Cape Town - A war of words has broken out over an article which stated South Africa had pledged to enforce Turkey's issuing of arrest warrants against four Israeli commanders.
“In the headlines of the Cape Times and thereafter published through additional papers within the 'Independent Media Group', a report by the paper's foreign editor Shannon Ebrahim claimed that the South African police have pledged to enforce arrest warrants issued by Turkey against four members of the Israeli armed forces should they enter the country,” SAZF chairman Ben Swartz said in a statement.
Read: Israeli military chiefs face arrest in SA
The SAZF called for the release of an official South African police letter which formed the basis of the story and said it would “utilise all means at our disposal to get to the bottom of this incident”.
However, this move sparked a backlash from the Media Review Network (MRN) which said it was “appalled at the level of arrogance displayed” by the SAZF “in their threat issued to the Independent News Group” on Friday.
“In total disregard of media freedom in South Africa, the SAZF, an agent of Apartheid Israel, has threatened to act against the Independent News Group, if it fails to publish privileged correspondence related to warrants of arrest for four Israeli military commanders.
“Unlike Israel, media freedom in South Africa cannot, under any circumstances, be held hostage or subverted,” it said.
Also, the Palestine Solidarity Alliance (PSA) too expressed its shock at what it regarded as the SAZF's attempts to force Independent to publish what it termed “confidential communication” between attorneys and the South African police.
“The desperation inherent in their threat of 'publish or else' is consistent with their state of denial,” PSA spokesman Naazim Adam said.
The article at the centre of the controversy had claimed that the South African police had pledged to enforce Turkey's issuing of arrest warrants against the four Israeli commanders from the Israeli Navy and the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) and said this was based on what was said to be an official letter written by a SAPS official, whose name the source of the story was “not at liberty to disclose”.
However, Swartz said national police spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi had categorically denied that this was the case, saying, “there is no truth to this. No arrest warrants have been issued for any of the people mentioned. We have checked with our Interpol and our crimes against the state officials and they deny any such thing”.
This prompted Swartz to say: “We are investigating the matter to ascertain the true facts and will utilise all means at our disposal to get to the bottom of this incident.”
“We call on the 'Independent Media Group' to publish the letter on which all these claims have been made. Failing which, we advise that the above report be dismissed as being just one more instance of misleading, agendised journalism by those who make no attempt to hide their anti-Israel agenda.”
According to the article, in a move that set an important international legal precedent, Turkey was seeking the arrest of the Israeli commanders for their involvement in the 2010 Israeli attacks on the Mavi Marmara aid ship which led to the deaths of nine humanitarian activists.
Turkey had welcomed South Africa’s decision to enforce the arrest warrants, the report stated.
The article stated that SAPS had confirmed in writing that they would enforce the warrants of arrests if the Israeli military chiefs entered South African territory.
An arrest alert notice for the four was circulated to the South African Border Control system on September 3, and the information had been forwarded to Interpol South Africa to liaise with Interpol in Turkey for a red notice to be issued, the report stated.
African News Agency
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