Afrikaner resettled by US Jewish group as a refugee denies accusations of antisemitism
Charl Kleinhaus says posts taken out of context as US media scrutinizes members of white South African minority Trump admitted after accusing Pretoria of genocide against them
A South African Afrikaner resettled as a refugee in the United States with the assistance of a Jewish group on Monday has made antisemitic comments on social media in 2023, including after the Hamas onslaught of October 7 that year, US media reported.
Charl Kleinhaus, 46, was being resettled in Buffalo, New York, after arriving with 58 other Afrikaners on a US government-chartered plane following US President Donald Trump’s offer of asylum to them after accusation that South Africa was committing a “genocide” against the white minority group, which had dominated the country’s apartheid regime.
Kleinhaus has called Jews “untrustworthy” and accused them of targeting Christians, past social media posts show. His antisemitic comments surfaced as the Trump administration has sought to deport foreign students it has accused of antisemitism due to their anti-Israel activity throughout the war in Gaza.
Kleinhaus has denied that he is an antisemite and said his posts were taken out of context. The US Department of Homeland Security declined to comment on Kleinhaus specifically, but said “any claims of misconduct are thoroughly investigated, and appropriate action will be taken as necessary.”
The Hebrew Immigration Aid Society, which is helping to resettle Kleinhaus, did not respond to multiple requests for comment, the Washington Post said Friday.
The allegations against Kleinhaus were first published on Wednesday by The Bulwark. The news site, which was launched by anti-Trump conservatives in 2018, gave three instances of antisemitic posts by an X account bearing Kleinhaus’s name in 2023. In an initial response to The Bulwark, Kleinhaus confirmed the account was his, but said he was too busy with paperwork to provide further comment.
Charl Kleinhaus tells the BBC he had no choice but to leave his farm in South Africa after receiving death threats. pic.twitter.com/Gu1g06nags
— TOP X News (@TOPXNews) May 16, 2025
The first, since-deleted post, from April 15, said “Jews are untrustworthy and a dangerous group,” in response to footage of clashes between Israeli security forces and Christian worshippers headed to the Church of the Nativity, in the West Bank’s Bethlehem. In a statement cited by The New York Times, Kleinhaus said he had written that post by mistake while on kidney stone medication, adding: “I come from Jewish descendants, and I have huge respect for them.”
In the second post, from October 7, 2023, the account responded to news of “clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces in East Jerusalem” by linking to days-old Al Jazeera footage of Orthodox Jews spitting on Christians there. The link was captioned: “Jews spitting on Christians!” The post has been made private.
The second post’s timestamp was 6:51 a.m. With South Africa an hour before Israel, that would mean the post was published an hour and 22 minutes after the rocket sirens in Israel that marked the start of the Hamas onslaught, which went on to kill some 1,200 people and see 251 taken hostage, sparking the war in Gaza.
In a post five days later, which has also been made private, the account wrote “Jews attacking Christians!” as it linked to footage published six months prior by a Facebook page called “Israel is a terrorist state,” The Bulwark said. The video showed Israeli security forces clashing with Christian worshipers at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem’s Old City.
Afrikaner arrival Charl Kleinhaus is now claiming he was simply copy/pasting someone else’s tweet to show others.
But he has made several antisemitic posts. https://t.co/g2JLISh9zi pic.twitter.com/HOYeutCVWW
— berman jewish databank peruser (@cholent_lover) May 14, 2025
Speaking to The Washington Post on Thursday, Kleinhaus said his comments were “completely misinterpreted. It’s not against everybody. I was speaking about the people there.”
He told the Post he was “very, very angry with the video” of security forces clashing with Christians in Bethlehem. “I will protect my Christian heritage and my Christian faith all the way,” he said.
“You get angry. You get irrational. You say stupid things,” said Kleinhaus. “I probably should have worded it better.”
In the statement cited by The Times, Kleinhaus also said he was a staunch supporter of Israel. The newspaper said he had “shared a mix of mostly pro- and some anti-Israel posts.” He has also posted in support of Trump, the newspaper said.
Trump told reporters earlier Monday that he’s admitting the Afrikaners as refugees because of the “genocide that’s taking place” against them. He said that in post-apartheid South Africa, white farmers are “being killed,” and he plans to address the issue with South African leadership next week.
Allegations of racism against South Africa over its land re-distribution laws have also been shared by billionaire Trump supporter Elon Musk, himself a white South African, though of English rather than Afrikaner descent.
The accusation of genocide has been strongly disputed by South Africa’s government, experts and even the Afrikaner group AfriForum, which has accused South Africa’s government of failing to take the farm attacks seriously.
South Africa’s government — which itself accuses Israel of genocide in Gaza, an accusation Jerusalem has rejected — said the US allegations that the white minority Afrikaners are being persecuted are “completely false,” the result of misinformation and an inaccurate view of the country. It cited the fact that Afrikaners are among the richest and most successful people in the country.
The Times said Trump was granting refugee status to the Afrikaners despite having “made it virtually impossible for any other group to become refugees, including Afghans who helped American forces in their country.”
AP contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.