Char­ging Israel with gen­o­cide is elec­tion ploy

Regard­ing South Africa’s unusual gen­o­cide case against Israel (Report, Janu­ary 13), it begs the ques­tion: “why is South Africa doing it?”

Maybe it is to sup­port local pro­Palestinian fac­tions and Muslim groups at home, or to show alle­gi­ance to other Brics coun­tries, espe­cially Rus­sia. Maybe it’s a front for Ira­nian interests. It’s intriguing that inter­na­tional rela­tions min­is­ter Naledi Pandor vis­ited Tehran a mere two weeks after the Hamas attacks.

Nev­er­the­less, I believe that there is a less vis­ible primary driver. An all-import­ant gen­eral elec­tion will take place in South Africa between May and August this year, and the African National Con­gress party is con­cerned that it will receive less than 50 per cent of the vote, with a coali­tion gov­ern­ment pos­sible.

So, as a means of gain­ing increased elect­oral sup­port, it is simply fol­low­ing the old dictum of focus­ing on for­eign affairs when there are ser­i­ous troubles at home.

There is no need to repeat the coun­try’s many cur­rent eco­nomic and social dif­fi­culties, as they have been ably described by David Pill­ing and oth­ers in the FT.

Michael S Nor­wich
New York, NY, US