Video: Yet another South African Jew shows his love of the Anti-White Terrorist Nelson Mandela

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A Chabad rabbi recalls the day when South African anti-apartheid revolutionary Nelson Mandela, who died today, was released from prison.
By COLlive reporter

Nelson Mandela, South African anti-apartheid revolutionary and President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, died on Thursday at the age of 95.

A controversial figure for much of his life, right-wing critics denounced him as a terrorist and communist sympathizer. He nevertheless gained international acclaim for his anti-colonial and anti-apartheid stance, having received more than 250 honors, including the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize, the US Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Soviet Order of Lenin.

When Mandela was on the run from the South African authorities in the early 1960s, one of the safe houses he used belonged to a Jewish Communist called Wolfie Kodesh, reported The Jewish Chronicle.

It was there that the great anti-apartheid leader read about other liberation struggles, among them The Revolt, Irgun head Menachem Begin‘s account of his war against the British in Palestine.

The anecdote is just one of those recalled in Jewish Memories of Mandela, a sumptuous picture book produced by the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD), which documents his links with the Jewish community and its role in the defeat of apartheid.

Mandela served 27 years in prison, convicted of sabotage and conspiracy to overthrow the Apartheid government.

In the years leading up to Mandela’s release there was great unrest in the country, and Jews were leaving by the thousands, recalls South African-born Rabbi Avi Rabin, today director of Chabad of West Hills in California.

During those years, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson told many leading rabbis from South Africa not to fear, as there would miracles and a peaceful transition. “We saw clearly the Rebbe’s prophetic blessing fulfilled,” Rabin said.

Mandela was released on February 11, 1990, in an event broadcast live across the world. In the following days he met with friends, activists, and press, giving a speech to 100,000 people at Johannesburg’s Soccer City.

“The Friday before he was released, every student at school was sent home with a directory of phone numbers for all the families in the school and a telephone chain system was arranged,” Rabin wrote in an article in the Jewish Journal.

“The thought was that we were not sure if there would be chaos after he was released, or if it would be peaceful. If it became a dangerous situation, then school would be canceled and each family would call the next in the phone chain to make sure everyone knew not to come to school.. Miracle of miracles, there was a peaceful transition.”

As President, he promulgated a new constitution and initiated the investigation of past human rights abuses. Continuing the former government’s liberal economic policy, his administration introduced measures to encourage land reform, combat poverty, and expand healthcare services.

He declined to run for a second term, and was succeeded by his deputy, Thabo Mbeki. Mandela subsequently became an elder statesman, focusing on charitable work in combating poverty and HIV/AIDS through the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

Mandela and Israel

On Israel, Mandela’s relationship with the Jewish community was not free of controversy, JTA reports. His African National Congress cultivated close ties with the Palestine Liberation Organization and Mandela warmly embraced its leader, Yasser Arafat.

Confronted with Jewish protests, Mandela was dismissive, insisting that his relations with other countries would be determined by their attitudes toward the liberation movement.

He first visited Israel in 1999. “Israel worked very closely with the apartheid regime,” he noted. “I’ve made peace with many men who slaughtered our people like animals. Israel cooperated with the apartheid regime, but it did not participate in any atrocities.”

Mandela reiterated his unwavering opposition to Israeli control of Gaza, the West Bank, the Golan Heights and southern Lebanon. And he noted that upon his release from prison in 1990, he received invitations to visit almost every country in the world, except Israel.

South Africa was among the 33 states that voted in favor of the 1947 UN partition resolution, which led to the creation of the State of Israel. It was the 7th nation to recognize the new Jewish state.

Source: https://collive.com/nelson-mandela-dies-at-95/

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