What follows was written by a ministry friend who selflessly compiled this information but who wishes to remain anonymous. It is part of an ongoing conversation and a response to a claim that anecdotal evidence reveals no apartheid within the State of Israel. Estimated read time: 13 minutes.
| Israeli Apartheid in the News (to join the anti-apartheid movement, see: https://apartheid-free.org/) |
Overview: The reality of apartheid in Israel is strong evidence that Israel is not some kind of fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel. The kind of society envisioned for Israel, as laid out throughout the Old Testament, is that Israel was to be a welcoming and inclusive society in which all would be treated equally. It was never promised as some kind ethnic state. The promise was for peoples of every tribe, language, nation, etc.
1. Apartheid in Israel.
That there is apartheid in Israel-Palestine is the conclusion of many observers, including some very reputable human rights organizations, and some Jewish groups, including….
- “Palestine Peace Not Apartheid” by Jimmy Carter. Simon & Schuster; Reprint edition (1 November 2007)
- “Israeli Apartheid: A Beginner’s Guide” by Ben White. Pluto Press; 2nd edition (20 February 2014)
- “A Regime of Jewish Supremacy from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea: This is Apartheid.” https://www.btselem.org/apartheid [BTSalem is a Jewish Israeli human rights organization.]
- “A Threshold Crossed: Israeli Authorities and the Crime of Apartheid and Persecution.” https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/04/27/threshold-crossed/israeli-authorities-and-crimes-apartheid-and-persecution
- This Human Rights Watch report details how various laws within the State of Israel discriminate significantly against Palestinians.
- “Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians: A Look into decades of oppression and domination.” https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2022/02/israels-system-of-apartheid/
- See also this statement on what is and what is not Antisemitism. https://jerusalemdeclaration.org/
- From someone who knows…. https://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Desmond-Tutu-Israel-guilty-of-apartheid-in-treatment-of-Palestinians-344874
- From a coalition of Palestinian Christian leaders including Munther Isaac, which also lists out many other similar publications: https://kairospalestine.ps/index.php/resources/publication/a-dossier-on-israeli-apartheid-a-pressing-call-to-churches-around-the-world
- From Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights organization, “The Israel Occupation of the West Bank and the Crime of Apartheid: Legal Opinion.” https://www.yesh-din.org/en/the-legal-status-of-the-israeli-occupation-legal-opinion/
- This UN report concludes that Israel is guilty of Apartheid. The report includes details on the international agreements on the characteristics of Apartheid. https://tinyurl.com/47nfap6t Also https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/country-reports/ahrc4987-report-special-rapporteur-situation-human-rights-palestinian
In addition, check out the writings of Uri Davis on Israel as an Apartheid state. He first made this claim back in 1987. Originally an Israeli Jew, he describes himself now as a “Palestinian Hebrew”.
There are various Jewish groups both within Israel and in other places who use the word Apartheid to describe what’s happening in Israel/Palestine.
Check out the publications of evangelicals Gary Burge, Colin Chapman, and Stephen Sizer who have extensive histories as part of their theological critiques of Zionism. They include quotes from Jewish leaders of Zionism even before WW1 stating that the establishment of an Israeli state would require the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by whatever means became necessary.
The Nation State Law, was passed by the Knesset on 19 July 2018. It states:
- A. The land of Israel is the historical homeland of the Jewish people, in which the State of Israel was established.
- B. The State of Israel is the national home of the Jewish people, in which it fulfills its natural, cultural, religious, and historical right to self-determination.
- C. The right to exercise national self-determination in the State of Israel is unique to the Jewish people.
This is a black and white statement of Apartheid. Palestinians do not have equal rights with Jews. Apart from two references qualifying the use of the Arabic language, everything in the law is about the Jews and their rights and privileges. The rights of Palestinians are ignored.
The law also states, “The state will be open for Jewish immigration and the ingathering of exiles.” This cannot be implemented without ethnic cleansing as Palestinians are driven out of their homes and off their land. It’s too small a land with serious water supply limitations. Note there is no consideration for the right of return for those Palestinians forced into exile as refugees.
East Jerusalem was officially annexed by Israel in 1980, effectively making East Jerusalem part of the State of Israel. Yet discrimination against Palestinians in East Jerusalem is widespread and implemented by the State.
Particularly damning is the relationship between Israel and Apartheid South Africa, including Israeli endorsement of the South African Apartheid as a model for Israel. See for example, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/feb/07/southafrica.israel
Antony Lowenstein describes the well-developed relationship between Israel and South Africa during the Apartheid era. And that Israeli officials stated that Israel was inspired by South African Apartheid. (2023, “The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel exports the technology of occupation around the world.” 2023, p. 121.)
He also writes, “By the time I visited the Middle East for the first time in 2005, I still held illusions about Israel and Palestine. I said I believed in a two-state solution and the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish state. I don’t support either now. In the years after that initial trip, I reported from the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem, documenting the increasing Israeli stranglehold in Palestine. I lived in the Sheik Jarrah neighbourhood of East Jerusalem between 2016 and 2020 and regularly saw Israeli police harass and humiliate Palestinians. The daily grind of occupation was oppressive for those who weren’t Jewish. It made me ashamed of what was done in my name as a Jew.” (p. 2)
He goes on to refer to others who have concluded that Israel practices Apartheid. He quotes the Israeli and Zionist Haaretz newspaper, “The product of Zionism, the State of Israel, is not a Jewish and democratic state but instead has become an apartheid state, plain and simple.”
We should also note that the area divisions in the West Bank of A, B and C. are increasingly irrelevant as Israel intrudes increasingly into all areas. This includes the growing number of Jewish settlements and the violence with which some settlers attack Palestinians and destroy their livelihoods, the increasing violence of the IDF against people and property, the growing networks of Israeli infrastructures and checkpoints, the manipulation of the Palestinian Authority to implement Israeli agendas, and the growing number of human rights violations against Palestinians.
2. The Nature of Apartheid.
Both the Human Rights Watch report and the UN report listed above, explain how the term Apartheid is defined and applied in international law. This is laid out in the “Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court” agreed to in 1998 and which came into force in 2002.
Background to this agreement includes the “United Nations International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid,” adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1973 and came into force in 1976. Likewise, the 1965 “International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.” It is by these conventions and laws that the various accusations against Israel as an Apartheid State are determined.
3. Anecdotal Evidence.
Always a challenge. It always produces conflicting perspectives. For another, may I refer you to Rev Dr Yohanna Katanacho, Academic Dean at the Nazareth Evangelical College, with whom I had a conversation at Christ at the Checkpoint. Although details elude me now, he outlined some of the ways Palestinians, even within what is referred to as the State of Israel, are discriminated against. In the Human Rights Watch report, there are several references throughout the report that detail out the laws which discriminate against Palestinians within the State of Israel, not all have equal rights, and none are equal to Jews.
[I use the word Palestinian rather than Arab simply because not all Palestinians are Arabs. It is a propaganda tactic to conflate all Palestinians into this broad category.]
I recommend you read Yohanna Katanacho’s partly autobiographical book, “The Land of Christ: A Palestinian Cry.” Or his book of prayers based on the Psalms. His Bible studies at Christ and the Checkpoint were brilliant. (The Biblical and theological maturity and depth of many Palestinian church leaders is very impressive.)
I refer again to the man I mentioned earlier. His ministry was with Palestinians. He lived within the State of Israel. He is a conservative evangelical. He has also published a number of books on discipleship.
I talked with a few Palestinian pastors who described the discrimination they experience simply because they are Palestinian.
Check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bIN3LziWkY
This is an interview between two Palestinian Christian leaders which includes some discussion on the experience of Palestinians in the State of Israel.
Not only does personal experience vary from one to the next, and from one context to the next, but there are also variations in how willing people might be to speak up. Various factors cause people to not speak up, including fear of repercussions.
4. Some parting words.
Antisemitism. The late 19th Century rise in antisemitism in Europe was the catalyst for the Zionism movement to grow though initially more amongst secular than religious Jews. Many Jewish leaders were opposed, partly because they could see the consequences for Palestinians, and partly because they could see not a solution against antisemitism but a rise in antisemitism. Indeed since WW1, antisemitism has increased substantially in the Middle East. More recently in many countries, antisemitism has increased as people become more aware of the systemic discrimination and atrocities against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
It is important that we know that Zionism leaders even from the early days stated that for a Jewish state to be established the local Palestinian population would need to be removed. Some of these leaders stated that violence would be necessary for this. Such statements can readily be found in the less public writings of these leaders. Such an attitude could only ever result in a rise in antisemitism. Unfortunately, too readily many people lump all Jews together as if all are responsible for the 100 years of the victimization of Palestinians. We do well to help people be aware of the substantial numbers of Jews who do not support what Israel is doing in Palestine.
The corruption and ineptness of Palestinian leadership is well known and readily acknowledged by Palestinian historians and commentators. None of these, nor whatever discrimination there might be against Jews in other places, changes the Apartheid reality within Israel from the river to the sea. The Apartheid reality does not justify atrocities against Israelis. Understanding is not justification.
The evidence of Apartheid in Israel / Palestine is voluminous: a regime of Jewish supremacy from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea since 1967.
Israel has been set up as a Jewish state. Initially, it was within the pre-1967 border but since then across the whole stretch from the river to the sea.
The fundamental heart of Israel as a Jewish state that favours Jews over all others is in itself Apartheid. The Nation State Law of 2018 simply wrote into law what had been practiced since 1948, if not earlier. Even while a British Mandate, the British favoured the Jews over the Palestinians.
The law states that, “The right to exercise national self-determination in the State of Israel is unique to the Jewish people.” That is, Jews not Palestinians get to decide on the affairs of the nation.
The division into areas A, B, C and Gaza. This imposition upon the Palestinians is in itself an Apartheid act. The Israeli government consistently has undermined the ability of the Palestinian authorities to actually govern, including by the withholding of substantial funds that rightly belong to the Palestinian Authority. The Israeli government increasingly intrudes into each of these areas. The growth of settlements in all areas, the support of the military to enforce this growth, the role of the military to support the settlers even as they with impunity destroy Palestinian homes, farms, olive plantations, and infrastructure. The increasing fragmentation of the whole of the West Bank through settler-only highways, checkpoints, and simply the increasing areas occupied by the colonizing settlers, has increasingly forced a growing Apartheid upon all Palestinians. Whether or not there are Jews living within these areas (outside of the settlements) is not the point.
Take the basics of infrastructure, power, water, and sewerage which are controlled by Israel in all areas. Across the West Bank, in some places more than others, Israeli settlers have far greater provision of these than the Palestinians next door (power and water are rationed for Palestinians but not for the settlers). This discrimination is well documented in many sources. The IDF releases raw sewerage on the streets of Palestinian villages, towns and refugee camps. This would never be inflicted on Jewish equivalents. Or simply rips up the streets and roads.
The IDF trashes Palestinian homes and villages in ways that they never would for Jewish citizens, even though many settlers in their illegal settlements are the primary cause of conflict. Ask a Palestinian, try getting a building permit in Israel. Or a driver’s license. The former is almost impossible, the latter far more difficult for Palestinians than Jews (an American friend who used to live in the State of Israel explained to me the various tactics used by the Israeli officials to make it frustratingly complicated). Families grow, and increased living space is essential yet there is nowhere else to go. A building permit application inevitably comes to nothing and after a long period of waiting, building takes place. Then the Israeli bulldozers move in demolishing the home justifying this by claiming the house is illegal. The family is forced to leave and a Jewish family takes over the property. This scenario has been repeated hundreds of times. Holding legitimate title deeds to property is irrelevant and ignored if Jewish authorities decide to evict Palestinian families.
The Israeli authorities are experts in twisting the application of law to favour Jews and discriminate against Palestinians. Is there equality before the law? Certainly not, the law is far from equally applied whether by the police, the courts, or the prison system. Israeli police and the IDF routinely harass Palestinians in all areas. [When it comes to the Aboriginal population in Australia, we have the same problem. The USA being another well-known example.]
For example, check out: https://www.btselem.org/publications/202408_welcome_to_hell
The Gaza blockade is itself an Apartheid act. The deprivations imposed on Gaza by this blockade are unjust and cruel. No wonder the hopelessness of it all breeds the military-like actions of Hamas. As a civilian government, Hamas (I do not condone any violence) has done better than the Palestinian leadership on the West Bank, but only with the Apartheid discrimination imposed by the siege of Gaza 9. (“You are free to govern yourselves, but we will make it very hard for you to do so.”) Provoke, provoke, and then provoke some more, and then claim innocence and self-defence when eventually a reaction is forthcoming.
Even before October 7, many times Israel carried out incursions and bombing on Gaza murdering thousands and bringing destruction. Since October, the massive and inhumane genocide by Israel in Gaza, even targeting schools, hospitals, churches and mosques, has revealed Israel to be what it is – and this is 100% the antithesis of whatever future God promised to Israel.
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