Siphakamise Ngxowa of South African student body COSAS displays a severed pigs head in the kosher food section of a Woolworths store in Cape Town. Photo: COSAS
The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel took another step into open antisemitism today when student activists in South Africa placed the severed head of a pig in the kosher meat section of a Woolworths store in Cape Town. The shocking gesture was aimed, the perpetrators said, at preventing “people who will not eat pork to pretend that they are eating clean meat, when it is sold by hands dripping with the blood of Palestinian children.”
Jewish leaders were quick to condemn the act, organized by the Congress of South African Students (COSAS,) a body affiliated with the ruling African National Congress (ANC.) “Disregarding all standards of basic decency, the Congress of South African Students today chose to send an ugly message to the Jewish community of South Africa. This morning, as a protest against Woolworths for stocking Israeli products, COSAS members in Cape Town deposited a pig’s head in the kosher meat section of a Woolworths food store,” said the South African Jewish Board of Deputies. “The SAJBD regards this incident as a hate crime and is investigating its options regarding taking the matter further.”
A spokesman for Woolworths claimed after the incident that there “were no kosher food products on the affected shelf” at the retailers’ Fort Road store in the Sea Point district. “Placing a pig’s head in our store is unacceptable and offensive to our employees and customers, including Jewish and Muslim employees and customers,” Paula Disberry, Woolworths group director of retail operations said in a statement. “We are investigating this incident and we will consider our options to prevent such distasteful protests in our stores.”
A statement issued by Siphakamise Ngxowa, COSAS Western Cape provincial chairperson — who was photographed displaying the pigs head inside the store — read as follows:
As the Congress of South African students in the W.C. we note with disgust the injustices of killing innocent children in Palestine, firstly as COSAS we believe in a free and fair society in which people live together with equal opportunities and are enjoying human rights. Israel is a racist apartheid state, COSAS supports the calls for Boycott Divest and Sanctioning Israel. Killing children, even at schools is not acceptable.
We are not being bombastic when we say will bring the supporters of Israel pigs — we are being revolutionary.
It is unacceptable that people, especially those who claim to believe in God to buy products from supporters of Israel. We will not allow people who will not eat pork, to pretend that they are eating clean meat, when it is sold by hands dripping with the blood of Palestinian children. Woolworths is NOT Kosher. We cannot allow food like this to be called halaal or Kosher. …read more
Source:: The Algemeiner