As activists around the world take part in Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW), Zionist lobby groups have swung into action, pushing a mixture of candy-coated distractions, lies, and trained hasbarists. Here are five commonly heard objections to IAW, unpacked.
1. “Arabs in Israel shop in the same markets, attend the same hospitals, sit in the same parks, etc.”
This claim is sometimes supplemented by photos of Arabs cheerily – and no doubt gratefully – going about their everyday business or enjoying their leisure time in The Middle East’s Only Democracy™. However, Israel as a democratic, multicultural, shared space is undermined by examples such as – though not limited to – the following:
- ‘Selection committees’ decide who gains admission to small communities based on criteria like "social suitability," a setup that operates in hundreds of towns (their use as a tool to exclude Palestinians could well be reinforced with a new law). A number of these communities were only established in the first place as part of a plan based on “ethnic discrimination” and “demographic phobia”.
- Palestinian ‘permanent residents’ of East Jerusalem, despite living in the so-called ‘unified capital’ of Israel, are unable to purchase property in most of West Jerusalem and a third of illegally-annexed East Jerusalem. That’s because “to qualify to purchase property on ‘state land’ the purchaser must either be a citizen of Israel” or “legally entitled to citizenship under the law of return (i.e. Jewish)”.
- Palestinians under military occupation are subject to a strict regime that controls their freedom of movement based on a ‘permit’ system and enforced through checkpoints and physical obstacles. Jewish Israeli citizens may live in settlements in the West Bank and are free to come and go as they please; their Palestinian neighbours, however, are not.
2. “Arabs in Israel enjoy a standard of living and civil liberties that Arabs in the rest of the Middle East can only dream of.”
This kind of argument was routinely deployed by the Apartheid South Africa regime and its defenders. For example, the late US syndicated columnist James Kilpatrick wrote in 1971 that while black South African conditions may seem “appalling”, in fact, “South Africa has achieved for its nonwhite people the best education and the highest standard of living among all the blacks of Africa.” (Kilpatrick also went on to add that “encouragement and understanding” will enable “black and white” to “prosper”, not “force, bluster, and boycott” – which sounds familiar).
Of course, the accurate comparison is between Jewish Israelis and both Palestinian citizens and Palestinians under military occupation. In 2006, the per capita gross domestic product of Jewish Israelis was twice as high as that of Palestinians in Israel, and 15 times higher than that of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. Jewish Israelis live almost 4 years longer than their Palestinian fellow citizens. The list goes on.
3. “What about Iran, China, Burma, Sudan, Russia, etc etc.”
Despite this being such a manifestly poor tactic, it is still used with a wearying degree of regularity. Amusingly, in the context of the UC Berkeley debate on divestment in 2010, some Israel advocates advised against deploying this argument, since it “implies that Israel has committed war crimes”. Moreover, ask the Israel advocates if they would accuse a Tibetan activist of ‘singling out’ China, or demand that pro-democracy Burmese activists commit themselves to tackling blood diamonds. No one would think to ask these kinds of questions, so why are Palestinians and those in solidarity with their rights treated differently, just because it’s Israel?
4. “Israel has Arab MKs, Arabs in the judiciary, Arab pop stars, etc.”
A position ably taken down here:
In the era when American blacks were subject to Jim Crow laws and other forms of racial segregation, a number of blacks held prominent positions in the United States. Artists like Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington were sent on international goodwill tours by the U.S. State Department. Ralph Bunche served as a U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Yes, there is a Bedouin in Israel’s Foreign Service. No, that doesn’t make the blindest bit of difference to the reality of unrecognised villages, land loss, demolitions, and inequality in the Negev.
5. “Why don’t you talk about the real apartheid?”
At which point, cue hand-wringing and rage against injustices in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Syria, etc. ‘There is gender apartheid! Religious apartheid!’ – and so on.
In response, one could mention how Saudi Arabia, like Israel, is a key US ally, a regime lauded as “moderate” and “responsible” by – then Israeli PM Ehud Olmert. One could also agree that Palestinian refugees have been treated abysmally by numerous parties, including Arab governments, but one has to wonder why they are refugees in the first place.
Finally, it might be worthwhile to point out that ‘apartheid’ doesn’t simply mean oppression or ‘bad stuff’ – and you can’t just repeat it as much as possible in the hope that everyone might forget what you’re trying to hide.
Ben White is the author of Israeli Apartheid: A Beginner’s Guide.
The US hides segregation according to race behind segregation according to class. But in fact schools in inner cities and bad school districts in rich states tend to be predominantly attended by minorities. Does this make the US an apartheid country?
Blacks score on average 100 points less on the SATs than whites. Does this make the US an apartheid country?
And most telling, the average white family is over 10 times richer than the average black family! Yes over 1000% richer.
link to prb.org
So which is more of an apartheid state, Israel or the US?
how about what we did during the Holocaust and the ethnic cleansing of Native Americans.
recently a friend said, the thing is, secretly a lot of Israelis hate the U.S. and as soon as you criticize them, they turn on you
so let’s have it out
Israel is an apartheid State.
Your sad attempt to change the subject is only making that more apparent.
“So which is more of an apartheid state, Israel or the US?”
Israel.
Bad Woody! You’ve failed eee’s open-book test…
Phil,
The statistics about education, SAT, and wealth gap are from NOW. This is the current situation. It is not looking back it is assessing the current situation. Nothing I mentioned is historical. It is all current.
I love the US. My examples just show your double standards. You are willing to label Israel an apartheid state with flimsy evidence and statistics that are worse in the US! Obviously the US is not an apartheid state. So why is Israel?
There is a difference between inequality and apartheid. As you point out the US has horrible examples of inequality, yet in Israel the inequality is enshrined by law giving Jews special and exclusive rights over non-Jews. That’s why Israel is an apartheid state. That is in no way saying the inequality in the US isn’t shameful and in many ways the result of racism.
Adam,
Look at the post at points 2-5. They are conflating inequality with apartheid. They are in no way an argument for apartheid. Show me why these points are not applicable in the US.
Which leaves point 1. Are selection committees in small communities really a sign of apartheid? Especially if this law also allows these committees in Arab communities? And the rest of this point conflates occupation with apartheid.
White doesn’t address all the issues in Israel’s apartheid policies in this short post, and I wasn’t just referring to what he shares in this post. You should read his book to get a fuller picture. Also, you should check out the definition of the crime of apartheid – link to en.wikipedia.org
and determine for yourself if you think Israel, or the US, fits the bill.
eee, you don’t even know what apartheid means. Adam summed it up excellently. I think you should go back to school outside your racist bubble.
That’s funny, so under your definition, Saudi Arabia should be an Apartheid State. When is the Saudi Apartheid week taking place?
start one then, Zionist.
none of that changes the fact that Israel is a racist apartheid state, stealing and colonizing land.
So let’s see if I understand Mr. White. Anyone who defends Israel is either candy coating the issues, is a liar or a hasbarist. In other words, it is not possible that others may actually have a legitimate opinion when in fact, most people do not see Israel as an Apartheid State. Excellent way to have any credibility, Mr. White.
Now, to add to the confusion. Several Arab countries go to war against the legitimate state of Israel, supposedly on behalf of their Palestinian brothers. Their declared aim is to destroy this fledgling and legitimate state and it’s Jewish inhabitants. Surprisingly, for once Jews don’t go by the book and fight back and don’t get destroyed. Instead, the Palestinians become refugees.
Fast forward to 1967. Several Arab countries threaten to destroy the legitimate State of Israel who is not occupying an inch of land that does not belong to them. No Palestinian stands up and says, wait. Don’t do this. It will cost us dearly. Again, those pesky Israelis refuse to follow the plan and fight back and win, resulting in more Palestinian refugees and occupied territory, So, instead of seeking to peacefully resolve the issue, the Arab League in Khartoum, again on behalf of their willing Palestinian brothers issues the famous 3 Nos statement.
Now, the Iranian lunatics are “supporting” their Palestinian brethren and threaten to destroy Israel. Hmm, haven’t we been to this movie before?
I find it quite interesting that Ben White and company describe Israel exactly as Iran does. Birds of a feather……
As activists around the world take part in Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW), Zionist lobby groups have swung into action, pushing a mixture of candy-coated distractions, lies, and trained hasbarists.
sooo not Anyone who defends Israel is either candy coating the issues, is a liar or a hasbarist lli, but generally anyone in the Zionist lobby groups who’ve swung into action are. it’s the nature of ziocaine.
btw, love the revisionist history!
see ya round the infowar battlefield…
Isn’t that lovely of you Annie. Your arrogance fairly drips from that response, but that is typical of what we see here. Funny that you too parrot what the Iranians say about us. The thing is though, we have survived much worse than you and your acolytes and we will thrive and survive despite the anti-semites and their Jewish quislings.
You won’t survive the war crimes trials, Israel.
What a load of lies to pack into one post…
“Several Arab countries go to war against the legitimate state of Israel…”
Who says it’s legitimate?
“Their declared aim is to destroy… it’s Jewish inhabitants.”
Lie.
“Several Arab countries threaten to destroy the legitimate State of Israel who is not occupying an inch of land that does not belong to them.”
False. Even if you believe that the UN partition plan can somehow confer legitimacy, the Zionist state, even before 1967, occupied land that did not belong to it.
“Again, those pesky Israelis… fight back.”
False. Israel started the 1967 war.
” the Arab League in Khartoum, again on behalf of their willing Palestinian brothers issues the famous 3 Nos statement. ”
Which has since been superseded by things like the Saudi Peace Plan, which has promised the Israelis everything they profess to want. But these same Israelis have steadfastly refused every possiblity of peace, as the Palestine Papers showed beyond reasonable doubt.
“…and threaten to destroy Israel.”
Lie.
Israel in 1948 and today was and is certainly more legitimate than Saudi Arabia, Jordan to name just a few. In fact, Israel has way more legal legitimacy than your so-called Palestinian State.
Right, we are all liars. The mobs screaming “slaughter the jews” in Cairo and Damascus that I PERSONALLY remember,. Never happened. Nasser saying he would have lunch in Tel Aviv after throwing the Jews into the sea? Nope. The Arab armies were just going to defeat Israel militarily and then nicely send all Jews back to Europe or the Arab/Muslim countries they came from.
Then again, as I have said before, debating with you and Annie and Taxi and the like is like debating with the SS. I as a proud Jew and Israeli no longer do that. You don’t like that we refuse to submit to terror and annihilation? Too bad.
More legitimate? Why? Jewish privelege?
“Israel in 1948 and today was and is certainly more legitimate than Saudi Arabia, Jordan to name just a few.”
Wow, more legitimate than two monarchies. Well, you do aim high!!
Tell you what, when you don’t hold half of the population between the Med and the Jordan under Israel’s jackboot, with no say in the government, and give them an equal say in the government that controls their lives, then we can talk about legitimacy. Until then, you’re just another bunch of two-bit thugs.
And as for Nasser, even Abba admitted that the Israelis knew the Egyptians wasn’t going to attack in 1967, so the Israelis attacked first.
“The mobs screaming ‘slaughter the jews’ in Cairo and Damascus that I PERSONALLY remember,.”
And given the way that the Israelis, and the Yishuv before it, committed crimes against humanity and war crimes against the Palestinians, of course their fellow Arabs cried out for vengence. Any normal human would.
I’m not condoning it, of course. I’m a peaceable guy, and want nothing but full human rights and complete equality for every person in the region (in the world, actually.) But I understand why people do cry out for revenge against those who they believe have harmed their kin. You should hear how some Jews in the USA talk about Arabs, based on that same miguided notion. Disgusting.
“…is like debating with the SS.”
LOL. There’s your problem, you are suffering from paranoid delusions that anyone who doesn’t like what Israel is doing or doesn’t buy into your myths is like the SS.
“You don’t like that we refuse to submit to terror and annihilation?”
No, I don’t like the fact that your state inflicts terror and annihilation on the native Palestinians and the other innocent people in the region.
i’m a veteran of the blog wars but it’s a whole other thing out there on the street, i found that out tabling for signatures for the california divestment ballot initiative.
number 1. and 2. are the most common responses of a certain kind of person and amazingly (to me) i’m convinced some of the people i encounter actually believe this in a painstaking way. plus the appeals i heard about how hurtful it was that i was doing this out in public and what about the holocaust?
it is much different on the threads, it just is. on the street these people must live in a clustered world protected by everyone’s usual silence and their own denial. mostly there are 5 kinds of responses encountered. the ones who walk right up to the table and say where can i sign. the ones who want to learn and have heard something but don’t really understand, but care. the ones who keep a distance from the table as if they could catch a virus if they get to close. the ones who sound like veterans of the blogwars and use words like terrorists and pizza parlor liberally and act all wound up like rottweilers on 4 cups of coffee (or ziocaine!). and then the ones that look crushed and pained like you’re threatening to kill cinderella or wipe out every children’s fantasy they’ve believed all their lives and the blooming deserts and poor little israel.
i try to be extra nice to the last kind under these circumstances and try to sooth them somewhat and insert a little truth but generally they don’t want to hear it. some of them actually seem to think if they communicate how much what i’m doing hurts them i will stop. when they understand i won’t they sometimes they threaten the store. (the ziocaines threaten the store immediately)..
anyway your post reminds me of that experience.
good for you for writing the book.
There seems to be a presumption, particularly strong in the USA, but not confined to that county, that it is wrong to do or say anything, no matter how justified or true it may be, that will hurt anyone’s feelings, regardless of how unreasonable or detached from reality those feelings may be.
(Keep this sentence, annie. You can recycle the commas.)
okay (,,,,,,) saving them all.
i used to be much more confrontational in person.
eee,
There is comparable treatment of West Bank Palestinians to South African apartheid.
And, there is comparable treatment of Israeli Arabs/Palestinians to Jim Crow south.
Law is the best protection for both Palestinian and Israeli communities.
The formation of a viable Palestinian state as a good neighbor to a good neighbor Israel is the remedy that makes a path to transform the status of contested property to consented, and to affirm civil rights for Palestinians.
It reconciles the vast majority of conflicts (at least per the legal ‘reasonable man’ tests. Some will undoubtedly remain angry).
It needs to happen inevitably. For most, doing the difficult work is more maturely done sooner rather than later.
The neo-religious dream of river to sea Israel, or that Torah is the basis of legal land title, are false.
The chance for a moderate to negotiate with likely won’t come for a long time, if Israel misses this chance.
Richard,
Occupation is not apartheid. There is no comparable treatment of Israeli Arabs to Jim Crow in the south. That is total hogwash. Come to Israel and see with your own eyes. Do not be fooled by the anecdotal evidence you are spoon fed on this site.
I am for a two state solution and the Palestinians better sit down and negotiate it because if they don’t, eventually secular Israelis like me will demand a unilateral withdrawal to the fence and we will leave the Palestinians and settlers to figure things out for themselves. The Palestinians really do not want to be in that situation.
the Palestinians better sit down and negotiate it because if they don’t, eventually secular Israelis like me will demand a unilateral withdrawal to the fence and we will leave the Palestinians and settlers to figure things out for themselves.
oh spare us your garbage. this is the post poalestine papers era, you can’t peddle that lying hogwash on us any longer. this is nothing more than a sugar coated threat of ethnic cleansing and NO, israel will not be off the hook for letting there fanatical settlers loose on an innocent population.
eee,
According to the law in Israel there is no such thing as a secular Israeli. You might be a secular Jew, but you can’t be a secular Israeli because there is no such thing as an Israeli. A person from America is American, a person from Israel is Jewish or Arab (or Druze, etc.). The Israeli Population Registry Law designates you as being of Jewish nationality and not of Israeli nationality. Life in Israel is organized along nationality (not citizenship). On this basis, the law in Israel is able to discriminate against Arabs. When secular Jews in Israel went to the courts to change this they were rejected. There are over 20 laws that discriminate against Palestinian citizens of Israel which makes this apartheid as opposed to inequality.
If it’s not comparable, eee, why do you constantly compare Israeli society to racial disparity aimed at African Americans in the United States? If there was no comparison, why do you keep making it yourself?
EEE,
Roadblocks, arrest without trial, military trial rather than civil, pass laws.
That is apartheid like.
I agree with you that ending the occupation ends that status.
And Jim Crow. There is racial discrimination in many administrative systems and social services. Too many Israelis that I know to be moderate have told me of this to dismiss.
I agree with you that many ignore considerable scope of equality that is there, more present than many others locales that are even applauded.
Credit where it is due–that was a good post, Richard.
Over 60 Jewish groups condemn boycott movement
link to jpost.com
Wow, big surprise, the war profiteers don’t want to suffer a hit to their pocketbooks.
Check out the anti-bds cookbook:
link to stopbds.com
Wonderful! The Jack Abramoff Commemorative Guide to Aiding and Abetting Apartheid. From same authors of “Hasbara for Dummies” and The Joys of Cooking with White Phosphorous.