South Africa has consistently been one of the biggest Israel-hating countries especially since October 7. Among their actions against the Jewish state: filing an application at the ICJ against Israel, alleging that Israel has committed and is committing acts in the Gaza Strip that violate the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide; recalling its ambassador from Israel; and declaring that dual citizens or South Africans fighting with Israeli forces could face arrest under its foreign military assistance laws.
But last week they showed what utter hypocrites they are – when faced with the arrival of a chartered plane carrying 153 Palestinians from Gaza into South Africa.
South Africa
— Stella Escobedo (@StellaEscoTV) November 13, 2025
So let me get this straight – South Africa files at the ICJ claiming Palestinians face “genocide,” but when actual Gazan families show up at their airport seeking safety, they refuse to let them off the plane and try to ship them back? pic.twitter.com/8ouwENZ7ol
South Africa won't let refugees from Gaza leave the plane at Johannesburg airport tarmac. The Gazans have uploaded clips of their families stranded inside the plane.pic.twitter.com/9OaViti79j
— Ahmed Quraishi (@_AhmedQuraishi) November 13, 2025
While the Embassy of “Palestine” has blamed the situation on “an unregistered & misleading organization that exploited the tragic humanitarian conditions of our people in Gaza,” others are predictably blaming it on Israel.
South Africa’s intelligence services are investigating who was behind a chartered plane that landed in Johannesburg with more than 150 Palestinians from war-ravaged Gaza who did not have proper travel documents and were held onboard on the tarmac for around 12 hours as a result, the country’s president said Friday.
The plane landed Thursday morning at O.R. Tambo International Airport, but passengers were not allowed to disembark until late that night after immigration interviews with the Palestinians found they could not say where or how long they were staying in South Africa, South Africa’s border agency said.
It said the Palestinians also did not have exit stamps or slips that would normally be issued by Israeli authorities to people leaving Gaza.
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South African leader Ramaphosa said that it appeared the Palestinians who arrived in Johannesburg were being “flushed out” of Gaza, without elaborating. The comment followed allegations by two South African NGO representatives who claimed that Al-Majd was affiliated with Israel and working to remove Palestinians from Gaza.
They offered no evidence for the claims and COGAT didn’t respond to a request for comment on those allegations.
Gift of the Givers founder Imtiaz Sooliman, one of those to allege involvement by what he called “Israel’s front organizations,” said this was the second plane to arrive in South Africa in mysterious circumstances after one that landed with more than 170 Palestinians onboard on Oct. 28.
The South African Zionist Federation has responded to the allegations that Israel was somehow behind this:
The South African Zionist Federation categorically rejects the torrent of baseless accusations surrounding the group of Gazans initially denied entry at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport. Within hours of their 13 November arrival, politicians and media commentators repeated the inflammatory claim that Israel “deliberately” withheld passport stamps to sabotage them. This toxic narrative did not appear spontaneously, it was lit by one man, Imtiaz Sooliman of Gift of the Givers. His reckless allegation ignited the blaze of misinformation now dominating public debate. This is not mere error, it is a calculated distortion, weaponised to inflame outrage over facts.
Israel abolished physical passport stamps for all foreign visitors on 15 January 2013, replacing them with a standard electronic entry or exit slip, the B/2 form. Every traveller receives this slip, without exception. Millions pass through Israeli borders under this system, including tens of thousands of South Africans each year. Blaming Israel for “missing stamps” is not ignorance, it is wilful blindness to a transparent and universal policy, repackaged as a geopolitical ambush.
Entry into South Africa is not determined by Israel, it is controlled exclusively by the Department of Home Affairs and the Border Management Authority under the Immigration Act. All questions about accommodation, proof of funds, intended stay and documentation are decided by South African officials. Attacking Israel for South Africa’s own procedures, a deflection taken straight from Sooliman’s playbook, is not advocacy, it is evasion designed to avoid accountability.
Sooliman’s attempt to pressure Home Affairs, demanding entry for the group as if he were a shadow minister, is deeply troubling. South Africa is governed by the rule of law, not by the demands of private organisations. No NGO, regardless of its humanitarian image, has veto power over border control or immigration statutes. The public deserves answers. Why was this interference tolerated, and why did it influence decisions that belong solely to elected officials?
Sooliman’s misinformation is consistent with his previous rhetoric. In November 2024, he made comments laced with antisemitic insinuation, speaking of “Zionists” using “fear” and “money” to “run the world”, language rooted in age-old conspiracies that have fuelled centuries of violence. When the same individual now leads the charge to blame Israel for South Africa’s immigration procedures, his agenda is unmistakable.
A simple comparison exposes the falsehood. When Mandla Mandela returned from his Gaza flotilla stunt in October 2025, after six days in an Israeli detention cell, did his passport contain an exit stamp? It did not. Like every other traveller, he received only the electronic slip. Even the Palestinian Embassy added to the confusion, celebrating South Africa’s “waiver” of the nonexistent stamps on Facebook, while ignoring the basic reality of Israel’s well-established B/2 procedure.
South Africans deserve reporting grounded in fact, not outrage engineered for applause. Israel followed its standard protocol, South Africa alone controls its borders, and NGOs do not decide who enters the republic. It is time to replace misinformation with transparency and truth.
Israel confirmed that the passengers had left Gaza only after securing visas to “a third country”, with coordination from the organization responsible for the flight. This “third country” was later revealed by reporter Noga Tarnopolsky – who is highly critical of Israel – to be South Africa. And it seems they may have backtracked due to pressure from the South African public:
I got a little scoop tonight about the mysterious "third country" Israel claimed authorized the voyage of the 153 Gazans who were marooned in Johannesburg: it was South Africa. This has a number of ramifications. See more on @France24_en with @GavinLeeNews. pic.twitter.com/i8ZiRO2pog
— Noga Tarnopolsky נגה טרנופולסקי نوغا ترنوبولسكي (@NTarnopolsky) November 15, 2025
Other reporting seems to confirm that South Africa was this “third country”:
“We chose South Africa because we share the same morals and values,” said Gazan passenger Loai Abu Saif, reflecting on an emotional and exhausting three-day journey that ended with relief tonight. After being stranded for hours at OR Tambo International Airport due to… pic.twitter.com/HtQX6n4lcl
— Salaamedia (@salaamedia) November 13, 2025
Meanwhile, an X user called Tim Flack was contacted by one of the Gazans in South Africa, who gave their version of events:
I was contacted today by one of the Palestinians now in South Africa. She asked me not to share her name because she and others have been threatened about speaking out.
I managed to find “R” through social media. She had left Gaza for Indonesia, and through her, I was connected to another woman who trusted me to tell her story honestly.
She sent me voice notes in Arabic. I used AI transcription to translate every word. What she described is devastating.
They left Gaza through the legal humanitarian pathway coordinated by Al Majd with Israel and in accordance with Donald Trump’s Sharam al Sheikh ceasefire agreement, where Gazans can leave if they choose to. They escaped death, famine, and destruction. Israel facilitated their wish to leave Gaza, and they exited via Kerem Shalom, flew through Ramon Airport, and were routed through Kenya to South Africa.
But when they landed here, the suffering did not stop. She says the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian Embassy in South Africa pressured them, threatened them, and told them not to speak to the media. They were even told they might be sent back to Gaza by the Palestinian Embassy in South Africa.
They sat on a plane from 8am to 10pm with no clarity. Only after the Palestinian Muslim community here intervened were they finally allowed to enter the country and go to the hotels that Al Majd had already arranged for them. There is a feeling that applying for Asylum will have their passports taken away also.
They believe the initial mistreatment was triggered by the PA. She told me the PA had already blocked their earlier attempt to leave Gaza for Indonesia by ordering the embassy in Jakarta to cancel their visas.
This is their lived experience. These are their words. And the truth deserves to be heard.
If they had the chance to leave again, she said they would register immediately to save the rest of their family who remain in Gaza.
One of the messages they were sent from the Palestinian Embassy said this:
“We are about to issue an official press statement regarding the situation of the Palestinian group that arrived from Palestine.
It is very important that you all commit to not issuing any statements on social media and not communicating with any press outlet. If any journalists contact you, please direct them to speak with Sara. [ Presumably Sarah Oosthuizen from Gift Of the Givers]
The purpose of these instructions is not to restrict your freedom, but to protect your privacy and to ensure a better legal situation for you. We do not want any statements being made outside the approved framework, because that would create obstacles for the group.”
Notice who they do not blame: Israel.
South Africa tried to turn Gaza into a political football. Instead, the ball rolled right back at their feet – and they tripped over it.
The country that screams the loudest about “genocide” couldn’t even handle 153 Palestinians without descending into confusion, misinformation, conspiracy theories, and bureaucratic cruelty.
Israel helped these people leave Gaza. South Africa humiliated them.
And that tells you everything you need to know.
