Bibi runs into his ‘Boipathong moment’ in Majdal Shams

Alameen Templeton

It’s being described as apartheid Israel’s “Boipathong moment” – Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had to beat a hasty retreat from the Druze village of Majdal Shams Monday after residents rose up in furious protest against his presence there.

Netanyahu had arrived secretly with a huge entourage in the village that was hit viciously by a rocket at the weekend which killed 12 children on a football field.

Furious Syrian residents of the village in the Syrian Golan called Netanyahu a “fascist” and a “criminal” and accused him of trying to profit politically off their children’s blood, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported.

Netanyahu had to flee after just 15 minutes in the town as emotions among residents started rising.

It was reminiscent of FW de Klerk’s visit to the Boipathong settlement east of Joburg in June 1992. The IFP (Inkatha Freedom Party) had attacked the settlement under the watchful eye of the riot police during the “township war” years.

The apartheid government was playing a dirty game – negotiating at Codesa with the ANC while blaming it for being behind the violence which it was orchestrating with its negotiating partner, the IFP.

It was typical “false flag” violence perpetrated for the world stage in order to undermine the ANC’s global standing and its negotiating position at Codesa.

The ANC had been on the back foot until Boipathong. But, after the world’s television cameras showed residents violently ejecting De Klerk from the township with pelted stones, it was clear to the world who was really behind the violence.

A rejuvenated ANC was able to threaten to pull out of negotiations, to force the National Pary into major concessions because its global standing had been completely discredited, and to rejoin the negotiations from a much stronger position. That eventually led to the breakthrough and democratic elections in 1994.

Much like South Africa 1992, Netanyahu’s administration is accusing the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon of firing the rocket, a claim Hezbollah has categorically denied.

Netanyahu on Monday spoke hastily at a prearranged press conference on the football field, pledging a “harsh response”.

But the residents weren’t buying it. Instead, the accused him of weaponizing the attack to justify an expected, intense aggression on Lebanon.

Netanyahu bewailed the loss “of 12 pure souls,” claiming his “heart is torn apart by the severe tragedy”. Uppermost in most residents’ mind was his responsibility for the blood of at least 16,000 Palestinian children in Gaza’s ongoing genocide.

Al Mayadeen reports Netanyahu arrived in Majdal Shams at around 2pm and sneaked into the council chief’s administrative building through the back door to avoid being seen.

It noted the chief is appointed by the Israeli occupation’s government.

As news of Netanyahu’s arrival spread among the town’s residents, hundreds gathered outside the chief’s office. They denounced Netanyahu as a “child killer” and a “criminal”.

The Druze are an “offshoot” of Islam, originating from Syria. They practise the sunnah, but give their loyalty to the “authority in power” where they live and so many serve in the Israeli army, despite being Muslims.

The rocket attack had attracted a lot of political heat on Hezbollah’s head as many Muslims from the region felt the Druze should not have been targeted.

Al Mayadeen reports many locals refused to allow Israeli annexation forces to use their homes and rooftops as guarding points, ahead of Netanyahu’s arrival.

The residents were told that an unidentified official would visit the town. Netanyahu’s identity was not revealed to locals until it was reported in Israeli media outlets.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz  reports authorities attempted to arrange a meeting between Netanyahu and the victims’ families, but it failed due to the families’ refusal.

The Syrian government condemned the “heinous crime committed by the Israeli occupation,” which it pointed out usurps territories and the rights of peoples. Israel remains in illegal occupation of the Golan Heights which belong to Damascus.

“It is an attempt to fabricate lies and excuses to expand the circle of aggression against the peoples of the region and to escape the predicament caused by the resistance faced by this occupation in the Gaza Strip,” the Syrian government said.

“We are confident that the crimes of the occupation will not undermine the determination of our steadfast and resistant people in the occupied Syrian Golan, nor will they weaken their national will and adherence to their Syrian Arab identity and their resistance to the occupation.”