Al-Qalam 
By Nabeelah Shaikh
Scores of people, including community leaders, packed the Durban’s Magistrate’s Court this week to catch a glimpse of Grayson Beare, the Durban man accused of killing a 44-year-old Umbilo Muslim woman allegedly because she spoke out against the Israeli genocide in Gaza.
Beare is accused of breaking into the Preston family home early on Sunday morning and stabbing Halima Hoosen Preston 15 times and also stabbing her husband, Shaun Preston and their son. Both father and son survived the attack and are receiving treatment. Their teenage daughter is traumatised after witnessing the horrific attack on her family.
Grayson Beare is the adopted son of Julian Beare, a prominent Jewish family and Shareholder of Beare Holding. In an online statement, the family said they were horrified at the killing and expressed their sympathy to the Preston family.
They said they would not pay for his defence. They also said he had mental issues and had a problem with substance abuse.
In an online video that went viral, Grayson Beare was filmed speaking to two men, presumably policemen – about the reasons why he attacked the family.
He was remanded in custody for seven days at Westville Prison. The National Prosecuting Authority said they would be opposing Grayson’s bail application. It ordered that a mental assessment be conducted, and he will appear in court again on June 11.
Meanwhile, hundreds of angry community members gathered outside the court to show their support and call for “no bail”.
Imraan Subrathie, head of the United For Palestine group, said: “It’s a critical point in history for us as Palestinian activists…it’s a very sombre time for us because we have seen one of our kind, one of the people who stand for humanity being killed. Today, she is deceased, and the only sin she committed was standing up for justice.”.
Subrathie said this case was a litmus test for South Africa and the justice system.
“We have complete faith and belief in the justice system. I was quite touched when the magistrate asked the accused if he had a wound on his nose and if he had any other wounds. This is the respect that we and our South African justice system show even to criminals.
“How dare people disrespect the law of the land and go and take the life of an innocent person? All she did was stand up and say that we cannot allow the killing of innocent children to take place,” said Subrathie.
The South African Muslim Network (SAMNET) has also condemned the attack.
“This heinous and cowardly attack was ostensibly perpetrated by a known Zionist acting against a family with pro-Palestinian views.
He has called on the South African Jewish community to condemn the attack.
“The supporters of Israel must be asked: ‘Do you support this barbaric attack?’. In the absence of an outright condemnation by supporters of Israel in South Africa, the logical conclusion will be that they support this crime. To date, none of the Palestinian resistance movements has ever called for attacks on any Zionists or pro-Israeli enablers anywhere in the world since the creation of the apartheid Israeli state,” said Suliman.
He said even though Israel prides itself on assassinations of Palestinians all over the world, the Palestinian resistance movements have never called for an attack nor attacked any Israeli or Jewish person anywhere outside the occupied territories.
“The silence of the Zionist supporters in South Africa over this killing is shocking. It is essential that everybody condemns this killing with the disgust and contempt it deserves,” said Suliman. Suliman has also called for calm.
“Our anger must be directed toward support for the family, peaceful support at court appearances of the perpetrator, ensuring this case gets the full attention and resources of the SAPS and NPA. We should increase our activities toward support for the freedom of the Palestinian people,” said Suliman.
The Jamiatul Ulama in KwaZulu-Natal has issued a statement saying the Zionist hatred for Palestinians and their supporters seems to have no limits.
“While the entire world and especially the youth in Western academic institutions are demanding that the Gaza genocide be stopped with immediate effect, we still have elements in our society who are hell-bent on defending this indefensible genocide,” the statement read.
It also said that this crime was shocking in a country like South Africa, which champions human rights, given our dark history of racial bigotry and apartheid.
“We call on the government and the criminal justice system to ensure that this terrorist and cold-blooded murderer is put away behind bars for life without bail or parole to ensure that justice is served,” read the statement.
