Criticism of Jewish community not informed by facts

THE letter by Elma Ross published in the Cape Times after the Bondi Beach Chanukah Massacre that took place on 14 December 2025 focused on insinuation rather than the facts of the attack or the tragedy itself.

- MANDY ALLEN | Cape South African Jewish Board of Deputies PR research & media coordinator

Instead of addressing the murder of Jews at a joyful religious communal gathering, it intimated that in fact Jews themselves had orchestrated the mass killing of their own fellow Jews as a kind of propaganda stunt aimed at smearing others, in this case Muslims.

In making this scandalous, and frankly rather sick allegation, the writer relied on a familiar mix of unfounded claims: references to supposed ‘false flag’ operations, selectively chosen historical episodes, and the implication that Jewish or Israeli deception is so common that scepticism is warranted even when Jews are cold-bloodedly murdered.