South African President Cyril Ramaphosa led a crowd in chants of "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" over the weekend, leading to recriminations from the South African Jewish leaders.
Ramaphosa led the chant during a campaign rally in Soweto in an apparent unscripted moment. A call for Hamas to release the Israeli hostages it has held for nearly nine months was reportedly meant to be part of his speech but was omitted.
The South African Jewish Board of Deputies said in a statement, "The call to remove all Jews from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea equates to removing all Jews from Israel. The slogan and its call for the destruction of the Jewish state has its origin in the Hamas Charter, with its goal to see Israel as 'Judenfrei’ or Jew-free."
The Board of Deputies said it was revolted by the "call to exterminate Jews from their Homeland" and the "elimination of the only Jewish state."
"The chanting of this slogan by a Head of State of a government that recurrently tries to express their commitment to a 'Two State Solution' as their policy on Israel and Palestine is hypocritical to the full. How does a sitting president reject his own government and own party’s international relations policy?" it asked.
"This reconfirms our understanding that President Ramaphosa and his government are not looking for a peaceful solution to the tragic conflict, but rather to cause discord among fellow South Africans against its Jewish community," the Board of Deputies stated.
The South African government has been accused of aligning with Hamas in the aftermath of the massacre committed by the terrorist organization on October 7, 2023. South Africa has brought a case against Israel accusing the Jewish State of genocide at the International Court of Justice in an attempt to have the court order Israel to end its war to remove the threat posed by Hamas.
The slogan "From the River to the Sea" is widely considered antisemitic as it is a call to eliminate the State of Israel, which exists between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, as well as for the elimination or expulsion of Israel's Jewish population.