Israel is not "apartheid"
This week is "Israel apartheid week" on most American University campuses and around the world. Not only is this whole concept of Israel being an "apartheid state" complete nonsense, but the naieve and peurile propaganda only puts the supporters of it in a negative light. This is worse than most former anti-Western propaganda that was put out by the Soviet Union during the Cold War, and the anti-colonialist, anti-imperialist propaganda put out by many student organizations over the years, because it has no basis in reality!
The fact is that Israel is no more of an "apartheid state" than the US or current day South Africa. Israel has a minority of 20% Arab citizens. Any visitor to Israel can see for themselves that the Arabs move freely about in Israel, they shop in our stores, they work side-by-side with Jewish Israelis, in restaurants, banks, pharmacies, construction, etc. In fact, apart from the different dress of the women it is very hard to tell the difference. There are also different Arab groups, Christian, Druse, Muslim, and among the Muslims there are those who are well integrated into Israel, such as the village of Abu Ghosh outside Jerusalem and several prosperous villages in the north. So the main accusation that Israel in some way treats its Arab minority as the white minority once treated the black majority in South Africa is sheer nonsense. Also, Israel is a functioning democracy and there are no discriminatory laws in place in Israel.
Several years ago I asked three Arab students in Hebrew University, two were Christian and one Muslim, if a Palestinian State was formed would they prefer to join it or to remain Israelis. All three said the latter, and this is well known to be the general view among Israeli Arabs. So it is very dangerous to generalize from a biased and ignorant perspective.
A second level of criticism of Israel is that it treats the Palestinian Arabs (who are not Israeli citizens) badly, that the Security Fence (the "wall") separates some Palestinians from their land and that at the checkpoints Arabs are mistreated. This is specious propaganda, given that the Security Fence was constructed to prevent suicide bombings in Israel that killed over 200 people and wounded ca. 1,000 in the two years before the fence was constructed. Now the terrorist murders are down to almost zero, so the Security Fence works! Also, the Netanyahu Government has removed ca. 150 checkpoints from the West Bank, making the movement of Palestinians much easier. Further, there is a group of Israelis called "Machsom Watch" (machsom is a checkpoint in Hebrew) who regularly watch the checkpoints and report any mistreatment of Palestinians by the IDF guards. They don't have too much to do because there are few such incidents. Also, at the checkpoints they regularly catch Arab youths and women trying to pass thru with knifes and explosives. So the checkpoints work too. That is why there is so little terrorism today and certainly hundreds of Israeli lives have been saved. If there were no terrorism there would be no fence and no checkpoints!
Here is a test case. The Arab village of Ghajar is on the northern border and Israel captured the village in 1967, and the villagers becamse Israeli citizesn in 1981. As a result of the withdrawal from Lebanon it was agreed that Israel would relinquish the northern half of the village to Lebanon. But, there is a hitch, because the villagers don't want the village to be divided and they don't want to be returned to Lebanon, they consider themselves Syrian but they want to remain in Israel and to be Israeli citizens. So there is a problem because according to international humanitarian law, Israel cannot force the people of Ghajar to return to Lebanon, but Lebanon demands the area back. What to do? Until now there is a stalemate, but the salient fact is that the Arabs in Ghajar apparently don't agree with the students on campuses that Israel is an apartheid state!
It is a core belief that "the truth will out." It is unfortunate that some otherwise uninformed and naieve students will be taken in by these completely propagandistic and lying claims about Israel. If you don't believe me come and see for yourself!
The fact is that Israel is no more of an "apartheid state" than the US or current day South Africa. Israel has a minority of 20% Arab citizens. Any visitor to Israel can see for themselves that the Arabs move freely about in Israel, they shop in our stores, they work side-by-side with Jewish Israelis, in restaurants, banks, pharmacies, construction, etc. In fact, apart from the different dress of the women it is very hard to tell the difference. There are also different Arab groups, Christian, Druse, Muslim, and among the Muslims there are those who are well integrated into Israel, such as the village of Abu Ghosh outside Jerusalem and several prosperous villages in the north. So the main accusation that Israel in some way treats its Arab minority as the white minority once treated the black majority in South Africa is sheer nonsense. Also, Israel is a functioning democracy and there are no discriminatory laws in place in Israel.
Several years ago I asked three Arab students in Hebrew University, two were Christian and one Muslim, if a Palestinian State was formed would they prefer to join it or to remain Israelis. All three said the latter, and this is well known to be the general view among Israeli Arabs. So it is very dangerous to generalize from a biased and ignorant perspective.
A second level of criticism of Israel is that it treats the Palestinian Arabs (who are not Israeli citizens) badly, that the Security Fence (the "wall") separates some Palestinians from their land and that at the checkpoints Arabs are mistreated. This is specious propaganda, given that the Security Fence was constructed to prevent suicide bombings in Israel that killed over 200 people and wounded ca. 1,000 in the two years before the fence was constructed. Now the terrorist murders are down to almost zero, so the Security Fence works! Also, the Netanyahu Government has removed ca. 150 checkpoints from the West Bank, making the movement of Palestinians much easier. Further, there is a group of Israelis called "Machsom Watch" (machsom is a checkpoint in Hebrew) who regularly watch the checkpoints and report any mistreatment of Palestinians by the IDF guards. They don't have too much to do because there are few such incidents. Also, at the checkpoints they regularly catch Arab youths and women trying to pass thru with knifes and explosives. So the checkpoints work too. That is why there is so little terrorism today and certainly hundreds of Israeli lives have been saved. If there were no terrorism there would be no fence and no checkpoints!
Here is a test case. The Arab village of Ghajar is on the northern border and Israel captured the village in 1967, and the villagers becamse Israeli citizesn in 1981. As a result of the withdrawal from Lebanon it was agreed that Israel would relinquish the northern half of the village to Lebanon. But, there is a hitch, because the villagers don't want the village to be divided and they don't want to be returned to Lebanon, they consider themselves Syrian but they want to remain in Israel and to be Israeli citizens. So there is a problem because according to international humanitarian law, Israel cannot force the people of Ghajar to return to Lebanon, but Lebanon demands the area back. What to do? Until now there is a stalemate, but the salient fact is that the Arabs in Ghajar apparently don't agree with the students on campuses that Israel is an apartheid state!
It is a core belief that "the truth will out." It is unfortunate that some otherwise uninformed and naieve students will be taken in by these completely propagandistic and lying claims about Israel. If you don't believe me come and see for yourself!
posted by Jack Cohen at 1:02 PM
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