When South African Ambassador to Israel, Sisa Ngombane, addressed a gathering in his home country last Friday, he was nearly brought to tears when anti-Israel activists shouted him down – all because he mentioned the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli youths in 2014.
The trouble began when Leigh-Ann Naidoo, a South African volleyball player and radical anti-Israel activist, joined an all-female flotilla to Gaza, in a highly publicized attempt to violate Israel’s security blockade of the Hamas terror regime.
As with previous attempts, the ship was boarded by Israeli forces, who removed the passengers – and promptly deported them.
When Ms. Naidoo was returned home, Mr. Ngombane was sent to present a statement by the government on the incident.
But as Ngombane attempted to provide a bit of context to the conflict – noting the kidnapping and murder of three young Jews by Arab terrorists in 2014 – anti-Israel activists present at the reception shouted him down, chanting “Free, free Palestine” and “Down, down Israel.”
Shocked by the sudden outburst and unable to overcome the noise produced by the activists, Ngombane shifted back to the official statement, trembling it as he read.
When an activist seated to his right attempted to cut him off, Ngombane, visibly shaken, shot back “Don’t bulldoze me,” leading to another shouting match.