A group of Jewish activists will stage protests against outlets of a South African toy store Reggies in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg.
In a statement released by the Stop The JNF on Saturday, the organisation said the protest against the store was due to Reggies support of “ethnic cleansing of Palestinians”.
The protest would take place at selected stores in the three cities.
“The South African toy store Reggies is knowingly sponsoring an Israeli parastatal organisation, the Jewish National Fund (JNF), which is directly involved in the forced removal and dispossession of the Palestinian people.
“Despite numerous appeals to the director of Reggies, Mr Issy Zimmerman
...not only refused to end his involvement with the JNF (a recipient of Reggies financial support) but threatened that he would intensify it,” said Alan Horwitz spokesman of the Stop The JNF.
Zimmerman who also owned the South African franchise of ToysRus, Horwitz said.
He said a group of concerned Jewish South Africans who did not identify themselves with the JNF and Israel spearheaded the creation of a local chapter of the international campaign called Stop The JNF.
Protests would be held outside selected Reggies stores in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg.
“We feel that it is unconscionable that while hundreds of Palestinian children are held in Israeli prisons, a toy shop that purportedly celebrates children, is knowingly supporting an Israeli parastatal complicit in gross human rights violations,” said Horwitz.
Efforts to get comment from Reggies were unsuccessful. - Sapa