South Africa is grappling with a surge of xenophobic violence targeting foreign nationals, and a growing conspiracy theory circulating in the country blames Israel for the unrest, tying it to South Africa's genocide case against the Jewish state at the International Court of Justice.
The violence has escalated sharply in recent months. Vigilante groups, most prominently Operation Dudula and the newer March and March movement led by former radio host Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, have conducted unauthorized citizenship checks, blocked migrants from accessing clinics, and physically attacked foreign nationals and foreign-owned businesses across the country.
On May 3, five Ethiopian migrants were killed in a series of attacks in Johannesburg, three of them shot dead inside a McDonald's restaurant. These groups issued a public ultimatum demanding that undocumented African migrants leave South Africa by June 30, and organized a threatened nationwide shutdown tied to that deadline. Nigeria and other African governments have responded with emergency repatriation operations for their citizens amid the unrest.
Rather than being tied to South Africa's domestic economic and social pressures, a theory has spread on social media claiming Israel is behind the violence, either as retaliation for South Africa's genocide case against it at the ICJ, or as part of an effort to destabilize and eventually take over the country. According to the South African Jewish Report, the theory has been promoted by social media influencers, including one who claimed xenophobia would disappear entirely if South Africa withdrew its ICJ case, and by pages such as TruVision International, which has roughly 68,000 followers and has framed the unrest as part of a so called Greater Israel project targeting Southern Africa next.
The narrative gained further traction when South Africa's Justice Minister Ronald Lamola suggested there was coordinated foreign interference behind the unrest and explicitly linked that suggestion to the ICJ case, without naming Israel directly.
The South African Zionist Federation responded by formally writing to the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights to raise alarm over the remarks. SAZF National Chairperson Craig Pantanowitz said South Africa's moral standing is being eroded by leaders who reach for conspiracy theories instead of taking responsibility for what is happening at home, and argued that invoking vague foreign manipulation to explain a domestic social failure shifts focus from the real problem while mirroring the same scapegoating that lies at the root of xenophobic violence itself.
Pantanowitz and other Jewish community leaders have pointed out that South Africa's xenophobia crisis predates its ICJ case against Israel by more than a decade and a half. South Africa experienced its most devastating wave of xenophobic violence in 2008, when more than 60 people were killed and over 100,000 displaced, years before South Africa filed its genocide case in December 2023. Similar outbreaks have recurred repeatedly since then, and the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights has long recognized xenophobia as a persistent, homegrown problem in the country.
South African Jewish Board of Deputies National Chairperson Professor Karen Milner also condemned the trend toward conspiracy theories, saying resorting to blaming Israel does nothing to protect a single migrant or address the underlying causes of the crisis, and that the victims of xenophobic violence deserve accountability rather than scapegoating.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has publicly condemned the xenophobic violence and vowed there is no place in South Africa for xenophobia, racism or any other form of intolerance, while pledging to strengthen border enforcement and crack down on undocumented immigration and those who employ undocumented workers.
