genocide” of black African Christians

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