Few people in SA are unaware of Imtiaz Sooliman, founder and chair of the Gift of the Givers Foundation (GOTG), the largest nongovernmental disaster-response organisation of African origin.
GOTG has distributed R6bn in aid in 47 countries over the past 31 years. It has brought relief to survivors of the Rwandan genocide, Haitian earthquake, Ukrainian invasion, KwaZulu-Natal floods, Gaza air strikes, and countless others.
Lately though, in a set of responses to Sooliman’s deeply held convictions — which chime with the UN’s special committee to investigate Israeli practices that recently found Israel’s warfare in Gaza “consistent with the characteristics of genocide, with mass civilian casualties and life-threatening conditions intentionally imposed on Palestinians” — Sooliman finds himself in the crosshairs of a number of writers and organisations.
Lawrence Nowosenetz, former chair of the Jewish Board of Deputies’ Pretoria branch, alleged in an open letter that the humanitarian organisation donates money to groups blacklisted as terrorist organisations and objected to the Helen Suzman Foundations’ invitation to Sooliman to deliver the Helen Suzman memorial lecture.
Nowosenetz, who now lives in Tel Aviv, stated that Suzman was a strong supporter of Israel and claimed that inviting Sooliman contradicted the liberal values of the former Progressive Federal Party MP.
Sooliman responded that Gift of the Givers could account for every cent it received and donated. He had full confidence in the country’s law enforcement agencies to act if they had any reason to investigate him.
Former DA leader Tony Leon wrote on News24 that though Suzman would probably not have disinvited Sooliman, she would have called him out for his bigotry.
Steven Gruzd, writing in SA Jewish Report, said: “The questions linger. Will we ever know if tender procedures were followed to distribute the copious funds given to Gift of the Givers by the SA government? How was Sooliman able to operate so freely in territories controlled by Islamists? Where has all the money come from, and gone to?”
And lately, Marika Sboros — a journalist whose interests are listed as body-mind health, politics, religion, travel and whose passions include family, Israel, Greece, animals and Killer Sudoku — has waded into the fray, accusing Gift of the Givers of being linked to Iran’s geopolitical strategy, and Hamas. “It leaves Sooliman with a reputation as a ‘Jihadist Islamist fist in a humanitarian glove’, as one critic put it”, she says.
Writing on Politicsweb, Tim Flack, a firearms activist and communications professional with a background in military service, accused Sooliman of using his platform to spew conspiracy theories, accusing Zionists of controlling the world through money and fear, a well-worn trope rooted in anti-Semitism.
To be clear, this is what Sooliman said: “Every time we protested; the Zionists were too clever. They were arrogant, acting with impunity, put fear into you. They put fear into corporate corporations, into universities, into communities, into governments, into political parties, into associations. They run the world with fear. They control the world with money. And every time they say something, they terrify you and they say it’s anti-Semitic. But I’ve got a message for them: Find a new narrative.”
In the past Sooliman is on record calling for restraint from both sides. “Civilians cannot be attacked in a war and that applies to both sides … both sides must remember that there is no winner in war. Everybody loses out. The only way to solve this problem in the Middle East is to make peace, act rationally and make compromises.”
He went on to say: “This is not a thing about Jews against Muslims; it’s human against human. It’s not a religious thing … it’s about humanity. It’s in the interests of all parties to make compromises. The only way to solve the problem is to do what is just.”
Dare I say Sooliman’s message to various Zionists and their proxies to find a new narrative is apposite under the circumstances?
• Cachalia is a former DA MP and public enterprises spokesperson.
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