Every year, supporters of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement gather in colleges and cities around the world for Israeli Apartheid Week, a time when organizers pass on anti-Israel rhetoric to anyone who will listen.
BDS supporters believe that by forcing Israel into economic submission, the country will dismantle vital security measures without any concessions from the Palestinian people.
This year, Students for a Democratic Society have decided to join the BDS movement by holding various events at the University.
It is ironic that students who supposedly support democracy would cry apartheid against one of the few democracies in the Middle East.
Apartheid was an oppressive system created by a white minority in the South African government to segregate the black majority. Blacks were discriminated against through inferior separate facilities, lack of political power and a racist legal system.
The system was rightly denounced by the world and is in stark contrast to modern-day Israel.
All Israeli citizens, be they Jewish, Arab or otherwise, have equal rights. Israeli Arabs are free to practice their chosen religion, travel unimpeded throughout the country and pursue higher education at the best schools.
Arabs play a vital role in the democratic process by having the right to vote and serve in the Israeli government.
Freedom of speech is evident by the many Jewish and Arab critics of Israel who are allowed to disseminate their opinions without fear of governmental oppression. They are able to hold demonstrations as freely as SDS is this week.
All Israelis are also equally protected by a security barrier, which has been proven to stop suicide bombers from killing innocent civilians, including Arab Israelis. Such measures would not have been necessary had Palestinians accepted an offer for peace and a state of their own.
In 2000, Israel offered the Palestinians 97 percent of the West Bank, all of Gaza, a 5 percent land swap, East Jerusalem and compensation for refugees. Palestinian leaders rejected the offer, refused to make a counter-offer and proceeded with the Second Intifada (a period of uprising and violence).
As civilian death tolls mounted, Israel had no choice but to ensure security for all its citizens. To say such defensive measures are in line with a racist policy is an insult to black South Africans who suffered from a true apartheid state.
As with any democratic society, Israel allows and even encourages honest criticism to help make the country a better place.
What happens during Israeli Apartheid Week is dishonest and ultimately hurts Palestinians, who do not need hate attached to their cause. One need only look at the facts to see that Israel does not fit the racist accusations thrown at it.
If SDS’s idea of promoting peace is to demonize a democratic society, perhaps it should rethink its values.
Michael Green is a biology senior and may be reached at [email protected]
Apartheid is from Afrikaans, and it literally means “apartness.” In fact, Desmond Tutu has spoken against Israel’s current system:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/apr/29/comment
I spent a few weeks traveling Israel and the West Bank last year and all I can say is that there is an element of this apartness, de facto and de jure. A Palestinian Christian I met had his car confiscated because he drove into Israel without Israeli plates. I rode the shared Palestinian minibuses whose shocks felt like they were about to go out through East Jerusalem, passing by the air-conditioned Israeli ones. I met people who had visited the settlements, seen the uprooted trees. I learned what it is like to go through security checkpoints with Palestinian people.
Some security measures are necessary. And few argue that Israeli Arabs can’t vote. What is unjust is the occupation of the West Bank — the wall, the demolitions of homes, the uprooting of generations-old olive trees, the strangling of the Gaza Strip. As an Israeli told me, “Thank God I was born a white man. I thank God every day. At least I’m not an Arab.”
Are you sure you weren’t in the Apartheid Kingdom of Saudi Arabia? Or perhaps you meant to criticize Judenfrei Hamastan?
Because last time I checked Muslim Arabs live in Israel and serve elected offices in the Israeli Knesset. Don’t slander Israel your whole life.
Muslim Arabs do indeed have voting power in Israel, although they are not equals in Israeli society. Arabs are routinely disenfranchised, and I guarantee you that seeing an Arab Israeli in many areas of the country would be highly unusual. One only needs to visit the tenements around Tel Aviv’s central bus station to see the status of the impoverished and marginalized in Israel (or buy pork!).
The fact of the matter is that Israel’s treatment of the West Bank and Gaza Strip (Hamastan? Don’t you know ‘stan’ as a suffix has literally nothing to do with Gaza?) is abhorrent. Homes are demolished to make way for Jewish settlers, walls separate communities and Palestinians are relegated to poverty because of Israeli policy and embargoes. Remember when Israel used to ban textbooks in Gaza because Hamas could use them for printing? Yeah.
Anyway, here’s some people who dealt with apartheid discussing the situation:
“The current situation for Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is worse than conditions were for Blacks under the Apartheid regime.”
Kgalema Motlanthe, Deputy President of the African National Congress
“Apartheid Israel can be defeated, just as Apartheid in South Africa was defeated.”
Winnie Mandela
“When I come here and see the situation [in the Palestinian territories], I find that what is happening here is ten times worse than what I had experienced in South Africa. This is Apartheid.”
Arun Gandhi
“As someone who lived in Apartheid South Africa and who has visited Palestine I say with confidence that Israel is an Apartheid state. In fact, I believe that some of Israel’s actions make the actions of South Africa’s Apartheid regime appear pale by comparison.”
Willie Madisha, in a letter supporting CUPE Ontario’s resolution
Wait wait. Is Madisha unsure about the correct name? He visited Palestine, but said that Israel is an apartheid state? Where’s Palestine?
Also, please mention one time when the black Africans in apartheid South Africa threw a s@#$-load of rockets at their oppressors, non-stop for months, if not years, on end.
Well if they had, i can guarantee they’d have attained equal rights a heck of a lot faster!
Sometimes people don’t just roll over because you want them to, or because you feel entitled to control them. Doesn’t it suck?
“Also, please mention one time when the black Africans in apartheid South Africa threw a s@#$-load of rockets at their oppressors, non-stop for months, if not years, on end.”
just the fact that Israel is the OPPRESSOR of Palestine says a lot. if someone was oppressing me, i might just want to throw rockets too. however, to be clear-most Palestinians do not THROW rockets..or want to. their land has been colonized and they have been pushed out of their homes, with several restrictions about where they can and cannot go, live, return…etc so yes, they’re oppressed. and maybe if the initial policy was one of peace and JUSTICE, maybe then some of the desperate and confused souls who launch rockets wouldn’t feel so helpless and hopeless.
When quantifying Arun Ghandi’s statement, I don’t see where the separation between Palestinians and Jews has existed for 500 years (apartheid existed since before 1950 in South Africa, times “10 times as bad”), and I would like to see a link to the de facto legislation concerning the boundary between Israeli and Palestinian. I also would love to see several factual examples of “systematic oppression” of Palestinians, as defined by the ICSPCA.
“I also would love to see several factual examples of “systematic oppression” of Palestinians, as defined by the ICSPCA.”
Who has said anything about systematic oppression in those exact terms? Shifting the goal posts, eh? Palestine, in this case, probably means the West Bank and Gaza Strip. As you know, the West Bank is under Israeli occupation and the Gaza Strip under a joint Egyptian/Israeli blockade.
“Also, please mention one time when the black Africans in apartheid South Africa threw a s@#$-load of rockets at their oppressors, non-stop for months, if not years, on end.”
The ANC maintained a guerilla wing and tortured detainees.
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1P2-1030736.html
“I would like to see a link to the de facto legislation concerning the boundary between Israeli and Palestinian”
There probably won’t be legislation over something that’s “de facto,” although some argue that the barrier wall constitutes a de facto border.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0516/p06s01-wome.html
Gotta’ admire the chutzpah of Islamo-fascism apologists who cite olde Nelson Mandela– the Grand Kleagle of “rehabilitated” terrorists and Grand Wizard of necklacing innocents. These are the same moral reprobates who believe the Nobel Peace Prize means Arafat wasn’t a monstrous terrorist pedophile.
Try harder to cite figures worth emulating.
remember the time when the IDF dropped white phosphorus on densely populated civilian targets and lied about it? that’s why israel should be pushed into the sea.
hope this helps
First, I’d like to respond to John. John, when you wrote, “A Palestinian Christian I met had his car confiscated because he drove into Israel without Israeli plates.”, his car was confiscated because he broke the law, not for any other reason. Not because he was a Christian, but because he broke the law. If you drove into Canada without proper plates on your car, what do YOU think would happen? You’re doing your cause a disservice to not just create these irrelevant correlations, but moreso by not making sense – there are a lot of ills going on, so maybe you should stick to the issues that are warranted.
John, you also stated, “I learned what it is like to go through security checkpoints with Palestinian people.” Yes. Before the first and second intifada, you know, the suicide bombing years, there were hundreds of thousands of Palestinians living and working in Israel, and far, FAR fewer checkpoints. If not for the counter-productive intifadas, there’d not be this problem, would you not agree?
“The fact of the matter is that Israel’s treatment of the West Bank and Gaza Strip (Hamastan? Don’t you know ’stan’ as a suffix has literally nothing to do with Gaza?) is abhorrent.”
A) that was poetic license.
B) the treatments of the West Bank/Gaza has more to do with the attacks that came out of the West Bank and Gaza than anything else. The suicide bombers out of the West Bank caused the walls, and the over EIGHT THOUSAND mortars and rockets out of Gaza caused the mess in Gaza…
“Homes are demolished to make way for Jewish settlers,”
A) not in years, and,
B) this is shameful and should not happen, and a finalized peace process should solve this problem, don’t you agree? Maybe the Palestinians should agree to Netanyahu’s offer and meet to discuss peace?
And, your quotes are not relevant. Taking specific opinions and quotes out of context and relevancy is propaganda, not reasonable discourse.
“Also, please mention one time when the black Africans in apartheid South Africa threw a s@#$-load of rockets at their oppressors, non-stop for months, if not years, on end.”
Yoself is of course correct. Imagine what the US would do if Mexico were shooting tens of thousand of rockets over our border…
“Sometimes people don’t just roll over because you want them to, or because you feel entitled to control them. Doesn’t it suck?”
J4, what sucks is how the Palestinians are living now, don’t you think? No one is asking for anyone to “just roll over”. Netanyahu TWICE offered to meet for peace talks… What’s wrong with a land swap for ~95% of the West Bank? What’s wrong with full land/water/air rights within 10 years? What’s wrong with that?
“just the fact that Israel is the OPPRESSOR of Palestine says a lot.”
Since your fallacy suggests that what is “says” is what you WANT it to say, I am sure that I’d agree that it says “a lot”.
“if someone was oppressing me, i might just want to throw rockets too.”
Yes, and when they came to stop you by killing you and everyone near you, you’d feel that the end-result was successful? Or, would you feel…as you drifted heavenward towards your 72 virgins…that perhaps all you did is die and kill others at the same time and only harden the hearts of your oppressor? Well, go to Gaza and find out, I’d suggest, p2.
“their land has been colonized”
I’d suggest that you care enough for your own integrity and the integrity of your argument to learn what ACTUALLY defines the word “colony”. You’ve been reading too much propaganda, and you’ll recognize this if you choose to simply look that word up.
“The ANC maintained a guerilla wing and tortured detainees.” John, I find the irony of your shifting goalposts hysterical, since you questioned someone else’s care to actually rely upon the definition of “systematic oppression”…
And, here’s the kind of statement that defines (for me) the anti-Israelis bunch: “remember the time when the IDF dropped white phosphorus on densely populated civilian targets and lied about it? that’s why israel should be pushed into the sea.”
A) WP is legal.
B) Your calls for Genocide and those calls by your ilk are not missed by the Israelis. THAT is why they do not trust their neighbors.
What the young reflexives do not recognize is that real change is a result of real thought. Whining about what is “fair” would be laughable if not for the great problem here… International agreements are not adjudicated by what is “fair”, but by what is POSSIBLE. Right now, the Israelis have the strong side, and thus they will negotiate from this position and the Palestinians who care to make peace will make the best deal possible…but it won’t be what many fat and happy Western student’s think is “fair”.
Stop thinking with your emotions and think for what is POSSIBLE.
There’s a life lesson for you.
Return occupied Constantinople and the sacred Hagia Sophia (Christendom’s 2nd most holy cathedral)— then victimhood cultists can howl about the alleged “rights” of Muslim invaders to other lands (from the Phillipines to Morroco) from which Islamo-supremacists extirpated native populations through genocide.
The Buddha called— he’d like his Bamiyan monuments back.
Since the Turkish occupation and ethnic cleansing of Greek Cyprus began in 1974:
* at least 55 Greek churches have been converted into mosques
* another 50 Greek churches and monasteries have been converted into stables, stores, hostels, museums, or have been demolished
* the cemeteries of at least 25 Greek villages have been desecrated and destroyed
innumerable icons, religious artifacts and all kinds of archaeological treasures have been stolen and smuggled abroad
* illegal excavations and smuggling of antiquities is openly taking place all the time with the involvement of the occupying forces
* all Greek place names contrary to all historical and cultural reason were converted into Turkish ones.
Why doesn’t anyone howl about the Turkish occupation of northern Cyprus? People have been driven out of their homes, churches have been converted into mosques, and the thriving resort of Famagusta transformed into a ghost town. Nobody cares. Instead, Leftists obsess over the trumped-up plight of “Palestinians”— an invented nationality, committed to eradicating a sovereign state in the name of Islamo-supremacism.
VIDEO: Famagusta, The Hostage Ghost City of Europe
That is a thoughtful response from reader John, based on personal experience and observation. Civil dialogue and respectful debate pave the road to the future. Join the discussion with Pax101 on Facebook or follow @Pax_101 on Twitter.. I am an experiment in Israeli-Palestinian peace-brokerage and social media. Let’s keep peaceful debate and conflict resolution going! Ultimately, peace is in everyone’s interest.
“BDS supporters believe that by forcing Israel into economic submission, the country will dismantle vital security measures without any concessions from the Palestinian people.”
These particular accusations are an aggressive maneuver designed to distract from the fact that this is, in fact, what the Zionists have been trying to do to the Palestinians for some time now, by starving them to death, preventing aid from reaching them, offering them the “concession” of a small percentage of the lands that were theirs before the Zionists showed up…
Thank you for indicating your stance on this issue. Your use of the term Zionists speaks volumes, because in most places I’m aware of, people do not refer to the government of a country by the collective term for the ruling party (and its political thought). Rather than saying “Israeli government”, you say “Zionists”. May I take the opportunity to remind you that while the land was indeed occupied before the ‘Zionists’ showed up, they sure as heck weren’t Palestinian. Indeed, only a tiny portion of Palestinians today can trace their ancestry back to the original land-dwellers. The ‘Zionists’ bought the land, drained it by planting eucalyptus trees, and made it a much better place to live, over time. Seeing this, large numbers of Arabs, with no claim of original land, moved in, so that by the 1920s the Arab populations of the then-major cities (that had been founded by Jewish settlers) had doubled (or tripled).
So, most Palestinians today can lay no claim to the land, because their immediate ancestors moved in when the malaria and mosquitoes got out, thanks to European pioneers infused with spirit (or whatever else you want to call them).
As Nelson Madela put it:
“The UN took a strong stand against apartheid; and over the years, an international consensus was built, which helped to bring an end to this iniquitous system. But we know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians”.
http://www.ipsc.ie/campaigns_afz.php
The crime of apartheid is defined by the 2002 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court as inhumane acts of a character similar to other crimes against humanity “committed in the context of an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_of_apartheid
The policies of Israel toward Palestinians in the occupied territories of the West Bank and Gazw include roads that are Israeli only and Roads that are Palestinian only, the “security” wall is being built in a way that seperates relatives from each other and farmers from their land (that and international courts have ruled it illegal). Checkpoints restrict freedom of movement, the far right wing settler movement build outposts on stolen land, and are generally protected by the Israel Defense forces. Palestinians in the west bank and gaza are subject to a military occupation that denies them their sovreignty or any voice in the government that occupies their land and controls the institutions that they have to interact with. These policies constitute apartheid and they have to end.
Please check out the schedule of events that SDS has put together and make up tour own mind about what our perspective is and that of the speakers that we have invited. An SDS member wrote a letter to the opinion editor that will hopefully published tomorrow or Friday, hopefully it will further clarify where we are coming from, and why we think this criticism is not very well informed.
peace.
Assuming, of course, that to be Israeli is to be a race, rather than a nationality. Also, the IDF bears no particular love for the far-right settlement builders, continually demolishing illegal outposts, whereupon the men rebuild the buildings within hours.
Your perspective is naturally biased. While it is helpful, even without reading the schedule of events it is obvious that some sort of objectivity is being practiced.
Israel is trying to have things both ways. If you feel the apartheid tag does not apply to the West Bank then you have to agree that all the settlements there are illegal under Article Four of the Geneva Convention, which reads “The Occupying Power shall not deport civilians from or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” Israel itself considers the West Bank to be occupied territory and not part of Israel therefore it feels it does not have to give its ocupants the right to vote. However, if you feel the settlements are legal then you would be implying that the West Bank is part of the State of Israel and the apartheid tag would be valid. The apartheid tag is definitely valid in regards to East Jerusalem which Israel has officially annexed as part of the State of Israel but forbids the Palestinian residents from voting in national elections while allowing Jewish settlers there to do so.
Please define colonization as you see it. Does that include legally purchasing useless land from people currently living there, as Europeans did in the late 1800s?
VIDEO: Before you boycott Israel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saeky9I5T9c
We at Texans for Israel would like to help interested students boycott Israel properly.
First, you need to get rid of your laptop. The Intel chip that allows it to run was developed in Israel. If you are really bent on taking down the awful war machine that happens to have the most museums per capita in the world, you must power down immediately. If you happen to have a PC, make sure it does not run a Windows operating system, because the three most recent were developed by Microsoft Israel.
If you are forced to use your computer, make sure you do not use AOL Instant Messenger, Gmail chat or any other instant-messaging system. The patents for these systems were developed in Israel, and we wouldn’t want to support that under any circumstances.
Next to go should be your cell phone. The first cell phones were developed in Israel, and it would be a tragedy if we made this a boycott of convenience. If we are really committed to bringing down the nation that produces more scientific papers per capita than any other country, we can’t be brought down by our imperialistic cell phones.
If you are concerned about the environment, boycotting Israel could be difficult. Many solar power plants use technology that was invented by Israelis, and many of them were even installed by these terrible people. On the upside, the increased fossil fuels you will use will support freedom fighters such as Hamas and al-Qaida who are dedicated to bringing down the evil country that has the most Ph.D.s per capita.
If you are a farmer, particularly in dry areas of Texas, do not use drip irrigation on your fields. This method of irrigation that saves thousands of gallons of water per year was developed in Israel.
If you go to a hospital, you are going to have to take many special precautions to ensure that you are not aiding Israel. If you have a gastrointestinal disease, make sure that the doctors do not use a “pill cam” to diagnose you, as these were developed in Israel. If you are going to be screened for breast cancer, make sure you request a method that uses plenty of radiation. The radiation-free scanning method was developed in Israel, and exposure to radiation is a small price to pay to take down the Jewish state.
If you are involved in any human rights issues on campus, boycotting Israel will be very difficult. Israel has the best women’s rights record in the Middle East and is the only country in the region in which gay marriages are recognized. Also, Israel is the only country in the region that offers asylum to Darfur refugees.
So there you have it. You are now armed with all the necessary information to destroy the country that has given us Bar Refaeli, Natalie Portman and voicemail. Good luck!
Great article Michael!
Those hypocrites always attack Jews, but look the other way when atrocities are committed in Arab states. 1.2 Billion Muslims vs 15 Million Jews. We can handle it.
“We can handle it.”
Dyan – respectfully, that’s nothing but braggadocio. The ONLY thing that saves Israel today is nukes. There are hundreds of millions of Muslims around Israel, and only Israel’s nukes keep these people at bay.
I’d suggest that you work to push from ‘your’ side to make peace happen, because the status quo should not be addressed by saying “We can handle it.”
Listen up,
Our land was taken by Romans. They even changed the name from “Land of Israel” to Philistine. Well were back and we not giving it up again without a fight. And the only thing thats dragging the conflict along is Israel’s reluctance to open a can of whoopass. The palestinians want peace but to them peace means no Jews on “Arab land”
Islamo-fascists in Gaza fired thousands of rockets at Jewish civilians. The whitey-pete slander is a crude attempt to incriminate Israel for protecting its own citizens from Hamas rocket attacks launched from Gaza against Israeli civilians.
Humanity-hater, Goldstone should be prosecuted for his lies and blood libels against Israel. Why should this evil man be allowed to get away with what he has done?
Col. Richard Kemp, a British commander in Bosnia and Afghanistan
stated: “The Israel Defense Forces did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare. ” (Guardian-UK)
Goldstone Gaza Report: Col. Richard Kemp Testifies at U.N. Emergency Session
i tried to get through your post and i hung in there until i hit “islamo-fascist” and determined that you were bourgeois garbage who probably likes to memorize things he hears conservative pundits say and repeat them to disinterested friends and family.
sorry bro 🙁
Hahah. Please show me how Salafism and Deobandism have parallels to either National Socialism or Mussolini. Indeed, Francisco Franco’s Falangists bear more semblance to the Lebanese Christian Falangists of the 1980s who slaughtered so many Palestinian refugees.
“The whitey-pete slander is a crude attempt to incriminate Israel for protecting its own citizens from Hamas rocket attacks launched from Gaza against Israeli civilians.”
States have a right to defend themselves, thus giving Israel the right to attack Hamas in Gaza. Hamas used human shields, which is criminal under international law. Regardless, Israel’s pursuit of Hamas — and the fact Israel is well aware of the human shields, because this is not the first time it has happened — was so brutal that by its own admission it killed more than 300 Palestinian children in a matter of days. That’s literally dozens of times the number of Israelis killed in the previous nine years of Gazan rocket attacks.
Gaza lost 15 of its 27 hospitals and nearly half of its primary care facilities. Virtually all 10,000 family farms were destroyed in an Israeli campaign to destroy agriculture. Eight hundred water wells and more than 180 greenhouses were demolished, and 50,000 were left homeless. It’s a far cry from the crappy Qassams Hamas lobs toward Ashdod.
Feel free to quibble with Christopher Hitchens and Steven Schwartz (among others) who defend the term “Islamo-fascism.” The analogy stands. Those who wish to explore the subject in greater detail should feel free to sponsor “Islamo-fascism Awareness Week” on campus;
http://www.terrorismawareness.org/islamo-fascism-awareness-week/
This obnoxious campaign to slander Israel (by citing the discredited Goldstone report) is transparent Hamas-hugging hate. Try harder to avoid defending the indefensible.
You would get a traffic ticket. Are you joking?
Yea, but guess what when the threat involves suicide bombing and car bombs, its a different story. The palestinians made it to the point that Israel has no other choice.
white phosphorus on terrorists: Check
white phosporus on civilians: nope
stop spreading lies and supporting your terrorist friends.
huh, i guess all of those women and children fell into a black hole.
good to know that you view all palestinian casualties as “terrorists”. tell me, does your support for israel have more to do with your anti-arab hang-ups or your sympathy for imperialists? j/w
either way, israel isn’t using magical WP that only clings to and burns terrorists. they are conducting a war of extermination and they will only be satisfied when every arab in the gaza strip has been killed, displaced or assimilated.
No. It’s stupid, and few, if any, Holocaust researchers or scholars of fascism would ever use it. See: Walter Laqeuer
Palestinians practice apartheid, not Israelis:
JERUSALEM – This week, college campuses throughout North America have declared “Israel Apartheid Week,” where Israel is berated as an allegedly apartheid entity.
The way to cope with such allegations is to put the shoe on the other foot and to look at which side truly fosters an apartheid entity.
Presently, the newly constituted Palestinian Authority (P.A.) is preparing a state of Palestine based on new Middle East rules of Apartheid and institutionalized discrimination:
1. The P.A. claims the right of every Arab community to return to Arab villages lost in the 1948 war.
2. While 20 percent of Israel’s citizens are Arabs, the P.A. will not allow even one Jew to live in its midst.
3. P.A. law mandates that anyone who sells land to a Jew is liable to the death penalty
4. Those who murder Jews are honored on all official media outlets of the P.A.
5. P.A. maps depict all of Palestine under Palestinian rule
6. P.A. maps of Jerusalem once again delete the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem
7. P.A. documents claim all of Jerusalem.
8. The P.A. denies the right of Jewish access to Jewish holy places in their midst.
9. The Palestinian State Constitution denies juridical status to any religion besides Islam.
10. The P.A. will not allow the creation of any system of human rights or civil liberties in a future state.
If that is not the formula for a totalitarian apartheid state of Palestine, then what is?
Let’s put the following together:
Let’s organize an annual “Arab Apartheid Week,” which would highlight the decrepit state of human and political rights throughout the Arab world.
There is a solid case to be made that the Arab states remain the last great outpost of despotism and tyranny on earth, and people need to be reminded as much. Indeed, the Arab world today is a living encyclopedia of outmoded forms of government, from sultanates such as Oman and emirates such as Qatar, to thuggish dictatorships such as Syria and dynastic monarchies along the lines of Jordan. It may be a political scientist’s dream, but it is a nightmare for the hundreds of millions of Arabs chafing under oppression and tyranny.
Basic and fundamental freedoms such as personal autonomy and individual rights are routinely trampled upon, and ethnic and religious minority groups suffer extreme discrimination and
intolerance. Just ask Coptic Christians in Egypt, Baha’is in Iran or Shi’ites in Saudi Arabia for starters.
This was borne out most recently by a report issued by Freedom House, the independent Washington-based group that advocates for freedom worldwide. Its annual survey, “Freedom in the World 2010,” would make for eye-opening reading for all those who cry “apartheid” whenever they see a flag with a Star of David.
Consider the following findings:
Of the 18 countries in the Middle East that Freedom House surveyed, only one is considered to be “free.”
And just who might that be? Yep, you guessed it: Israel.
Not a single Arab country – not one! – did Freedom House consider “free.” Three Arab states – Morocco, Lebanon and Kuwait – were labeled “partly free,” while 13 other Arab states as well as Iran merited the dubious distinction of being branded as “not free.”
In effect, then, this means that of the approximately 370 million human beings currently residing in the Middle East, only 2 percent enjoy true freedom – namely those who live in the Jewish state.
So much for “Israeli apartheid.”
NOT SURPRISINGLY, in a press release announcing the report’s publication, Freedom House concluded that “the Middle East remained the most repressive region in the world.” It is this message that Israel and its supporters need to begin highlighting. By casting a spotlight on the subjugation, oppression and tyranny that typify nearly the entire Arab world, we can open some eyes out there and educate the Western public as to who really shares their democratic values.
As Prof. Bernard Lewis has written, the Arab states are little more than “a string of shabby tyrannies, ranging from traditional autocracies to new-style dictatorships, modern only in their apparatus of repression and indoctrination.”
An annual Arab Apartheid Week, held on campuses and at community centers, could be an effective vehicle for driving home this fundamental truth.
Doing so will reframe the debate. More importantly, it will help Westerners to finally begin recognizing the Arab regimes for what they are: a dangerous mix of despotism and dictatorship.
The wall the Palestinians built. That is without the following there never would have been the need for a fence. in the first place.
http://www.adl.org/Israel/israel_attacks.asp
Genocidal Arab-Nazi leader: Ahmad Shukairy, 'father' of 'Apartheid' [lie] slander (1961) http://freeisraelnow.blogspot.com/2011/06/genocid…
The Arab led slur of “apartheid" [a tactic of diverting attention from the largely Arab leaders’ fault in Arabs' condition, as well as general Arab oppression of its people and discrimination against minorities, a criminal strategy with the aim of de-legitimizing Israel’s quest for survival, as if Israel's security and defense has anything to do with "race"], dates back to an October 1961 (that's 6 Years before the 1967 so-called "occupation" even came about) speech by Saudi Arabia's Ahmad Shukairy during a strongly anti-Western chide. He went as far as to object Israel's right to try Nazi extermination chief of WW2: Adolf Eichmann.
Ahmad Shukairy was an aide for the infamous Hitler's Mufti Haj amin al-Husseini, as his henchman he helped in ideas of extermination in WW2. He openly praised a Nazi group in Argentina (1962).
That's many years before the Arab lobby paid Jimmy Carter for his hate book. http://frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/ReadArticle… Yet, Carter himself admitted on CNN (Dec., 2006): "I recognize that Israel is a wonderful democracy with freedom of speech and equality of treatment under the law between Arab Israelis and Jewish Israelis." http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0612/12/acd.02…
BTW, contrary to Pallywood-lies producing fake "memorandums", N. Mandela did NOT make the ridiculous yet horrific 'apartheid analogy.' http://books.google.com/books?id=LBnn7AR5R6YC&…