Jewish groups, Israel furious as South Africa's Zuma hosts Hamas leader Mashal

South African President Jacob Zuma, as head of the African National Congress (ANC), on Monday met with the exiled leader of the Gaza-based Islamist movement Hamas, Khaled Mashal, and signed a joint declaration.

Mashal said during a press conference: “We signed a letter of intent aimed at cooperation in defeating the apartheid regime of Israel just like South Africa did in its fight against apartheid."

He added: “Being in South Africa is so inspiring because it motivates us to continue with our struggle,” he told reporters. “We call on all our friends in the world to prosecute Israel for war crimes.”

South African Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein deplored the meeting and warned that inviting members of a movement designed internationally as a terrorist organization “endangers Africa and the world.”

Goldstein told 'The Algemeiner' newspaper: “For the ANC to welcome Hamas leader Khaled Mashal to South Africa is a moral outrage, and disgraces the memory of Nelson Mandela. Hamas openly promotes the most brutal violence as a religious ideal and is an ideological ally of Boko Haram, which wreaks unspeakable horror and suffering on the African continent. Welcoming such an ideology endangers Africa and the world," he said.

The Israeli government also strongly condemned Mashal's reception by the ANC leader. “This invitation buoys up and encourages terrorism while blatantly and unashamedly ignoring the position of the international community, which designates Hamas as a terrorist organization,” the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem said in a statement.

Photo: Reuters