Organisational Rebuttal Document

Executive Summary

The Media Review Network (MRN) issues this formal rebuttal to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) report titled Hiding in Plain Sight: A Playbook for Combating Hamas in South Africa (25 August 2025). The report misrepresents South Africa’s foreign policy, civil society, and humanitarian efforts, and promotes a politically motivated narrative aimed at undermining legitimate solidarity with the Palestinian people.

1.  Sovereign Foreign Policy and International Legitimacy

South Africa’s diplomatic engagement with all Palestinian political entities, including Hamas, aligns with international norms and reflects its commitment to inclusive peacebuilding. The United Nations recognises the right of Palestinians to self-determination and the legitimacy of their representative institutions. Demands for South Africa to adopt foreign designations of ‘terrorism’ violate the UN Charter’s principle of sovereign equality.

2.  Deliberate misapplication of the ‘Terrorism’ Label

The FDD report selectively applies the term ‘terrorism’, ignoring that Hamas is not designated as such by the UN Security Council. The report encompasses typical colonial-inspired language that pressures the international community to adopt the language of the colonial West. The terrorists of the West are assumed to be the terrorists of the international community. The authors need to provincialise their Eurocentrism to Europe and not push the narrative that the international community consists of Europe and North America. The terrorism label is in urgent need of decolonisation. Armed resistance is the legitimate right of any colonised population, the world over. This includes Hamas. Meanwhile, Israel’s documented violations, including apartheid, illegal settlements, and attacks on civilians, are omitted, revealing a biased and incomplete analysis.

 3.  Defamation of Civil Society Organisations

The report unjustly targets respected South African organisations such as MRN, Gift of the Givers, and Al-Quds Foundation. These entities operate transparently, provide humanitarian aid, promote interfaith dialogue, and work to ensure that the plight of the Palestinians is not relegated to the margins of our epistemic orientation. Criminalising their work contravenes international humanitarian law and undermines global relief efforts.

4.  Misrepresentation of Mandela’s Legacy

The report distorts Nelson Mandela’s legacy by suggesting that solidarity with Palestine contradicts his vision. Mandela explicitly linked South Africa’s freedom to the liberation of Palestinians, affirming the moral and historical basis of South Africa’s stance. The legacy of

Nelson Mandela is being weaponized against solidarity movements. The Nelson Mandela Foundation is the sole custodian of the legacy of Mandela and should be consulted for his views on Palestine.

5.  Politicisation of Financial Instruments

Calls to use Financial Action Task Force greylisting and sanctions as punitive measures against South Africa reflect coercive colonial intent rather than genuine counterterrorism concerns. This misuse of financial tools threatens the integrity of global regulatory frameworks and disproportionately impacts Global South economies. This represents the weaponisation of international financial instruments to intimidate and ensure compliance with the Euro-American colonial dictates.

Conclusion

To state the obvious, the FDD report is not a neutral policy analysis but a strategic attempt to delegitimise South Africa’s principled support for Palestinian rights. American civil society organisations, more aptly propaganda organisations, are being roped into the Trump Administration’s fight to malign South Africa for its solidarity with and attempts to bring justice to Palestine. The MRN reaffirms South Africa’s sovereign right and moral duty to stand against racial oppression and uphold international law. We reject all efforts to silence solidarity and criminalise humanitarianism. Make no mistake, this is all about South Africa’s solidarity with Palestine and the ICJ case.