Bishop Tutu, accompanied by
the head of the Anglican
Church in Israel, Bishop Samir
Kafity, center, meets the "Rabbi
of The Wall" Yehuda Getz.
ZE'EV CHAFETS
Israel Correspondent
s Israel enters
the 1990s, of-
ficials here are
concerned that
the connection
between Jerusalem and
South Africa may well
become a major irritant in
American-Israeli relations.
This fear grew during the
recent visit of Prime Min-
ister Yitzhak Shamir to
Washington. Shortly before
he arrived, NBC News
broadcast a report that
Israel has been helping
South Africa develop ad-
vanced missile technology.
Shamir denied the report,
but a number of black and
Jewish congressmen warned
the Prime Minister that
such cooperation would bad-
ly damage support for the
Jewish state in Washington.
Israeli officials view the
NBC report, which was bas-
ed on American security
sources, as a deliberate at-
tempt on the part of the
Bush administration to use
South Africa as a means of
pressuring Jerusalem over
the Palestinian issue.
"Bush and his people know
how sensitive we are to
charges of a special relation-
ship with the South
Africans," said a senior
Likud Member of Knesset,
"using it is a cynical way of
holding our hand to the
fire."
Israel's relations with
South Africa have experi-
enced ups and downs over
the years. Until the early
1960s, Jerusalem and
Pretoria maintained full dip-
lomatic ties. At that time,
Israel Treads Lightly
On Topic Of S. Africa
Prime Minister Ben Gurion
reduced relations to the con-
sular level in an effort to
court black African states.
Throughout the 60s, Israel
routinely joined in condem-
nations of South Africa in
the U.N. and other interna-
tional forums.
In 1970, the Israeli For-
eign Ministry offered to do-
nate $10,000 to the
Organization of African
States' fund for the libera-
tion of southern Africa, but
the offer was spurned. Three
years later, in the wake of
the Yom Kippur War, vir-
tually every black African
state broke relations with
Israel. In reaction, in 1974,
Israel restored its ties to
Pretoria to full diplomatic
status.
Since that time, there have
been allegations that Israel
and South Africa have a
special relationship,
although there is dis-
agreement over the exact ex-
tent of Jerusalem's ties with
Pretoria. Foreign Ministry
officials claim that Israel
ranks only 17th in total
trade among South Africa'
trading partners.
Not all experts agree,
however. "I would describe
our relationship with South
Africa as extensive," says
Naomi Chazan, who chairs
the Department of African
Studies at Jerusalem's
Hebrew University. "I am
Jerusalem is
concerned that
its relationship
with Pretoria is
upsetting
Washington.
not certain, however, that
they are more extensive
than a lot of other coun-
tries."
What concerns Chazan
and many other observers is
the military relationship
between Jerusalem and
Pretoria.
"For many years people
looked at arms sales," she
says, "but the real action
has been in research and de-
velopment." Such coopera-
tion has led to persistent
rumors that Israel has been
engaged in helping South
Africa acquire non-
conventional arms.
It is this suspicion that has
fueled much of the criticism
of Israel in the U.S. In Mar-
ch 1987, in reaction to a
Congressional report, the
Israeli government an-
nounced that it would no
longer sign new military
contracts with South Africa,
although it maintained the
right to fulfill existing
agreements. The following
September, the government
declared a list of partial
sanctions against South
Africa that more or less con-
formed to the policy of the
European community.
Officials maintain that
these restrictions are
scrupulously observed. "We
are only working on old con-
tracts," says Eitan Haber,
spokesman of the Ministry of
Defense. "And we are super
sensitive about not transfer-
ring American military
technology. The best proof is
common sense; it simply
isn't worth it to us to risk
U.S. aid for something like
this."
Many of the present
Israeli-South African
military contacts are now
private. After the govern-
ment here decided to cancel
the Lavi fighter plane pro-
ject, South African firms
recruited 27 engineers and
technicians to help develop a
similar plane.
"They each got $100,000 a
year and expenses," says
Hirsh Goodman, former
military correspondent of
the Jerusalem Post. "The
Ministry of Defense didn't
want them to go, but this is a
free country. You can stop
people from taking plans out
of Israel, but you can't stop
them from taking their
brains."
Despite Israeli efforts to
convince the U.S. that it is
not engaged in a special re-
lationship with South
Africa, some experts here
believe that Jerusalem is not
doing enough.
"There has always been a
degree of cynicism in Israeli-
South African dealings,"
says Naomi Chazan. "The
Foreign Ministry denounces
apartheid, but business goes
on. I don't favor breaking
ties entirely, but there
should be a massive pull-out,
correct relations and very
forceful anti-apartheid
statements."
She added that cutting
down on the number of
Israeli diplomats in Pretoria
"would help convince the
world that we are serious."
Such decisive Israeli ac-
tion is not likely to be for-
thcoming. For one thing,
Israel is very sensitive about
breaking contracts for polit-
ical reasons.
"The French cut off
military sales to us after the
Six-Day War, and the U.S.
stopped shipments during
Kissinger's 're-evaluation'
in 1975," says Eliahu Ben
Elissar, chairman of the
Knesset Foreign Affairs and
Security Committee. "We
protested then, and we were
right. It's a very dangerous
kind of precedent."
Many Israelis also believe
that efforts to link Israel
with South Africa are a kind
of political warfare, having
little to do with actual ties.
The recent visit of South
African human rights ac-
tivist Archbishop Desmond
Tutu, in which he compared
Israel to South Africa and
explicitly supported the
Palestinian intifada,
strengthened this suspicion.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
35