A 2019 letter that compared the Israeli occupation of the West Bank to apartheid South Africa has resurfaced because it was signed by Rev. Raphael Warnock, a Democratic candidate for Senate in Georgia.
Yesterday a Jewish Insider article revisited the statement, which was published on website of the National Council of Churches and coincided with a delegation of Christian faith leaders visiting Israel and Palestine. “We came as representatives of African American communities; as descendants of those who survived slavery, Jim Crow and who work now to dismantle the new Jim Crow of mass incarceration and militarization of police in our communities; and we came as representatives of the South African people who lived through the indignity of over 300 years of dehumanizing dispossession, colonialism, segregation and apartheid,” reads a portion of the statement.
The statement continues:
We saw the patterns that seem to have been borrowed and perfected from other previous oppressive regimes:
i. The ever-present physical walls that wall in Palestinians in a political wall reminiscent of the Berlin Wall.
ii. Roads built through occupied Palestinian villages, on which Palestinians are not permitted to drive; and homes and families divided by walls and barriers.
iii. The heavy militarization of the West Bank, reminiscent of the military occupation of Namibia by apartheid South Africa.
iv. The laws of segregation that allow one thing for the Jewish people and another for the Palestinians; we saw evidence of forced removals; homes abandoned, olive trees uprooted or confiscated and taken over, shops and businesses bolted with doors welded to close out any commercial activities.
The Progressive National Baptist Convention released the same statement at the time, but added resolutions calling on the United States to end military aid to Israel.
In a statement to Jewish Insider, spokesperson for Warnock attempted to distance the candidate from the letter. “Reverend Warnock has deep respect for the invaluable relationship the United States has with Israel and how Georgia continues to benefit from that friendship,” he said. “The reservations he has expressed about settlement activity do not change his strong support for Israel and belief in its security — which is exactly why he opposes ending direct military aid to such a strong ally. Reverend Warnock is proud to be a part of interfaith communities that model respect and work to seek unity instead of division, he believes people of faith working together is essential to making progress on the issues important to our families, from access to affordable health care to creating a peaceful and secure world.”
Warnock won a special election for the Senate seat this week, but his percentage means that he’ll have to run against GOP incumbent Kelly Loeffler this January.
For the record:
Hendrik Verwoerd, prime minister of South Africa & the architect of South Africa’s apartheid policies, 1961: “Israel, like South Africa, is an apartheid state.” (Rand Daily Mail, November 23, 1961)
“Former Foreign Ministry director-general invokes South Africa comparisons. ‘Joint Israel-West Bank’ reality is an apartheid state”
EXCERPT: “‘Similarities between the ‘original apartheid’ as it was practiced in South Africa & the situation in Israel & the West Bank today ‘scream to the heavens,’ added [Alon] Liel, Israel’s ambassador in Pretoria from 1992 to 1994. There can be little doubt that the suffering of Palestinians is not less intense than that of blacks during apartheid-era South Africa…” (Times of Israel, Feb. 21/13)
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200918-knesset-rejects-bill-to-ensure-full-equality-between-all-israeli-citizens/
“Knesset rejects bill to ensure full equality between all Israeli citizens” Middle East Monitor, Sept. 18/20
EXCERPTS:
“The Israeli parliament, the Knesset, has rejected a bill presented by Yousef Jabareen on behalf of the Arab Joint List intended to ensure full equality for all of Israel’s citizens, regardless of their ethnicity or religious affiliation.”
“The text of the bill emphasized that democratic principles should be applied to all citizens in the state: ‘Israel is a democratic state that guarantees equal rights, based on the principles of human dignity, freedom and equality, in the spirit of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights’ while providing that ‘the state ensures equal & legal protection for all citizens, & fully guarantees national, cultural, linguistic & religious specificity to both Arabs & Jews.’ It stressed that Arabic & Hebrew are the official languages of the state, & both have equal status in all posts & workplaces of the legislative, executive & judicial authorities.”
“The parliamentarians of ‘the only democracy in the Middle East’ rejected the bill, thus cementing further the apartheid nature of the Zionist state & highlighting the racist nature of its founding ideology.”
On the topic of apartheid, a timely reminder from Ehud Olmert –
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ehud_Olmert
“The day will come when the two-state solution collapses and we face a South African-style struggle for equal voting rights. As soon as that happens, the state of Israel is finished. The Jewish organizations, which were our power base in America, will be the first to come out against us, because they will say they cannot support a state that does not support democracy and equal voting rights for all its residents.”
It’s just a question of time before the collapse of the two-state solution becomes undeniable.
https://www.palestinechronicle.com/eu-calls-on-israel-to-halt-demolition-policy/
“EU Calls on Israel to Halt Demolition Policy” Palestine Chronicle, Nov. 5/20
“Two days after the Israeli occupation forces demolished more than 70 structures, including residential, livelihood, and sanitation facilities, belonging to 11 Palestinian families with 41 children in Khirbet Hamsa al-Fawqa, in the northern Jordan Valley, the European Union today called on Israel to halt this demolition policy.
“A statement by the EU spokesperson said ‘the large-scale demolition confirms once again the regrettable trend of confiscations and demolitions since the beginning of the year.’
“The recent demolitions come on top of the threat of demolition of the Palestinian school in the Ras al-Tin community in the central West Bank, which has been co-funded by the EU and several EU Member States. There are currently 52 Palestinian schools under threat of demolition.
“’As reiterated in previous EU Council Conclusions, the EU calls for the protection of children, including ensuring their right to education in a safe and secure school environment. Education is a basic human right that should be protected and maintained,’ said the EU spokesperson.
Thanks for publicising this. Any sane person in Georgia will now realize what Warnock is made of. This will hopefully seriously jeopardise his chances of winning in the January run-off.