SA's Krengel brothers to tell Israelis about life after 'the Goldstone attack'

 Source : www.haaretz.com

Published 02:39 18.06.10Latest update 02:39 18.06.10

By Cnaan Liphshiz

Two brothers at the forefront of South African Jewry will tell a Ra'anana audience next week why they facilitated efforts to ban Judge Richard Goldstone from his grandson's bar mitzvah in Johannesburg last month. Avrom Krengel, 41, and Zev Krengel, 37, eventually helped negotiate the compromise which allowed the South African judge - who authored the controversial eponymous UN report - to attend his family simchah without fear of demonstrations. "You have to understand that for South African Jews, Goldstone's attack was also very personal," Avrom Krengel told Anglo File, ahead of the Telfed-sponsored event in Ra'anana on June 21. For more on this story and the opening statements of Krengel and Goldstone...

"It wasn't just a piece of paper - it meant South African Israelis who risked their lives for Israel were afraid to visit their families back home for fear of prosecution for war crimes." After the release of the report, which accused Israel of committing war crimes during Operation Cast Lead in Gaza in late 2008 and early 2009, pro-Palestinian activists sought the prosecution of some 70 South African Israelis who served in the Israel Defense Forces during the conflict.

The planned demonstration against Goldstone was led by Avrom Krengel, 41, who has been chairman of the country's Zionist federation since 2002 and also heads the national branch of the Mizrahi movement. Former Jewish Agency chairman Avraham Burg was among Israeli and American Jews who said the plan had crossed a line by targeting the judge personally. The demonstration was later cancelled. Eventually, Avrom Krengel and a few other federation members met with Goldstone for two-hours to discuss the "deeply flawed and biased" report, as Avrom Krengel describes it.

David Bloom, vice chairman of Telfed,  the South African Zionist Federation (Israel), said he thought that the Krengels' support for the Goldstone bar mitzvah protest was "a counterproductive personal attack" on the judge. "You can call media exposure over this an achievement, but I think the whole affair was very unfortunate," he added.

The Goldstone bar mitzvah incident aside, all seem to agree that between them, the Krengels personify the rejuvenation that the leadership of their established community has undergone over this past decade, as it became a small White minority in a new rainbow nation. The South African Jewish community peaked at 140,000 in the 1970s, but many left for Australia, Canada and Israel after the fall of apartheid in 1994. "The South African Jewish community has a missing middle generation," Avrom Krengel comments.

Younger brother Zev Krengel became chairman of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies - the community's main political organization - in 2007. An accountant turned entrepreneur, he transformed his grandfather's humble spice business, Africa Spice, into an international player. His older brother, a lawyer, is the youngest chairman of the South African Zionist Federation in its 112 years of existence.

According to Avrom Krengel, the young guard has taken a more active approach than its predecessors. "We are a very loud and proud community and we don't back down for anyone," he told Anglo File last week. Last Tuesday the South African Zionist Federation under Avrom Krengel helped organize a demonstration by hundreds of Jews and Christians outside the country's foreign ministry headquarters in Pretoria over the temporary recall of Pretoria's ambassador to Israel, following the killing of nine pro-Palestinian activists in an Israel Navy takeover operation last month.

Other Zionist Federation activities include near-daily contributions to media by community leaders, legal work to prevent war crimes allegations against Israelis and monitoring and combating anti-Semitism. Much of the work is done in coordination with the Board of Deputies and some staff is shared.

Behind the scenes, the Krengels employ subtler tactics, using their close connections within the ruling party, the African National Congress. "Zev Krengel is held in high esteem by the ruling party in South Africa, the ANC," said Dorron Klein of Telfed.

Yet, some say these close ties have come at the expense of the community's ability to confront the government's outspokenly critical - and sometimes hostile - approach to Israel. "I would like them to be more critical publicly [of the government]. They prefer the politics of influence," said Michael Kransdorff from Johannesburg, who co-founded the popular blog "It's Almost Supernatural" on South African-Israeli relations.

Though he hasn't "always agreed with some of the decisions taken by the Krengels, there is no doubt the board and federation are far more effective organizations today than when Zev and Avrom came to office," said Kransdorff, the 27-year-old blogger from Johannesburg. Still, the community is internally more polarized then before, according to Kransdorff. "There has been an amazing religious revival in South Africa over the last 15 years. But this has also meant that there is a growing divide between religious and secular." He added that Zev Krengel "has tried to be as inclusive as he can."

While in Israel this month, the Krengels, who have twin siblings - a brother and a sister - will be attending the bar mitzvah of their nephew, the son of Rabbi Israel Krengel, 40. The rabbi and his U.S.-born wife live in the West Bank settlement of Alon Shvut with their five children. The Krengels' sister, Persha, who immigrated to Israel 12 years ago, lives in Ra'anana with her U.K.-born husband, Meir Velman. Avrom has a boy and a girl, while Zev is the father of two boys.

 Editor's Note :

Below are copies of the opening statements from both Avrom Krengel and Judge Richard Goldstone at their meeting in Johannesburg plus other reports from the S A Jewish Report on the Goldstone affair vis the SAZF and reactions from the Jewish Community in South Africa 

SA Jewish Report on the meeting between SAZF and Goldstone - click here

click here for Krengel opening statement

click here for Goldstone opening statement