“Ramaphosa and the ANC stood on a global stage and falsely accused the State of Israel of genocide. And now, in the Oval Office, in front of the whole world, they themselves are being accused of genocide.”

These were South Africa’s Chief Rabbi Dr. Warren Goldstein’s words in the wake of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s May 21 meeting with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office. Describing the Oval Office meeting as an “embarrassing spectacle,” Goldstein noted the justice of the genocide accusations Trump leveled at the South African president.

“As I watched President Ramaphosa literally squirm in his seat, visibly uncomfortable, humiliated as President Trump accused him of genocide in his own country, the thought kept crossing my mind: This felt like Divine retribution. It felt like justice for the ICJ case — a lie, a libel, a defamation of an entire nation.” Goldstein warned, “I am not a prophet. But you can feel it in the air… the weight of a curse settling on this presidency.”

>> Watch additional episodes by Rabbi Warren Goldstein, Chief Rabbi of South Africa: https://www.youtube.com/@chiefrabbigoldstein

Quoting Genesis 12:3 — “Those who bless you will be blessed, and those who curse you will be cursed” — he added, “President Ramaphosa and the ANC cursed Israel. And now, it feels as though they are being cursed.”

At the tense White House meeting, Trump confronted Ramaphosa with graphic documented evidence of the violent attacks on white farmers that are symptomatic of a wider crime rate that has “spiraled out of control.”

“The White House meeting between President Ramaphosa and President Trump in the full glare of the media served to highlight the appalling failures of South Africa’s ruling elite to deal with violent crime,” said Goldstein. He reserved particular condemnation for Ramaphosa’s failure to disavow hate speech, specifically the notorious “Kill the Boer” chant, which Trump played aloud during the meeting.

“Every decent human being in the world watching this knows instinctively that ‘Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer’ is hate speech and criminal incitement to violence… Everyone knows it is wrong, except President Ramaphosa, who has never publicly condemned the chant — not even in the Oval Office when he had every opportunity and motive to do so.”

The Chief Rabbi’s critique went far deeper, taking aim at the South African judiciary and the country’s entire governance structure:

“The Judges of the Constitutional Court should hang their heads in shame,” he said, after condemning their ruling that “Kill the Boer” did not constitute hate speech or incitement. “This judgment casts a shadow on the integrity and legacy of the Constitutional Court and makes a mockery of their role as the guardian of human rights.”

Goldstein noted the murder rate in South Africa – a country where more than 70 people are murdered each day and where, in 2024, more were murdered than in the combined populations of the US, EU, UK, Australia, and New Zealand. “To destroy one life is to destroy a world,” he quoted from the Talmud. “Every day, 70 worlds are destroyed. Every day, 70 South African lives are brutally cut short, 70 families condemned to a lifetime of unbearable grief and loss.”

Goldstein noted Ramaphosa’s “total inability to protect South Africans” and how endemic and persistent state security and policing failures have pushed citizens into extreme measures. The middle class has resorted to hiring private security, while the poor, in desperation, increasingly turn to vigilantism.

“This represents a government failing at the most fundamental level. The first responsibility of any government — the most basic obligation — is to protect its own people. That is non-negotiable. That is the foundation of statehood. And to its eternal shame, the government has failed in that duty. President Ramaphosa has failed in that duty.”

Goldstein closed his address with a pointed message to Ramaphosa:

“The shame and embarrassment you experienced in the Oval Office… is a small taste of what is to come when your soul leaves this world… The King of all kings will ask what you did to stop the carnage, the genocide. What you went through this week is nothing in comparison… You will be held eternally accountable for every moment of human suffering you caused through your callous neglect.”

>> Watch additional episodes by Rabbi Warren Goldstein, Chief Rabbi of South Africa: https://www.youtube.com/@chiefrabbigoldstein