SOUTH AFRICAN UNION CALLS FOR ISRAEL BOYCOTT

South African Unions Seek Israel Boycott, Severing Ties - Cnaan Liphshiz (Ha'aretz)
South Africa's largest trade union federation will launch a campaign against "the Israeli occupation of Arab lands" this week, demanding that Pretoria impose a boycott on all Israeli goods and break diplomatic relations. South African Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils, who is Jewish, said that he actively supported the initiative - which contradicts the policy of his own cabinet. The president of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), Willy Madisha, announced the launching of the campaign last week in Johannesburg, calling on the government to cease all diplomatic relations with Israel.

SEE ALSO: Terrorists Take Refuge in South Africa - Jonathan Schanzer
In early May, South Africa's intelligence minister, Ronnie Kasrils, invited Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas member and prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, to lead a delegation to South Africa. In June 2003, South Africa's deputy minister of foreign affairs, Aziz Pahad, met with representatives of Hizbullah. Overtures to Hamas and Hizbullah are indicative of Pretoria's utter indifference to the threat of radical Islamic ideologies and violence. The worst consequence of this blindness may be the creation of a safe haven for terrorists in South Africa itself. According to one reported U.S. intelligence estimate, al-Qaeda leaders are operating throughout South Africa. Other reports indicate that terrorists are exploiting the country's banking system, and that South African passports are finding their way to al-Qaeda operatives worldwide. As a result, Washington must keep an eye on one more potential source of danger: South Afristan. (Weekly Standard)