South Africa continues to taunt the national-security interests of the United States. Earlier this year, amid American allegations that South Africa had supplied arms to Russia, the U.S. rebuked the government for hosting Russian and Chinese vessels for naval exercises. Now the administration in Pretoria has emerged as one of the staunchest allies of Iran and Hamas in the diplomatic war against Israel. It has repeatedly sought to excuse or downplay Hamas’s culpability for October 7, while stridently attacking the Israeli response. Beyond such rhetorical support, the particular risk is that South Africa will come to supply material support and sanctuary to Iran and its proxies in Africa.
On the day of the so-called Al-Aqsa Flood operation, South Africa’s foreign ministry issued a statement that not only did not condemn Hamas for the mass slaughter of defenseless people but did not even mention the terror group, instead managing to put the blame for what it euphemistically called this “new conflagration” entirely on Israel.
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