Israel Matzav

Cheapening apartheid

The UN selected one NGO to speak at their session on the 'inalienable rights' of the 'Palestinian people' and it was a doozer. And of course, the speaker accused Israel of 'apartheid.' Let's go to the videotape.



'Apartheid'? That's funny, I don't recall seeing any signs like this one from South Africa in Israel.


Do any other Israelis recall seeing a sign like this in Israel?

Of course not. But this type of hyperbole lowers the level of debate to one where intelligent discourse cannot take place. What was apartheid really?Recall that I linked to a post from a South African blog here. Here's some of what Steve - who grew up with it - had to say about apartheid:

There were two components to Apartheid – grand apartheid with its goal of political separation, and petty apartheid which sought to segregate whites from non whites. Both components were equally important and intertwined for one could not succeed without the other.

Grand apartheid was to be achieved by creating separate political realities for whites and non whites. This was done by revoking the citizenship from non-white South Africans reducing the ‘legal’ population of South Africa so that the whites would be the demographic majority. Homelands called Bantustans were created and these were eventually to become separate independent states. Blacks were to either be physically moved into these homelands, or nationally tied to them (i.e. they would become a citizen of the homeland that they might have never set foot in; and not a citizen of South Africa). Naturally, even blacks that were not yet assigned a Bantustan, were denied suffrage (i.e. they were denied the right to vote).

Legislation was passed to legally separate blacks from whites in all aspects of daily life. The separate public amenities act ruled that blacks and whites would receive separate public services. Blacks and whites were to have separate education, medical care, transport and beaches. The legislation even pervaded to the use of parks – blacks could not sit on the same benches as whites and they could not even use the same water fountains used by whites.

Laws were also passed prohibiting blacks and whites from having sexual relations. This was policed to the extent that a white could be incarcerated for allowing a black of the opposite sex to sit on the front seat in their car.

Apartheid ensured the domination by a white minority over a black majority in every apsect of their daily lives. Blacks could not participate in the political process, they were forced to study in languages selected by the government and their education was geared towards making them useful labourers for their white ‘bosses’.

It is thus easy to see that Israel is not an apartheid state. All citizens of Israel (whether Muslim or Jewish, Arab or European) have equality before the law. There is nothing close to resembling the separate provision of amenities – Muslims and Jews use the same hospitals, Muslims and Jews use the same public transport, Muslims and Jews all vote in Israeli elections, Muslims and Jews can run for election etc etc. Muslims in Israel can choose to study in the language of their preference and Arabic is even one of the national languages of Israel. In apartheid South Africa, although blacks made up over 80% of the population, not a single African language was recognised by the state.

What went on this week in the UN cheapens the reality of apartheid, just like referring to every corrupt politician as a Nazi or as Hitler cheapens the reality of what Nazism really was. Seeing a black South African cheapen apartheid grates on the nerves just like seeing an Orthodox Jew cheapen the Holocaust does.

How soon we forget.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:41 AM