Opinion: From South Africa to Palestine: Trump's war to defend apartheid

US President Donald Trump’s executive order suspending aid to South Africa was framed as a righteous intervention. He positioned himself as the defender of an embattled minority, wielding sanctions to punish a government he accused of racial discrimination.

His target? A land-reform policy aimed at dismantling the entrenched economic and structural inequalities left by apartheid.

To his supporters, the story was simple: white farmers under siege, land confiscated without cause, another battle in the so-called war on western civilisation.

But the truth is far more insidious. This is not about justice. It is about shielding the last remnants of apartheid, propping up settler-colonialism, and preserving a world order built on racial and territorial supremacy.

Trump did not act alone. Behind him stood two powerful forces: a network of libertarian billionaires with ties to apartheid-era South Africa, and the pro-Israel lobby, both long invested in maintaining systems of racial and territorial dominance.

Read more: From South Africa to Palestine: Trump's war to defend apartheid Opinion by Soumaya Ghannoushi