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A Decade after Mandela's Death, His Pro-Palestinian Legacy Lives On

Former South African president Nelson Mandela (R) and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat (L) address the media after holding talks on the crisis in the Middle East May 3, 2001. JN/WS/ File Photo
Former South African president Nelson Mandela (R) and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat (L) address the media after holding talks on the crisis in the Middle East May 3, 2001. JN/WS/ File Photo
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A Decade after Mandela's Death, His Pro-Palestinian Legacy Lives On

Former South African president Nelson Mandela (R) and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat (L) address the media after holding talks on the crisis in the Middle East May 3, 2001. JN/WS/ File Photo
Former South African president Nelson Mandela (R) and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat (L) address the media after holding talks on the crisis in the Middle East May 3, 2001. JN/WS/ File Photo

Days after his release from 27 years in prison in February 1990, anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela gave Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat a bear hug, symbolizing his embrace of a cause his country's governing ANC party continues to champion.
It was a gesture as controversial then as South Africa's support for the Palestinian cause is today, but Mandela brushed off criticism.
Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization had been an unwavering supporter of Mandela's struggle against white minority rule and many South Africans saw parallels between it and the Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation.
"We were fortunate that with their support, we were able to achieve our freedom ... My grandfather ... said our freedom is incomplete without the Palestinian struggle," his grandson Mandla Mandela recalled in an interview ahead of the 10th commemoration of Mandela's death.
From Dec. 3 to 5 Mandla Mandela, who is also an ANC lawmaker, hosted a solidarity conference in Johannesburg for the Palestinians.
It was attended by members of Hamas, an organization Israel has vowed to annihilate in retaliation for its Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw around 240 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
Israeli bombing of Gaza since then has killed more than 15,500 people, according to Gaza's Hamas-run government, and displaced more than three-quarters of the Strip's 2.3 million population.
Last month, the ruling ANC backed a motion in South Africa's parliament to suspend diplomatic ties with Israel until it agreed to a ceasefire in Gaza.
"LAND ANNEXED"
"Palestinians still do not enjoy fully their freedom on their land. And instead their land has been annexed more and more, something that we also faced in South Africa," said the ANC's deputy chair of international relations, Obed Bapela.
Israel has disputed the comparison with apartheid as a lie motivated by antisemitism, but many South Africans follow Mandela's lead.
"That's something that he (Mandela) never compromised on and nor should we," poet and author Lebogang Mashile told Reuters.
Some in South Africa's Jewish community criticize the ANC's stance, pointing out that Mandela himself eventually tried to build bridges with Israel.
Historian and author of "Jewish Memories of Mandela", David Saks, noted that Mandela was the only South African president to have visited Israel since 1994 - albeit only after he left office - and that "he received a rapturous welcome from the Israeli public," addressing then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak and then-President Ezer Weisman as "my friends".
"He pointed the way which things should have gone (diplomatically with Israel), but (they) didn’t go that way," Saks said.

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Harris Tries to Thread the Needle on Gaza After Meeting with Netanyahu 

US Vice President Kamala Harris meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House grounds, in Washington, DC, US, July 25, 2024. (Reuters)
US Vice President Kamala Harris meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House grounds, in Washington, DC, US, July 25, 2024. (Reuters)
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Harris Tries to Thread the Needle on Gaza After Meeting with Netanyahu 

US Vice President Kamala Harris meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House grounds, in Washington, DC, US, July 25, 2024. (Reuters)
US Vice President Kamala Harris meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House grounds, in Washington, DC, US, July 25, 2024. (Reuters)

Vice President Kamala Harris, the likely Democratic nominee for president, is attempting to bridge divides within the party over the war in Gaza, emphasizing Israel's right to defend itself while also focusing on alleviating Palestinian suffering.

She delivered remarks after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday that reflected a delicate balancing act on one of the country's most divisive political issues. Some Democrats have been critical of President Joe Biden's steadfast support for Israel despite the increasing death toll among Palestinians, and Harris is trying to unite her party for the election battle with Republican candidate Donald Trump.

"We cannot look away in the face of these tragedies," she said. "We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering. And I will not be silent."

Harris did not deviate from the administration's approach to the conflict, including grueling negotiations aimed at ending the fighting, releasing hostages held by Hamas and eventually rebuilding Gaza. She also said nothing about military assistance for Israel, which some Democrats want to cut.

Instead, she tried to refocus the conversation around mitigating the calamity in Gaza, and she used language intended to nudge Americans toward an elusive middle ground.

"The war in Gaza is not a binary issue," she said. "But too often, the conversation is binary when the reality is anything but."

In addition, Harris made a more explicit appeal to voters who have been frustrated by the ceaseless bloodshed, which began when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7.

"To everyone who has been calling for a ceasefire, and to everyone who yearns for peace, I see you, and I hear you," she said.

Harris' meeting with Netanyahu was private, and she described it as "frank and constructive." She also emphasized her longtime support for Israel, which includes raising money to plant trees in the country when she was a young girl.

Jewish Americans traditionally lean Democratic, but Republicans have tried to make inroads. Trump claimed this week that Harris "is totally against the Jewish people" because she didn't attend Netanyahu's address to a joint meeting of Congress. The vice president was traveling in Indiana during the speech.

Harris is married to a Jewish man, Doug Emhoff, who has played an outspoken role in the administration's efforts to combat antisemitism.

Netanyahu did not speak publicly after his meeting with Harris. His trip was scheduled before Biden dropped his reelection bid, but the meeting with Harris was watched closely for clues to her views on Israel.

"She is in a tricky situation and walking a tightrope where she’s still the vice president and the president really is the one who leads on the foreign policy agenda," said Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud, a Democrat whose city is home to one of the largest Arab American communities in the nation. "But as the candidate, the presumptive nominee, she has to now create the space to differentiate in order for her to chart a new course."

Protesters gathered outside Union Station on the day of Netanyahu's speech, ripping down American flags and spray painting "Hamas is coming."

Harris sharply criticized those actions, saying there were "despicable acts by unpatriotic protesters and dangerous hate-fueled rhetoric. "

"I support the right to peacefully protest, but let’s be clear: Antisemitism, hate and violence of any kind have no place in our nation," she said in a statement.

As vice president, Harris has tried to show little daylight between herself and Biden. But David Rothkopf, a foreign policy writer who has met with her, said there's been "a noticeable difference in tone, particularly in regards to concern for the plight of innocent Palestinians."

The difference was on display in Selma, Alabama, in March, when Harris commemorated the anniversary of the Bloody Sunday march for voting rights in 1965.

During her speech, Harris said that "given the immense scale of suffering in Gaza, there must be an immediate ceasefire."

The audience broke out in applause. A few sentences later, Harris emphasized that it was up to Hamas to accept the deal that had been offered. But her demand for a ceasefire still resonated in ways that Biden's comments had not.

An AP-NORC poll conducted in June found that about 6 in 10 Democrats disapproved of the way Biden is handling the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Roughly the same number said Israel's military response in Gaza had gone too far.

Israeli analysts said they doubted that Harris would present a dramatic shift in policies toward their country.

Chuck Freilich, a former Israeli deputy national security adviser and senior fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies, a Tel Aviv think tank, said Harris was from a generation of American politicians who felt they could both support Israel and publicly criticize its policies.

"The question is as president, what would she do?" Freilich said. "I think she would put considerably more pressure on Israel on the Palestinian issue overall."