even if I have sometimes made restrained remarks:
At a moment when anyone with a claim to a share in the Mandela legacy is proud to make that connection, Israel has a painfully difficult case to make.Kevin Connolly/BBC 06.Dec.13
It was a close, if secretive, ally and arms supplier [to]apartheid South Africa and there is a good case to be made that Israeli support helped the all-white regime in Pretoria to last longer than it otherwise might have.
There have been stories - which are difficult to substantiate definitively - that the co-operation extended into Israel sharing nuclear weapons technology.
Mr Mandela observed sharply that when he was finally released from prison he received invitations to visit "from almost every country in the world, except Israel".
