Supporters of the antisemitic BDS movement in South Africa have issued a cautious 'apology' for demanding the expulsion of Jewish students from the Durban University of Technology. Photo: Twitter

The student representative council at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) in South Africa has issued what it describes as an ‘apology’ for an earlier demand that “Jewish students, especially those who do not support the Palestinian struggle,” should be expelled from the campus.

“The SRC apologises without reservation to anyone offended by recent demands made by us regarding Jewish students,” the council said in a statement. However, the body pointedly did not say that it had reversed its demand.

“Once more, we repeat our position, Israel is an apartheid state that should be fully isolated; on this point we will not concede,” the SRC added.

“If there are any students, Jewish, Muslim, Christian, even atheists or any other that is funded by the apartheid state of Israel and its institutions they must not be students at DUT,” the SRC continued, in another example of the shrill hysteria that characterizes anti-Israel activity in South Africa. “If there are any, they must be immediately de-registered. Our campuses will not be breeding grounds for apartheid.”

The Council of KwaZulu-Natal Jewry said it was “appalled” by the SRC’s original demand to expel Jewish students, describing it as “blatantly antisemitic.”

Meanwhile, Jews in Cape Town were scheduled to hold a protest today against the visit to South Africa of Leila Khaled, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist who participated in two airplane hijackings between 1969 and 1970. Though she is now aged 70, Khaled remains a poster child for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement in South Africa, which is sponsoring a speaking tour for her.

In a statement, the South African Board of Jewish Deputies explicitly tied Khaled’s presence to the call to expel Jewish students from the DUT.

“Welcoming hate-mongers…to South Africa sends out a message that it is legitimate to discriminate against Jews, something that runs completely counter to the South African ethos of non-racialism, equality and tolerance,” the Board said.