South Africa was pointedly absent from the Gaza peace summit that convened Monday in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt, despite its experience in conflict resolution, after its strident opposition to Israel.
The list of 30 countries from four continents represented a broad range of backgrounds and interests. Arab and Muslim states were well represented, as were Asian countries, European leaders, and even — through Egypt — Africa.
However, South Africa was not involved.
South Africa has been one of the leading anti-Israel voices in the democratic world, falsely accusing Israel of “genocide” in a case at the International Court of Justice and otherwise attacking the Israeli government.
It has also led efforts to isolate Israel on the world stage for nearly 25 years.
One member of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) alliance was represented, in the form of the Indian Minister of State for External Affairs.
South Africa did not appear to react to the peace deal or hostage releases on Monday.
In that sense, South Africa evoked the example of the bittereinders — the Afrikaans term referring to those Afrikaners who refused to give up fighting the Boer War (1899-1902) until the “bitter end.”
Long after the rest of the region and the world had decided on a path to peace in the Middle East, South Africa finds itself one of the last holdouts for a path of increasing confrontation.
South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress, even met with Hamas.
Once priding itself on its peacemaking acumen, South Africa appears to have been left out in the cold.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Zionist Conspiracy Wants You, now available on Amazon. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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