The chairman of the Jewish Agency, Maj. Gen. (res.) Doron Almog, has canceled a planned trip to South Africa due to fears that authorities in that country could seek his arrest, the agency said Sunday.
The decision was made as a precaution, in order to avoid the risk of potential legal and diplomatic problems arising during the visit, the agency said.
Since Hamas launched its war against Israel on October 7, 2023, South Africa has been among the countries most antagonistic toward Israel. In December 2023, the South African government took Israel to the International Court of Justice, charging that Israel’s military campaign against Hamas in Gaza was an act of genocide.
In November 2024, South Africa applauded a decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant, calling the decision a “significant step towards justice for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Palestine.”
Pretoria has also threatened to arrest IDF soldiers and Israeli officials entering the country. Although no such arrests have been made to date, the threat weighs heavily on the local Jewish community.
Other countries, such as Australia, have canceled visas for visiting Israeli diplomats and pro-Israel influencers, straining diplomatic relations. The Jewish Agency apparently wanted to preempt the possibility of such complications.
While Almog retired from the IDF in 2003 and has not been involved in the war in Gaza, there have been previous attempts to issue international arrest warrants for him.
Almog enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces in 1969, serving in the Paratroopers’ Reconnaissance Company — including during the famed 1976 raid on Entebbe — and rose through the military’s ranks over the next three and a half decades to the position of Southern Command chief, retiring in 2003.
Almog was at the center of international controversy in 2005 after Palestinian activists in the United Kingdom got a court to issue an arrest warrant for him over his role in the demolition of a Palestinian home in the Gaza Strip, which they said amounted to a war crime.
Almog was made aware of the arrest warrant after he and his wife touched down in the UK. To avoid an incident, he stayed on the plane and flew back to Israel on it. The arrest warrant was later rescinded and the British foreign secretary apologized.
Almog has chaired the Jewish Agency since 2022.
He is a relative of Chen Goldstein Almog, who was taken hostage along with three of her children in the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, massacre that launched the war in Gaza. Her husband Nadav and eldest daughter Yam were murdered that day, while she and her children Agam, Gal, and Tal were released together in the first round of the deal in November 2023.
Despite the cancellation of Almog’s trip to South Africa, the Jewish Agency’s operations with Jewish communities in 66 countries remain uninterrupted, the organization noted. The organization works around the world to strengthen Jewish identity, encourage immigration to Israel, and support integration and community development.