1948 witnessed the establishments of both the state of Israel and the Republic of South Africa, which was led by the Nationalist Party through Apartheid ideology until 1994. In 1953, South Africa’s Prime Minister, Danie Malan, became the first head of government in the world to pay an official visit to Israel. This fact underlines the relationship that was to develop later between the two nations, a relationship that would endure into the post-Apartheid era – albeit in different forms.
The relationship between South Africa and Israel developed because it was mutually beneficial to both. As negotiations took place in South Africa between liberation movements and the Apartheid state, there were expectations that the relationship would be severed with the ushering in of a democratic government in South Africa, controlled by liberation organisations that had close ties to the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). However, while some areas of that relationship were downgraded, others were strengthened.