Israel's Relationship with Apartheid South Africa: A Significant Alliance

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Israel's defense industry started growing in the 60s, leading to ties with countries like France, Germany, and the US. Israel recognized the importance of making friends to counter the strong Soviet-backed bloc at the UN that did not support Israel. In order to do so, Israel formed alliances with nations in Africa, including apartheid South Africa. The relationship between Israel and apartheid South Africa was significant, as they provided each other with defense support, diplomatic backing, and remained allies even when the US turned against South Africa. This alliance lasted until the end of apartheid in 1994, although the speaker contends that apartheid still exists economically in the country.

Paris Marx is joined by Antony Loewenstein to discuss how the Israeli weapons industry tests new military technologies on occupied Palestinians before selling them internationally.

Antony Loewenstein is an independent journalist who’s written for the New York Times and the Guardian. He’s the author of The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports The Technology Of Occupation Around The World. Follow Antony on Twitter at @antloewenstein.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

Excerpts from Antony’s book have been published by In These Times, Declassified Australia, and Jamal Khashoggi-founded Democracy for the Arab World Now. Antony also wrote a good overview of the book for Middle East Eye.
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, B’Tselem, and Yesh Din have called Israel’s actions apartheid.
Google and Amazon workers protested Project Nimbus. They also faced shareholder revolts over the project.
Airbnb lists properties in illegal Israeli settlements.
Red Wolf is deployed at checkpoints to scan Palestinians’ faces and add them to surveillance databases without their consent.
Facebook has been criticized for removing Palestinians’ posts.
The New York Times reported on Israel’s use of NSO Group surveillance tools for diplomatic leverage.
The Committee to Protect Journalists found Israel killed 20 journalists.