According to the Gospel of Mathew and John, Pontius Pilate asked Jewish leaders and chief priests, “What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” The Jewish leadership together with an unruly mob of people in Jerusalem, answered, “Crucify him!” Again Pilate asked, “Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’?” They shouted back, “No, not him! Give us Barabbas!” For religious sensitivity, permit me to skip the horror that then followed. But as Pilate put it, Jesus’ own people and chief priests handed him to face his gruesome demise.
But it would neither be the first nor the last. Centuries thereafter, when black Southern Africans were facing bloody extinction from a murderous and sadistic apartheid regime in South Africa, Israel supported the white supremacist regime. Israel provided expertise and technology that was central to South Africa’s development of its nuclear bombs. Israel supported the killing of black women and children without an iota of shame. It was therefore, not surprising in 2016 when Israel Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon openly declared support for Islamic State. Israel would go on to arm and fund IS and at least other 12 rebel groups operating in Syria. The military support, included assault rifles, machine guns, mortar launchers and transport vehicles. Despite the political and financial capital, it carries, is this the kind of company that the ‘New Jerusalem’ faction really wants to keep?
The pertinent question is; should we be surprised by the alleged intimate relationship between the ‘New Jerusalem’ faction and Israel security apparatus? In the light of what we know now, the answer is a definite and defiant, NO! Although the name of the faction says it all, the reality is that, as we speak, P118 million looted from National Petroleum Fund is in the hands of Israeli security firm, Dignia Systems. As how it reached there, only former Director General of Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS) and his close-knit cabal can tell. For some reason, this is the same cabal behind the ‘New Jerusalem’ camp. What a coincidence! But we cannot leave our country’s fate to coincidence. We need answers.
The sad reality is that, as securocrats and state security agencies appropriated both the economic and political space, ultimately dictating the body-politic narrative, they did so with the conscious help of Israeli security apparatus. It is apparent that they could not have attained securitisation without outsourcing key national security components to middlemen and ‘mercenaries’ with deep connections to the Israeli security/military-industrial complex. Under the guise of a web of joint ventures, dummy companies and middlemen, Israel continued to dictate and drive defence and security agenda in Botswana.
Israeli security establishments enjoyed special procurement dispensation with little to no competition. Israeli security firms did not only act as catalyst in the securitisation drive, but also defined and dictated our national security agenda and architecture. The DIS in particular, was heavily reliant on Israeli expertise for hardware and trade-in-services. Intrusive surveillance and monitoring paraphernalia was solely Israeli. Further to this, the opaque relationship between Israeli firm, Timor Consulting and the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) was indicative of the extent of Israeli involvement and influence on Botswana’s ruling elites.
The relationship was a clear expression of Israel’s desire to extend her influence beyond the confines of the defence and security sector. The sad reality is that, the current Khama-Masisi fight has left the country polarised and vulnerable to ‘third forces’ seeking to manipulate ethnicity and other social to blackmail us into bloodbath that will serve their interests. By the look of things, driven by self-serving agendas, the ‘New Jerusalem’ camp stand ready to sacrifice the country in pursuit of illusive, idealised and eschatological New Jerusalem.’