Key topics
- The Coalition for Good spreads disinformation to vilify Israel and Jews.
- It falsely equates Israel with Apartheid to manipulate public perception.
- Its leaders openly support terror groups and incite anti-Israel sentiment.
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By Nicholas Woode-Smith
The Coalition for Good, an NGO registered in South Africa, poses as a humanitarian movement aiming to eradicate human rights abuses but is in fact a vile hate group dedicated to spreading hate against the state of Israel and Jews by extension. They accomplish this mission through a carefully crafted social media campaign and the spread of blatant disinformation and lies about Israel and Apartheid.
The Coalition’s website repeats the mantra “It’s not complicated” to justify all its claims. Without providing any evidence or even discussing its claim, it asserts that Israel’s conflict with Palestine is “not complicated” and is “just settler colonialism”, followed by “It’s Apartheid!”
The movement does not try to provide any balanced history, facts, or anything to provide an uninformed visitor with real information about the conflict. Because, even with biases, any honest individual has to admit that any conflict is complicated. Saying otherwise is a malicious attempt to push typically young and impressionable social media users into adopting misinformed views. It’s manipulative and should be condemned.
The Coalition claims to stand against all injustices, but only ever mentions the plight of the Palestinians – declaring Apartheid in South Africa and Palestine to be “the ultimate indignity and crime against humanity”.
Apartheid in South Africa was doubtlessly a brutal crime against humanity. Stripping an entire race of its political and civil rights, restricting their freedom of movement, and engaging in violent police repression is, without a doubt, evil. But it is dubious to compare Apartheid to the Ukrainian Holodomor, Chinese Famine, the Rwandan Genocide, the Holocaust, the Cambodian Killing Fields – and the list goes on. We should not rank atrocities. And we should definitely not claim that one is the “ultimate” crime against humanity.
Additionally, it is a lie to claim that Israel practices Apartheid. Israel is the most democratic, multicultural and politically free society in the Middle East. Arab Israelis are not oppressed, and afford all the same rights as Jews, Christians, Druze, Bedouin and the multitudes of different religions, races and ethnicities that call Israel home. Arab Israelis fight in the IDF, serve as judges and politicians, and help create policy as members of Israel’s legislature.
Black people under South Africa’s Apartheid were denied the right to vote and participate in politics, and had their movement strictly controlled as they were forced to live in so-called “homelands”.
Detractors of Israel will cite the separation of Gaza and the West Bank from Israel as proof of it being Apartheid. But under this logic, Malaysia is practicing Apartheid when it forced Singapore to secede. It is unreasonable to demand that Israel cease to exist and replace itself with Palestine. Especially as so many Palestinian political groups include the extermination of Jews as a part of their criteria for a state. So, a two-state solution is often seen as the best option.
Because Gaza and the West Bank are different countries, there is going to be border controls. Especially considering that when security around the West Bank was lighter, it resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1000 Israeli civilians. It is the prerogative of a country to protect its citizens from violence, so the Israeli government had every right in the world to protect its borders from the influx of violent terrorists seeking to kill Jews.
Claims that Israel is committing genocide are also blatant lies. The number of dead is already suspect, as the primary sources are from Hamas, who has a vested interest inflating numbers to condemn Israel. Even if the numbers are accepted, there is no distinction between the deaths of civilians or combatants. Genocide requires intent, and the IDF has made every effort to warn civilians away from combat areas and contain the conflict. Hamas is the one who has used civilians as human shields and placed military installations in hospitals and schools.
It is also quite disingenuous that the Coalition uses imagery and quotes from Nelson Mandela to support its cause. While Mandela was sympathetic to the Palestinians, he was also a supporter of Israel and acknowledged the legitimacy of Zionism as Jewish nationalism. He believed in peace between the two people. An examination of the faces behind the Coalition for Good wills how that its leadership does not agree with Mandela’s desire for peace.
Rev. Munther Isaac has been described as the “high priest of antisemitic Christianity”, and has used his pulpit to spread libel about Israel. He claimed that October 7th was a logical and justified outcome of the creation of Israel, and when commenting about the Nova massacre, where Israeli men and women were brutally tortured, raped and murdered, he lamented that the Nova festival attendants were wealthy, while Gazans were poor.
Former South African foreign minister, Naledi Pandor refused to condemn October 7th during her tenure, and rather congratulated Hamas on its successful invasion and massacre. She met with Iranian leadership, and representatives from Hamas and Hezbollah, openly associating with terrorist leaders who have overtly expressed their desire to exterminate Jews.
Former South African intelligence minister Ronnie Kasrils referred to October 7th as a “towering military accomplishment”.
Reverend Frank Chikane has been vocal about his hatred for Israel, spreading misinformation that Chief Rabbi Dr Warren Goldstein likens to “medieval Christian blood libels”.
Imtiaz Sooliman of Gift of the Givers has used his humanitarian reputation to attend hate rallies alongside supporters of Hamas, Hezbollah and even ISIS. He has accused Zionists, a flimsy way of hiding his contempt for Jews, of controlling the world financial system. It is also suspected that Gift of the Givers has helped channel money to anti-Israel terrorist groups.
Gift of the Givers helped fund and construct hospitals in Gaza that were used to house terrorist bases – including Kazaa Clinic, strategically located 2km away from Kibbutz Nir Oz, one of the hardest hit settlements on October 7th.
The Coalition for Good is far from an innocent, humanitarian organisation. Its leaders openly support terror groups, celebrate the murder of Israelis and Jews, and have no qualms twisting facts to encourage hate. It is imperative that such an organisation is condemned by all decent members of society.
Read also:
- 🔒 The ancient conflicts that shaped today’s Middle East: Marc Champion
- Sarah Gon: How antisemitic libels fuel the war on Jews
- Debunking a libel: Israel is not a colonial-settler project – Sara Gon
*Nicholas Woode-Smith is a political analyst and author.
