Main points
Apartheid means "apartness" in the Afrikaans language spoken in South Africa, a system of racial separation based on white supremacy that existed from 1948 to 1991. Israeli Apartheid is structured very similarly to the old South African system since it separates Palestinians, who have no legal rights, from Jews who enjoy all legal rights. In addition to the structural similarities between the two systems of Apartheid, numerous organizations and individuals – many in Israel itself – agree that the system Israel imposes on Palestinians is Apartheid.
What is Apartheid?
Apartheid, or “apartness” in Afrikaans, was a system of legislation that upheld segregation against non-white citizens of South Africa. After the National Party gained power in South Africa in 1948, its all-white government immediately began enforcing existing policies of racial segregation. Under apartheid, nonwhite South Africans—a majority of the population—were forced to live in separate areas from whites and use separate public facilities. Contact between the two groups was limited. Despite strong and consistent opposition to apartheid within and outside of South Africa, its laws remained in effect for the better part of 50 years.
Who says Israel practices Apartheid?
Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, documents over 50 laws that discriminate against Israeli Arabs, but the imposition of British Mandate laws on Arabs in the Occupied Territories is pure Apartheid.
The Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem says so. Israeli author David Grossman has said it. The Israeli anti-occupation group Yesh Din calls the occupation Apartheid. Before he was assassinated by an extremist from the settler movement, Yitzhak Rabin called the settler movement a "cancer" and warned that Israel risked becoming an Apartheid state. In the 1980's Uri Davis, an Israeli activist, and Meron Benvenisti, an Israeli political scientist, used the phrase. The Israeli groups Adalah, B'Tselem, Breaking the Silence, Combatants for Peace, Gisha, HaMoked, Haqel: In Defense of Human Rights, Human Rights Defenders Fund, Ofek: The Israeli Center for Public Affairs, Physicians for Human Rights–Israel and Yesh Din all supported an Amnesty International report calling Israel's practices Apartheid. A 2022 United Nations report calls it apartheid.
And who knows better than the nation of South Africa? South Africa downgraded Israel's embassy in protest of Israeli Apartheid and openly called Israel an Apartheid state at the UN. Of course, perhaps they were just sore that Israel actually supported South African Apartheid.
Many other voices recognize parallels with the old South African system. Last April, for the first time, the venerable journal Foreign Affairs ran an article calling Israel an Apartheid state. Human Rights Watch considers Israel's treatment of Palestinians Apartheid. Amnesty International says so too. The American group Jewish Voice for Peace agrees. The American Friends Service Committee uses the term "Israeli Apartheid." Former UN Secretary Ban Ki-Moon cautiously says Israel is "inching" toward Apartheid. New York Times columnist Tom Friedman blasted a Republican pro-Israel position as pro- Apartheid. Marine Corps General James Mattis used the term describing Israel's "democratic" dilemma: democracy or Apartheid. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry made exactly the same argument. Former Vermont governor and presidential candidate Howard Dean called Israel an Apartheid state. Former President Jimmy Carter thought so too. He even wrote a book making the case.
And if compassion for Palestinians is antisemitic, you'd better tell American Jews. Among respondents of a 2021 survey commissioned by the Jewish Electorate Institute, a group led by prominent Jewish Democrats, 34% agreed that “Israel’s treatment of Palestinians is similar to racism in the United States,” 25% considered “Israel is an apartheid state” and 22% thought that “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians.”
