It’s Not Even Close To Being One

In his book “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid”, Jimmy Carter implied that Israel is an apartheid state although he didn’t actually say so, and although one could perhaps argue that he was only referring to the West Bank,

even that wouldn’t be appropriate either.

Israel proper is in no way an apartheid state, and although the West Bank does have security restrictions, they cannot be compared to the apartheid that existed in South Africa of days gone by.

To Carter’s credit, he did apologize but the apology was late in coming and intentionally vague.

So What Is Apartheid?

The Oxford English dictionary describes apartheid as;

The South African (policy of) racial segregation of the White inhabitants from the remainder.

Also transf. & fig., any other form of (esp. racial) segregation.

[Afk., lit. ‘separateness’, f. Du. apart apart + heid -hood.]

The term “apartheid” would most often be understood to mean a State where political and civil rights are withheld on the basis of race and race alone, so let’s look and see if this can be applied to Israel.

In Israel

In Israel, Arabs make up about one about one-fifth of the population and they have exactly the same civil and political rights as Israeli Jews.

Arabs sit in the Knesset and although some opt to serve in the military, most decline and are not drafted as are Jewish Israelis.

Arabs use the same buses and can enter any shop or restaurant as Jewish Israelis and use the same toilets etc.

In South Africa

In South Africa, the whites were the minority and not the majority as in Israel, and non-whites were not only denied civil rights, but as of 1958, they were even deprived of citizenship.

Non-whites had to use separate buses, separate shops, restaurants and toilets etc.

No Comparison

So it should be clear from the above that Israel proper is in no way similar to apartheid S. Africa.

The West Bank

In the West Bank the minority does govern the majority, because the area is under Israeli military rule, but the rule is based on security concerns and not on race or color and successive Israeli governments have proposed returning up to 98% of it once a peace plan has been agreed.

Again, there are no segregated cafes, shops and toilets etc.

Slanderous Comments

Israel’s critics do themselves no favors by continually calling Israel apartheid, because it’s not only clearly untrue but it’s also slanderous, and it also makes it easy for Israeli leaders to simply point to countries like Saudi Arabia, where women can’t even drive, let alone vote.

What’s more, it also encourages Israel to point a finger at many countries in the Muslim world where Palestinians frequently have far fewer rights than they do in Israel.

Israel Is Far From Politically Perfect

Israel like every country has its faults and Palestinians have their case, but when their case is bolstered by lies and slander, it denigrates the Palestinian cause; which if valid should not need lies.

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