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Monessa Shapiro

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Jun 21, 2018, 8:59 PM

Shashi Naidoo, South Africa: What it means

“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” So said Evelyn Beatrice Hall in 1906 in The Friends of Voltaire. But in the topsy-turvy world in which we live...

Jan 12, 2018, 6:18 PM

A letter to Ahed Tamimi

Dear Ahed Firstly, let me tell you how sad I am that you are in prison. Prison is certainly not the place for children. If only you could be shopping with your friends, swimming in the pool or going to...

Nov 16, 2015, 7:53 PM

Where are the settlements?

We woke to a traumatised France on Saturday morning. We woke to a frightened and shaken Europe. For as easily as it happened in Paris, so too could it happen anywhere in this topsy-turvy world of ours. We are...

Oct 13, 2015, 6:29 PM

Dead Jews are not newsworthy

Israel is shortly going to make headlines again. Every front page of every newspaper, and every talk-show host will before long be discussing Israel’s disproportionate response, her aggression and her downright wickedness. For soon, very soon the Israeli people and...

Sep 10, 2015, 10:36 AM

Our loyalty is being questioned

I am a third generation South African, tracing my roots back some 125 years. My parents instilled in me a love for South Africa and for her people, for all of her people. In the early 1990s when, fearing...

Sep 15, 2014, 3:42 PM

It’s not about the occupation, but about Israel, says the ANC

Jessie Duarte, Rene Smit, Tony Ehrenreich, and now Gwede Mantashe. And we the Jews of South Africa know where we stand. Gwede Mantashe, Secretary General of the ANC, issued a statement, as part of the Alliance Secretariat, stating that...

Jul 11, 2014, 10:26 AM

An Open letter to Jessie Duarte, Deputy Secretary General of the ANC in response to her statement on Operation Protective Edge

An open letter to Jessie Duarte Déjà vu. We’ve been there before. Hamas fires rockets incessantly into Israel aimed at Israeli civilians. Eventually Israel responds by firing missiles into Gaza aimed at destroying the terrorist...

Nov 26, 2013, 5:42 PM

An Israeli truth: fact or fiction

“When there is no-one left to bear witness, how far can we trust the evidence of our eyes alone” Yael Hersonski, director of the movie, ‘A Film Unfinished’ questions. "Even when there are those to bear witness, how far...

Nov 14, 2013, 4:22 PM

To be anti-israel is not anti-Jewish says the Ahmed Kathrada foundation

In an attempt to placate Jews, Neeshan Balton, on behalf of the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, has recently come out with the statement that “being opposed to Israeli occupation is not anti-Jewish.” How do you respond to something seemingly so credible,...

Nov 7, 2013, 6:21 PM

An open letter to South Africa’s Foreign Minister Maite Nkoane-Mashabane

Dear Minister, I read with much incredulity and I must confess a certain amount of relief your remarks about Palestine and the fact that it keeps you awake at night. You see, as a South African grandmother I often find myself...

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About Me

Monessa Shapiro is a member of Media Team Israel, a South African based Israel advocacy group.