JOHANNESBURG – To counter the perceived threat of terror from Iran and jihadi groups, South Africa’s chief rabbi is setting up a specialist task force.
Chief Rabbi Dr. Warren Goldstein was spurred into creating the group after a bomb attack at a Jewish center in Cape Town last month. An improvised explosive device was thrown at the Samson Community Center but failed to detonate. The center is home to several South African Jewish organizations.
The “Counter-Terror Task Force” will make recommendations to protect places of worship, schools and community centers.
“South Africa’s Jewish community, like other Jewish communities globally, faces heightened risk of terror attacks,” Goldstein told Fox News Digital. “The Iranian regime is the world’s chief exponent of state-sponsored terror, and have made it their strategy to target Jewish communities worldwide. With this in mind, the findings of the task force will be applied not just in South Africa, but globally.”
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He added, “In addition, Africa has over the past decade become a hub for global jihadi terror, with the threat indices dramatically increasing as groups such as al-Shabab, Boko Haram and ISIS operate throughout the continent.”
The task force comprises global authorities on terror: Admiral Mike Hewitt, former deputy director for Global Operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the U.S. Defense Department, Dean Haydon, former senior national coordinator for counter-terrorism in the United Kingdom, Major General David Tsur, former commander of the counter-terrorism unit in the Israeli Police, and Andre Pienaar, co-founder of South Africa’s Directorate of Special Operations, also known as the Scorpions.
The chief rabbi added, “They will be marshalling additional resources and personnel as and when needed.”
Goldstein said the force’s immediate objective “is to secure the South African Jewish community against attacks. The broader objective is to better ensure the safety of all South Africans, and citizens of countries around the world.”
He continued, “Across Africa, especially, it is Christians far more than Jews who suffer the consequences of Jihadist terror. Each year, Jihadists murder thousands of Christians for their faith.”
Goldstein told Fox News Digital that the South African government’s stance at the International Court of Justice, where it has accused Israel of genocide over the war in Gaza, has “stigmatized Jews not only within the country but globally.”
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However, Goldstein added that the views of the government here are not necessarily the views of the people. “Against that it must be understood that the South African public generally holds moderate and pragmatic views on Israel, and levels of domestic antisemitism remain very low by Western standards.”
“There were 128 recorded antisemitic incidents in 2024 in South Africa,” Professor Karen Milner, national chair of the Jewish Board of Deputies in South Africa, told Fox News Digital. “This makes it the second-highest number of incidents since record keeping began in 1998. The highest number of incidents was recorded in 2023 (182). However, 63% of these occurred immediately following the events of October 7 (the Hamas attack in Israel).
“The early months of 2024 were impacted greatly by the wave of antisemitism that immediately followed the October 7 attacks in Israel,” Milner continued. “It is worth noting that the majority of the antisemitic incidents recorded in 2024 were verbal assaults, targeted hate mail, or antagonism, with very few incidents graduating into physical assault.”
Milner concluded, adding, “with that said, antisemitism remains much lower than other comparable countries, and South Africa remains a safe space in which Jews can identify as Jewish and practice their religion in relative security.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the South African Justice and Police Departments but did not receive a response.
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