Apartheid:
Is there any truth to the widespread accusation that Israel is an apartheid state?
Key Summary Points:
Calling Israel an apartheid state is offensive, false, and an insult to the millions of black South Africans and others who have suffered under true apartheid regimes.*
The use of this inaccurate and highly charged label is also counterproductive to resolving issues related to injustices within Israeli society or the complex Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Apartheid was the South African system under which a small minority of whites subjected the majority black population to severe political, economic, and social discrimination. They could not be citizens, vote, or participate in the government, and they were segregated in every aspect of daily life.
The accusation of apartheid fundamentally distorts what Israel is.
Israel is a multicultural liberal democracy with a legal system that upholds equal rights for all citizens. Israel is a country that gives full civic and political equality to its Arab minority.
Israel, like every country, has tremendous societal challenges to do better in dealing with issues of institutionalised bias, discrimination, inequity and racism, but choosing to apply the apartheid label would seem to question the legitimacy of the world’s only Jewish state and its continued existence.
There are safeguards in Israel aimed at ensuring the equal treatment of all citizens, Jewish or Arab, and Israeli laws and democratic institutions, including the independent courts and robust free press, assigned to uphold and speak out for these rights.
Representing over 20% of Israel’s population, Israeli Arab citizens serve as judges, ambassadors, legislators, journalists, professors, artists and play prominent roles in all aspects of Israeli society.
Not only is Israel not an apartheid state, but it is the only state in the Middle East where Arabs have been able to vote in free and fair democratic elections since 1948.
In the previous government (Lapid-Bennett government), which served between June 2021-December 2022, the United Arab List formed part of the ruling coalition, and was the king maker.
Israeli policies in the West Bank (and till 7th October in the Gaza Strip), are still subject to dispute and negotiation by both Israelis and Palestinians. The policies are complicated and, due to the lack of a final agreement as well as a recent sharp upsurge in terrorist activity, include measures – such as limitations on movement and access to resources – that can impose tremendous hardships on Palestinians.
From an Israeli perspective, such policies are justified by security considerations, given the past and ongoing threats posed by Palestinian terrorist organisations targeting Israeli civilians, even within Israel’s pre-1967 ceasefire lines. While Israel’s policies and practices can certainly be criticised, it is not factually accurate to say they are akin to a permanent and institutionalised system motivated and designed by racism.
Learn More:
Unpacked
StandWithUs
BICOM
JewishLivesMatter
FactsForPeace
Unpacked
