When people make that claim, it say everything about the person making the statement and nothing about the Jewish state.
Op-Ed: On the ‘Israel is an Apartheid State’ Slander
Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld
The writer has been a long-term adviser on strategy issues to the boards of several major multinational corporations in Europe and North America.He is board member and former chairman of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and recipient of the LIfetime Achievement Award (2012) of the Journal for the Study of Anti-Semitism.
If Israel tried to apply Israeli law to the few Palestinian Arabs under its jurisdiction, it would be heavily criticized by world opinion.
“Israel is a multi-racial and also a multi-colored society. It has free elections with universal voting rights. Its judiciary is independent and enjoys high international standing. Jews comprise 80% of the population. Arabs, mainly Muslims but also Druze and Christians, are the largest minority. Like all other minorities, they actively participate in the political process. Incitement to racism in Israel is a criminal offense.
“Since Israel became independent in 1948, there have always been Arab parliamentarians. There have been Arab cabinet ministers and deputy speakers of the Knesset. There are Arab judges on various courts including the Supreme Court. There are many Arab doctors in hospitals, as well as heads of departments. There are Arab university professors. Many Arab students study at all Israeli universities. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has Arab ambassadors and other diplomats. There are Arabs among senior army and police officers and so on. This reality is radically different from the 1948 to 1994 white South African Apartheid regime.”
Ambassador (ret.) Prof. Robbie Sabel is former legal adviser to the Israeli Foreign Ministry. He now teaches international law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv University, and the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya.
“To better understand the fraud of those who call Israel an Apartheid state, one can enumerate the key characteristics of the South African regime. They included a large array of legal constraints. Colored people were prohibited from voting in general elections. There was a prohibition of marriages between white people and those of other races. Extra-marital sexual relations between white and black people were also forbidden.
“Furthermore, there was forced physical separation between white and colored residential areas. Black people were not allowed to perform any skilled work in urban areas except in those designed for black occupation. Strike actions by black persons were forbidden. All black people had to carry a special pass, at all times. No black person could leave a rural area for an urban one without a permit from the local authorities.
“There was a special Black Education Department. Its aim was to prevent black Africans from receiving an education which would lead them to aspire to positions they were not allowed to hold in society. Black students were banned from attending major white universities.
“In addition there was the so-called ‘petty segregation’ in all public amenities, such as hotels, restaurants, swimming pools and public transportation. To enforce this legislation, there were signs saying ‘Europeans Only’ and ‘Non-Europeans Only.’
“To sum up: The black population was segregated, discriminated against, and had no voting rights in general elections. It could also not participate in the government.
“The ‘Israel is an Apartheid State’ lie was popularized after the 2001 U.N. World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, held in Durban, South Africa. At the NGO conference there, anti-Israel calumny reached new post-war heights. Its declaration stated: ‘We declare Israel as a racist, Apartheid state in which Israel’s brand of Apartheid as a crime against humanity has been characterized by separation and segregation, dispossession, restricted land access, denationalization, ‘bantustanization’ and inhumane acts.’
