Friday, November 13, 2009

The Campaign to Delegitimize Israel with the False Charge of Apartheid

Robbie Sabel (Global Law Forum-Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)

* If Israel's detractors can associate the Jewish movement for self-determination with the Apartheid South African regime, they will have done lasting and maybe irreparable damage. Yet the comparison of Israel to South Africa under white supremist rule has been utterly rejected by those with intimate understanding of the old Apartheid system. # Israel is a multi-racial and multi-colored society, and the Arab minority actively participates in the political process. There are Arab parliamentarians, Arab judges including on the Supreme Court, Arab cabinet ministers, Arab heads of hospital departments, Arab university professors, Arab diplomats in the Foreign Service, and very senior Arab police and army officers. Incitement to racism in Israel is a criminal offence, as is discrimination on the basis of race or religion.
# The accusation is made that the very fact that Israel is considered a Jewish state proves an "Apartheid-like" situation. Yet the accusers have not a word of criticism against the tens of liberal democratic states that have Christian crosses incorporated in their flags, nor against the Muslim states with the half crescent symbol of Islam. For various Arab states to denote themselves as Arab Republics is not objectionable.
# Zionism is perhaps the only national movement that has received explicit support and endorsement both from the League of Nations and from the United Nations. It was the League of Nations that approved the mandate for Palestine with its ringing endorsement of "the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country."
# The real goal behind the Apartheid campaign is the denial of the legitimacy of the State of Israel and the determination that the only status the Jewish population in Israel can hope for is that of a "protected" ethnic minority in an Arab Palestinian state.

The writer served as Legal Adviser to the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1985 to 1993, and is a visiting Professor of International Law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Guest Comment:Deligitimization is followed by defamation and open season on Jews and Israel. Those that push this lie about Israel are clearly anti-Israel.

Don

Comment: The war on Israel outside the battle field is as important as the need to protect ourselves militarily. Nidra Poller has coined a very critical concept-"lethal narratives" and the "Apartheid" attacks represent such a narrative. It is unimportant to our enemies to use such words against us, even they do not believe in what they preach. It is important to put the attacks as the public voice so the lethal narrative is spread through out the international community. Notice how they, our enemy, control the dialogue, control the focus while we constantly respond. The damage has been done-first out wins. Who really reads the later defense?

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