South Africa\u2019s support for the Palestinian cause is the culmination of a confused and increasingly troubling diplomatic trend for a country with whom the U.S. now questions its bilateral cooperation, critics have claimed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018The South African government has fallen hook, line and sinker for Russian propaganda,\u2019 Peter Doran, an adjunct senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and former president of the Center for European Policy Analysis, told Fox News Digital.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Russia has proposed to all African countries that the United States and Western powers are colonialists, whose interests are not aligned with theirs, whereas Russia and China are benign benefactors and friends in the world,\u2019 Doran said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018The truth is that Russia stands as the 20th century\u2019s worst colonial power. Russia has hidden that, and it doesn\u2019t present that part of its history to South Africa, and so many African countries, especially South Africa, have fallen for Russian propaganda about colonialism,\u2019 he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Congress passed the Bilateral Relations Review Act in February, mandating President Biden to determine \u2018whether South Africa has engaged in activities that undermine United States national security or foreign policy interests\u2019 within 30 days of enactment. Rep. John James, R-Mich., introduced the bill after growing \u2018greatly concerned with South Africa\u2019s alignment with China and Russia and embracement of Hamas.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018It is important to show the South African people that the United States is paying attention, and I am proud that the committee passed this bipartisan legislation,\u2019 James said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The bill also requires the administration to \u2018comprehensively review the bilateral relationship between the United States and South Africa and report to the Congress on its findings within 120 days of enactment.\u2019<\/p>\n
South Africa has increasingly aligned itself with Russia and China, doubling down on its association with the BRICS economic bloc: The founding five members, which include South Africa, met in Johannesburg last year for the group\u2019s 15th summit, where they discussed and agreed on expanding membership.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018What is fundamental about the BRICS expansion is that the multipolar world is definitely emerging,\u2019 Dr. Kinglsey Makhubela, a former South African ambassador, told Sputnik Africa. \u2018There\u2019s no longer this unipolar world that has been dominated by the United States and its allies.\u2019<\/p>\n
However, it mainly seems that the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party has pursued this policy, with the opposition party slamming South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor\u2019s recent visit to the U.S. as a \u2018dismal failure.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Speaking with a forked tongue whilst in D.C, the Minister defended South Africa\u2019s friendly relations with oppressive regimes such as Iran and Russia under the auspices of her government\u2019s commitment to \u2018non-alignment,\u2019 whilst insisting that the country had a \u2018moral obligation\u2019 to act against injustice at the ICJ,\u2019 Shadow Minister for International Relations Emma Louise Powell told Fox News Digital.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018The truth is, Pandor\u2019s foreign policy positions are guided by nothing other than the ANC\u2019s financial and political survival,\u2019 Powell argued, claiming that \u2018the bottom line is that no one is buying what Pandor and Ramaphosa are selling anymore.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018As the Official Opposition in South Africa, we have one job to do, and that is kick the corrupt ANC out of power in the May election, so that we can regain the trust of our most important international allies, and rebuild fraying trading relations with our Western partners (like the USA), whose investment into our emerging market puts food on the table for millions of South Africans,\u2019 Powell said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The growing divide between the U.S. and South Africa became more apparent as each took up opposing sides of the Israel-Hamas conflict: South Africa led a case before the International Court of Justice that accused Israel of carrying out a genocide in the Gaza Strip, while the U.S. has rejected such accusations.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lior Haiat, a spokesperson for Israel\u2019s foreign ministry, in turn accused South Africa as acting as \u2018the legal arm of Hamas in an attempt to undermine Israel\u2019s inherent right to defend itself and its citizens and to release all of the hostages.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Foreign Minister Pandor on March 10 said authorities would arrest any South Africans who fight alongside the Israeli military, warning, \u2018We are ready. When you come home, we are going to arrest you.\u2019 She also urged citizens to protest outside the embassies of Israel\u2019s \u2018five primary supporters,\u2019 according to the FDD.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018From a global perspective, the war for Ukraine has revealed, a change in international politics,\u2019 Doran argued. \u2018The old, the former era prior to 2022, in the former era, prior to 2022, countries could sit on the fence: They could play both sides. Look at India, an example of a country which plays both sides, which sits on the fence. That was a permissible environment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Today, we are no longer in a permissible environment where countries can sit on the fence and play both sides. Now is absolutely a time for choosing,\u2019 Doran stressed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A U.S. State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the two countries share a \u2018strong relationship\u2019 based on \u2018the priorities of the American people and the South African people,\u2019 with trade growing every year, making the U.S. South Africa\u2019s \u2018second-largest bilateral trading partner.\u2019<\/p>\n
However, the State Department accused South Africa of falling for Russian propaganda and influence, as well as warning all African countries to remain wary of China\u2019s interests and overtures.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018The United States does not seek to limit African partnerships with other countries,\u2019 the spokesperson insisted. \u2018However, Russia\u2026 manufactures and exploits insecurity to expand its presence on the African continent, threatening stability and, good governance, robbing countries of their mineral wealth, and undermining respect for human rights in the process.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018Ultimately, we have a strong relationship with South Africa, and because we have a strong relationship, we have had open and frank conversations about all of these issues and priorities,\u2019 the spokesperson said, adding that the U.S. echoes \u2018long-standing calls\u2026 that the PRC must respect host country laws and international obligations.\u2019<\/p>\n
Part of the problem derives from South Africa\u2019s economic struggles: Already struggling with the world\u2019s highest unemployment rate, Cape Town reported in February that unemployment increased to 32.1% in the fourth quarter of 2023 \u2013 a total of 7.9 million unemployed people.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The International Monetary Fund in 2023 reported that South Africa had recorded \u2018weak growth\u2019 of around 0.4% between January and March, citing \u2018crippling power cuts, volatile commodity prices and a challenging external environment\u2019 as significant contributing factors.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018The country has faced rolling blackouts after years of mismanagement of the state-owned utility, Eskom, prompting the authorities to ease the registration process and licensing requirements for energy production to encourage private sector investment,\u2019 the IMF wrote, adding that an \u2018elevated debt level \u2013 one of the highest among emerging markets \u2013 limits the government\u2019s ability to respond to shocks.\u2019<\/p>\n
South Africa has also showed support for Russia and China by abstaining from condemning Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine and parroting blame of NATO for provoking the conflict. The country also hosted Russian and Chinese naval forces for an exercise that occurred on the anniversary of the invasion.\u00a0<\/p>\n
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has also expressed support for Iran, long known as a sponsor of Hamas \u2013 as well as almost two dozen Islamic extremist groups \u2013 calling Iran a \u2018true and reliable friend.\u2019 Iran has also looked to join BRICS as one of the countries that helped almost double the group\u2019s membership in the first of several planned expansions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The South African Foreign Ministry did not respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Associated Press contributed to this report.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n
South Africa\u2019s support for the Palestinian cause is the culmination of a confused and increasingly troubling diplomatic trend for a country with whom the U.S. now questions its bilateral cooperation, critics have claimed.\u00a0 \u2018The South African government has fallen hook, line and sinker for Russian propaganda,\u2019 Peter Doran, an adjunct senior fellow at the Foundation <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":17676,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-17675","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}