As US President Donald Trump reshapes global politics and trade, South Africa, with a new multiparty government holding both pro- and anti-Israel views, must re-engage with Israel.
The GNU needs new policies, including new foreign policies, a new budget and a new long-term national development plan.
The new policies must include reinstating the Israeli ambassador to South Africa and reinstating our diplomatic presence in Israel. South Africa in December 2023 filed an application at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to have Israel investigated for genocide in Gaza. South Africa could now say that the new GNU compromise would be to close its case and leave it to the ICJ to resolve.
President Cyril Ramaphosa would have to reach out to Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a Brics partner, has in the past spoken to Netanyahu. South Africa should learn from it peers in the group on engagement with Israel. Many South Africans confuse Brics with a political alliance. It is a trade alliance in which individual countries maximise their own economic interests within Brics and with other trading partners
China has dual policy approach to Israel. China has an ambassador in Israel and Israel has an ambassador in China. China, in its foreign policy, may have been supportive of Iran, Palestine and Arab countries that have historically been hostile to Israel. However, in its trade policy it has deepened economic ties with Israel. China’s foreign policy is based on the fact that economic relations are always above diplomatic relations. China’s ambassador to Israel, Xiao Junzheng, recently told Israeli media why Beijing maintains strong economic ties with Israel despite geopolitical tensions, and why it is partnering with Israel on technology innovation. Israeli tech companies continue to expand in China, having strong partnerships with local Chinese companies in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and healthcare.
Xiao said: China “welcome[s] and need[s] Israeli tech companies’ support and help for modernisation ... Our two countries are Asian civilisations. We share common values and co-operation is in our interests ... The [Gaza] war continues, but the war is not the theme of Israel-China bilateral relations. For more than 33 years, China-Israel relations have withstood the test of history and always maintained stable development.” China is Israel’s biggest trading partner in Asia and its second-largest worldwide.
India’s relationship with Israel is also instructive for South Africa. India supports a two-state solution and criticises Israel for its positions on Palestine, while continuing to trade with it. Israel has an ambassador in India and India has an ambassador in Israel. India has strong defence ties with Israel. There is a growing Indian workforce in Israel. India has a bilateral scheme with Israel in which Indian labourers work in Israel.
Last December, Indian foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told the country’s parliament that India’s continued exports to Israel were in the national interest, strengthening the economy. Last year, newly appointed Israeli ambassador to India, Reuven Azar, said in an interview with the Indian Express that India had become one of Israel’s “most important partners” in trade.
Russia has maintained relations with both Israel and Palestine. Russia has a strategic relationship with Iran, has a pro-Hamas stance, but still has strong trade relations with Israel. Russia has an ambassador to Israel and Israel has an ambassador to Russia. Netanyahu recently dispatched his military secretary, Maj-Gen Roman Gofman, to Moscow for a series of security and diplomatic meetings aimed at strengthening co-operation. Israel earlier this month said it would resume flights to Moscow on May 1.
Foreign policy in modern times is not based on ideology, past solidarity or on wishful thinking, but on advancing a country’s economic interests: growth, business expansion, employment creation and poverty-reduction. South Africa should, like India, Russia and China, engage with both Israel and Palestine, whether providing humanitarian aid to Palestinians or seeking peace in the Gaza conflict, while at the same time having economic and political relationships with Israel to advance our domestic economic interests.
* William Gumede is professor of practice, School of Governance, University of the Witwatersrand, and author of South Africa in BRICS (Tafelberg)
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