Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Picture: REUTERS
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Picture: REUTERS

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THE decision by both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres not to attend the funeral of former president Nelson Mandela has fuelled speculation of an increasingly tense relationship between South Africa and Israel.

According to Israel’s Haaretz newspaper, the Israeli prime minister’s office is citing "the high costs of travelling to South Africa as one of the reasons for the cancellation". Mr Peres, who is 90, had been advised by his doctors not to make the trip.

"The president is recovering from flu and doctors advised him not to fly," a spokesman for Mr Peres was quoted as saying.

Mr Peres was, however, present at the national memorial service for the late president at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg on Tuesday, according to the spokesman for the Department of International Relations and Co-operation Clayson Monyela.

More than 90 heads of state and government have confirmed their intentions to attend Tuesday’s memorial service for the global icon, who died last Thursday in Houghton in Johannesburg.

Pro-Palestinian lobby group Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions said on Monday that "Netanyahu’s presence at Mandela’s funeral would not have been taken well by several Israelis".

"Mandela is still considered by many Israelis as a terrorist. Mandela’s friendship with the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, and admiration for Palestinian freedom fighter Leila Khaled is often criticised by Israelis and Israeli supporters," the lobby group said.

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Haaretz reported in another article at the weekend that South African-born Israelis say Mandela’s legacy has been betrayed by the South African government’s "anti-Israel stance". The paper reported that while immigrants from South Africa mourned Mandela’s death, they criticised the government’s "antagonism" towards Israel.

The paper quoted deputy director of Telfed, the South African Zionist federation in Israel, Dorron Kline, as saying: "When Nelson Mandela was in power, South Africa was far more balanced in its approach to Israel. I think it was his personality and his outlook that kept things balanced. We will feel his loss particularly in that sphere."

The Cabinet announced in November that it does not have a ban on government officials travelling to Israel, a week after International Relations Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said the country’s ministers were not going to Israel as a sign of solidarity with the Palestinians.

In November, Ms Nkoana-Mashabane publicly criticised Israel’s "illegal occupation" of Palestine saying: "That arrangement there in Palestine keeps us awake ... the last time I looked at the map of Palestine, I could not go to sleep. The struggle of the people of Palestine is our struggle.

"(Government) ministers of South Africa do not visit Israel currently ... our Palestinian friends have asked us in formal meetings to not engage with the (Israeli) regime. We have agreed to slow down and curtail senior leadership contact with that regime until things begin to look better," she said.

This prompted a furious reaction from Israel. Israeli MP Avigdor Lieberman, chairman of Israel’s parliamentary committee for foreign affairs and defence, was quoted as saying: "The government of South Africa is creating an atmosphere of anti-Israeli sentiment and anti-Semitism that will make a pogrom against Jews in the country just a matter of time."

He called on all Jews who live in South Africa "to immigrate to Israel immediately, without delay, before it’s too late".

The South African Jewish Board of Deputies and the South African Zionist Federation issued a statement in November expressing outrage at Ms Nkonana-Mashabane’s remarks, but said Mr Lieberman’s comments were "alarmist and inflammatory".