President Trump met with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office on Wednesday and confronted him with video evidence of the country’s treatment of white farmers.
President Trump called it a genocide and President Ramaphosa denied the scale of the problem and that it happened exclusively to white people. President Ramaphosa said that there is criminality in South Africa but people who get killed are not only white people.
What we have here is a tale of two “genocides.” Undoubtedly white farmers have been killed and it must be terrifying for them. By some estimates, more than 2,000 white farmers have been killed and the government does confiscate land but it also confiscates other white-owned business. But 50,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and President Trump has never confronted Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu like this.
Colonel Douglas Macgregor notes that this was likely done “at the behest of Israel.” South Africa has accused Israel of a genocide on the people of Gaza at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which Israel strongly condemns. By spotlighting alleged abuses in South Africa, Trump appears to be attempting to counter South Africa’s criticisms of Israel, thereby influencing international perceptions and diplomatic dynamics related to the Gaza conflict.
Will it work? It does not appear to be working.
