Human rights in Israel – Amnesty International calls Israel an “apartheid state” – News

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  • Amnesty International has published a report in which the human rights organization justifies the application of the term “apartheid” to Israel.
  • Human Rights Watch used the term in connection with Israel’s Palestine policy last April.
  • Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid calls the AI ​​report an “anti-Semitic” report and “a recycling of lies”.

The ball was started in April 2021 by the human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) by joining forces with Palestinian and Israeli NGOs who had chosen to use the term “apartheid” to describe Israel’s policies towards Palestinians and Israeli Arabs .

No comparison with South Africa

Almost a year later, Amnesty International (AI) is now publishing a comprehensive report in which the organization explains its decision to use the term “apartheid” while stating that it wants to avoid comparisons with South Africa.

“Whether they live in Gaza, East Jerusalem, the rest of the West Bank or in Israel, the Palestinians are treated as an inferior racial group and systematically deprived of their rights. And this cruel policy of segregation, dispossession and exclusion by Israel in these areas clearly borders on apartheid,” Amnesty stressed in the report, adding that the Palestinians are viewed by Israel as a “demographic threat”.

What is apartheid?


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The term “apartheid” literally means “separation” and originally describes a political period of racial segregation in South Africa and South West Africa. It was characterized above all by the authoritarian, self-declared supremacy of the “white” ethnic European population over all others. Apartheid peaked from the 1940s to the 1980s and, after a period of understanding, ended in 1994 with a democratic change of government, with Nelson Mandela becoming South Africa’s first black president. Recently, the term has also been used more often as a synonym for segregation in general. In addition, political action in this way has been incorporated into international law as a criminal offence.

“The Arab citizens of Israel will not have the same experience of apartheid as those in Gaza, but that does not mean that there is no apartheid regime,” said Amnesty Secretary-General Agnes Callamard.

I was shocked by the dehumanization of the system.

“I was shocked by the dehumanization of the system,” added Callamard, who arrived in Jerusalem last week. She held talks in the West Bank and Israel, but was unable to meet with Israeli officials, despite asking the authorities to do so.

Israel shoots back sharply

As early as Monday, when the Amnesty report was circulating secretly, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid condemned it as an “anti-Semitic” report, “a recycling of lies”. “Amnesty International was once a respected organization that we all respected. Today it is exactly the opposite, »said Lapid, accusing the NGO of having become «a radical organization».

outrage in Israel


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SRF Middle East correspondent Susanne Brunner describes the reactions in Israel as follows: “The majority reacts with outrage – that once again Israel is singled out and pilloried. And that in a region where other regimes commit the most horrific violations of human rights and discrimination that are not even discussed. Left-wing Israelis, who are still campaigning for a lasting peace, are also particularly disappointed. They find calling Israel an apartheid state a shame for their efforts.”

Amnesty International parried

Criticism of the practices of the State of Israel is in no way a form of anti-Semitism. AI strongly condemns anti-Semitism, Callamard countered. In its report, the organization called on the UN Security Council to impose an “embargo” on arms sales to the Jewish state and sanctions on those Israeli officials most implicated in the crimes of apartheid.

AI is also calling on the International Criminal Court, which launched an investigation last year for “crimes against humanity” against the Palestinians, to “include the crime of apartheid in its record.”

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