In a stormy session of the Johannesburg City Council last Thursday, a motion to block the renaming of the U.S. consulate’s street after a Palestinian terrorist was voted down and a councilor shouted “we want Hitler” at a Jewish colleague.

Members of Johannesburg City Council have since 2018 sought to rename a central artery in the South African city after Palestinian terrorist Leila Khaled. The council voted on Thursday against a motion to keep the current name, Sandton Drive.

Khaled became known as the world’s first female hijacker for her role in two attacks in 1969 as a member of the terrorist group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

The address of the U.S. consulate in Johannesburg is currently 1 Sandton Drive; if the effort is successful, the consulate’s new address would be 1 Leila Khaled Drive. 

Joel Pollak, Breitbart’s senior editor-at-large, who confirmed reports from South African media and political parties that he is a leading candidate for U.S. ambassador in Pretoria, posted on X after the vote that the American consulate in Johannesburg should be closed if the street is renamed after the terrorist.

The Patriotic Alliance, a South African opposition party, said in a statement that “besides the fact that Sandton Drive hosts the U.S. Consulate and it would be profoundly insulting towards [the U.S.] and contrary to South Africa’s diplomatic relations with our second-largest trading partner, there are many deserving South African historical heroes who should rather be considered and who continue to be overlooked.”

“Leila Khaled threw a hand grenade at children during a failed plane hijacking and it was only God’s grace that prevented it from going off,”  the Patriotic Alliance noted.

Sandton, the neighborhood in which the road is located, is home to many of South Africa’s 50,000 Jews. 

Wendy Kahn, national director of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, said that the umbrella organization “will continue to vehemently oppose the renaming of Sandton Drive after a plane hijacker and member of a recognized terror organization. In this regard, we have worked tirelessly with all our friends in the Johannesburg City Council and we will continue to work with them to find a solution that will unite and not divide.”

Al Jama-ah, a pro-Palestinian party on the council that proposed the name change, said that it wanted to show solidarity with the Palestinians; the party’s one representative in the 270-seat council expressed support for Hamas soon after the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel.

In the same Johannesburg City Council meeting, Daniel Schay, an observant Jewish member, gave a speech about the city’s poor infrastructure and other services. Schay wore a white kippah with a blue Star of David in the middle, as well as a tie with Israeli flags on it. He also donned a pin with the South African and Israeli flags on his lapel, as well as a yellow ribbon symbolizing the Israeli hostages held in Gaza, and the cover on his laptop displayed South African and Israeli flags.

Councilor Tebogo Nkonkou interjected to object to the laptop skin, saying that if Schay can display it in a council meeting, “I will also come with a shirt with the face of Hitler on it. Hitler! Hitler!”

When the councilor presiding over the meeting told Nkonkou that he was “setting a very bad example,” he responded by chanting: “We want Hitler!” 

Another councilor interrupted the speech, calling Schay’s laptop cover one of “South Africa and the racist Jewish state” and called for it to be removed. Others called it an “apartheid flag,” and chants of “from the river to the sea,” often interpreted as a call to eliminate the State of Israel, could be heard.

Nobuhle Mthembu, the council’s speaker, responded that Schay could not be forced to remove it. Mthembu later said there are such disruptions every time Schay speaks.

Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku, the leader of Schay’s party, the Democratic Alliance, asked councilors from the African National Congress, the party that has led South Africa since the end of apartheid, “Are Jews and their religious symbols not allowed in this house anymore?” Several councilors shouted back: “Yes.”

Schay posted a video of his complete speech with all of its interruptions on X with the message: “If you want [to] understand why Trump hates the ANC watch what I deal with at most council meetings.” 

A day later, Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared South African Ambassador to the U.S. Ebrahim Rasool to be persona non grata after the South African envoy called President Donald Trump the leader of a worldwide white supremacist movement. Rubio linked to an article by Pollak in his announcement on X.

The South African Zionist Federation said that “this outcome was both foreseeable and entirely the fault of the ANC-led government.” The SAZF noted Rasool’s “well-documented ties to radical Islamist networks, his relentless hostility towards Israel, and his past antagonism towards the United States,” saying that Pretoria “chose to send an envoy whose presence in Washington was bound to provoke tensions with the Trump administration.”

Rasool has long associated with and expressed public support for Hamas.