The Rise of the Islamist Nightmare: From Israel to South Africa
If we continue to flirt with ideologies that glorify extremism in the name of religion, we may find our own freedoms eroded from within.
Written By: Thabelo Mahangani
Across the world, the “woke” culture has reshaped the language of political conflict to suit trending narratives, often at the expense of clarity, truth, and justice. Nowhere is this more evident than in the global debate over the Middle East. Terms like genocide, apartheid, and democracy are no longer used in their original meanings but are instead twisted to target specific groups, most commonly, the Jewish people.
Parliaments, university campuses, and political circles have become echo chambers for distorted definitions. Strangely, while democracies like Israel are smeared with terms like “apartheid,” totalitarian Islamic regimes such as Iran, Gaza, and Afghanistan escape that scrutiny, even as they blatantly discriminate on the basis of religion, gender, and sexual orientation.
Consider the example of President Cyril Ramaphosa. In a conversation with then-U.S. President Donald Trump, he refuted claims of “white genocide” in South Africa by pointing out that if genocide were real, the presence of white ministers in his cabinet would be impossible. That logic, however flawed, highlights how diluted and selectively applied the term genocide has become in political discourse.
In contrast, Islamic-ruled states like Iran and Gaza are almost entirely governed by adherents of Islam, often with exclusionary or punitive measures directed at minorities. Meanwhile, Israel remains a multi-ethnic democracy where Jews, Muslims, Christians, Ethiopians, Druze, and Arabs participate in public life, governance, and law enforcement. Arabic is not only spoken, it is an official language. So who is truly upholding democratic and pluralistic values?
More flags for Palestine wave in South African cities than South African flags themselves. But where are the flags for Nigeria, where Christian churches are attacked almost every Sunday? Where is the outrage for the people of Yemen, beheaded and displaced by the Houthis? Where are the marches for a “Free Congo,” where massacres by rebel groups like M23 continue under a cloak of silence?
What we are witnessing is not solidarity, it’s selective outrage. And the cost of this selective outrage is the erasure of countless lives and crises that deserve equal attention. The narrative surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been monopolized by emotional symbolism, while far more brutal and clear-cut cases of violence elsewhere are ignored because they don’t fit a fashionable or politically expedient narrative.
The misuse of the term apartheid has reached absurd heights. In South Africa, some who benefited from the apartheid regime cling to a minimalistic French definition, “separateness.” Meanwhile, survivors of the regime define it for what it was: a legal system of racial oppression. Yet many Islamic states around the world now enforce religious and gender-based apartheid in ways that would make apartheid architects blush. In countries like Iran, Afghanistan, and Saudi Arabia, women are barred from basic rights. LGBTQIA+ individuals risk imprisonment, flogging, or execution. Non-Muslims live as second-class citizens or worse, yet it is Israel, the only democracy in the region, that gets called the “apartheid state.”
In truth, Israel has granted full civil rights to over 2 million non-Jews and welcomed immigrants from countries such as Ethiopia, Russia, Iran, Yemen, and South Africa. Arab-Israelis serve in the army, teach in universities, and even marry across ethnic lines. Some serve in the Knesset and hold senior positions in medicine and academia. Jewish people, on the other hand, are banned from entering Palestinian-controlled areas like Area A in the West Bank. In Gaza, since Israel’s complete and unilateral withdrawal in 2005, Jews have had no access, by law or by threat. These are not metaphors; they are facts. They are exclusions enforced by arms and ideology.
Meanwhile, across Africa, Islamic extremist groups like Boko Haram, ISIS-Mozambique, and Al-Shabaab continue to destabilize governments, massacre civilians, and exploit religion to achieve territorial dominance. These groups use Islamic theology as a smokescreen for conquest. They target not only Christians and secular citizens, but even moderate Muslims. The violence is well-documented and widespread, yet it rarely elicits the same emotional or diplomatic response from the international community that Gaza does.
In South Africa, this threat is not hypothetical. In July 2025, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) rejected an application to register a political party called the Islamic State of Africa. The official reason was that the party failed to meet the 300-signature threshold. But unofficially, there was deep concern that the group’s ideology, rooted in Sharia law, was fundamentally incompatible with South Africa’s constitutional democracy. That moment should have triggered national reflection. Instead, it was met with silence.
Across Europe, similar tensions are growing. Islamist movements in France, Germany, and the UK have clashed with constitutional law, demanding Sharia recognition and rioting when denied. These actions are often justified as religious expression, but they mask a deeper objective: to create parallel legal systems under religious control. By contrast, countries like Poland, which have adopted a zero-tolerance stance on extremist religious infiltration, are enjoying economic and political stability.
South Africa must take note, and fast.
It is time to rethink our uncritical alignment with anti-Israel narratives. Strengthening diplomatic, strategic, and economic ties with Israel is not just a matter of foreign policy - it is a moral imperative. Israel stands as a buffer between radical theocratic expansion and liberal democratic survival. Supporting Israel is not about choosing sides in a faraway conflict; it is about defending human rights, pluralism, and freedom - values that South Africa claims to uphold.
If we continue to flirt with ideologies that glorify extremism in the name of religion, we may find our own freedoms eroded from within. The chaos that has gripped parts of Africa and the Middle East could very well find a home here, unless we choose clarity over confusion, courage over convenience, and truth over trend.
Thabelo Mahangani is a biologist, human rights activist, and former student leader at the University of the Witwatersrand. A Pentecostal scholar and vocal pro-Israel advocate, He engages critically with issues of religious freedom, regional security, and the rise of extremism in Africa and the Middle East, in the world at large.
Words brave and true. Many thanks.