Sometimes it’s just better to let people speak for themselves. Here’s what four prominent Israeli citizens have said in the past about Israel. Trigger warning: if you are a radical Zionist, you might be disturbed by some of the following content:
“If this bloc of millions of Palestinians cannot vote, that will be an apartheid state.”
(Reported by The Guardian, 3rd February 2010)
Ehud Barak (10th Prime Minister of Israel 1999-2001)
Image Attribution: Adi Cohen Zedek (עדי כהן צדק)
Israel’s former PM said in 2010 that if the millions of Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank can’t vote in Israeli elections for the government that ultimately controls their lives, then that would be an apartheid state.
Well, as of 2023, people in Gaza and the West Bank still can’t vote for the government that occupies their territory. That means Israel is an apartheid state and not a democracy. This is not according to me but according to the statement made by Israel’s former PM.
“There is an apartheid state here”
(Reported by Associated Press, 6th September 2023)
Tamir Pardo (Former Director of Mossad from 2011 to 2016)
Image Attribution: Haim Zach / Government Press Office of Israel
I don’t think you have to be the Head of Israeli Intelligence to realise that Israel is an apartheid state.
Mr. Tamir Pardo provides us with an excellent and simple definition of apartheid that seems to me to be quite intuitive:
“In a territory where two people are judged under two legal systems, that is an apartheid state.”
(Reported by Associated Press, 6th September 2023)
Please ask yourself whether or not this seems to apply to the situation in Gaza and the West Bank.
“And what acts like apartheid, is run like apartheid and harasses like apartheid, is not a duck – it is apartheid.”
(Written for the Israeli news site Haaretz, 25th April 2008)
Yossi Sarid (Israeli Minister of the Environment 1992-1996, Israeli Minister of Education 1999-2000)
Image Attribution: Meretz-Yachad
I love this quote because of its simple and down-to-earth nature. Sometimes you really do have to call a spade a spade.
While he was alive, Yossi Sarid was widely referred to as being “Israel’s moral compass”. I wish that someone would’ve told Israel that you’re supposed to go in the direction that the needle points and not the other way.
“Walk around Hebron and you will see streets where Arabs cannot walk, just like what happened in Germany.”
(Reported by the Israeli news site The Jerusalem Post, 13th August 2023)
Amiram Levin (Retired Major General of the Israeli Army)
He fought for Israel in the Yom Kippur War and was also wounded fighting for his country. So it’s a pretty big thing for him to say. This should make anyone pause and think.
Moreover, Amiram Levin has made very hostile comments against Palestine in the past and continues to do so. He is certainly no friend of the Palestinian people. But even he has said this much.
By the way, for those of you who don’t know, Hebron is a city in the West Bank. Part of it is being increasingly occupied by illegal Israeli settlements.
“They came from the West Bank. For 57 years there has been no democracy there. There is absolute apartheid there.”
(Reported by the Israeli news site The Jerusalem Post, 13th August 2023)
Yes, you read that correctly. Here the same retired Israeli Major General declares that the situation in the West Bank is absolute apartheid and there’s been no democracy there for 57 years. Personally, I’m not even 25 years old so that means Israel has deprived people in the West Bank of democracy more than twice as long as I’ve been alive.
“The IDF against its will has to enforce sovereignty there and is standing by and watching the rampant settlers and is beginning to be complicit in war crimes.”
(Reported by the Israeli news site The Jerusalem Post, 13th August 2023)
Wow. In case you missed that, let me just shorten this quote so you guys can see exactly what he’s saying: “The IDF . . . is beginning to be complicit in war crimes.” Yes, you read that right. And this was two months before Israel indiscriminately started attacking Gazan civilians. We have this on the expert authority of a retired Israeli Major General.
* * *
We’re told that it’s antisemitic to say that Israel’s an apartheid state. And if you’re Jewish and you say it then they’ll call you a self-hating Jew.
Okay then, let’s play by these rules. Is Ehud Barak, former Israeli Prime Minister, a self-hating Jew? Is Tamir Pardo, former Head of Israeli Intelligence, a self-hating Jew? Is Amiram Levin, retired Major General of the Israeli Army, a self-hating Jew? Was Yossi Sarid, former Israeli Minister of the Environment as well as former Israeli Minister of Education, a self-hating Jew? Are all Israelis self-hating Jews?
Now, obviously, the answer to all these questions is a definitive “no”. None of these men are self-hating Jews. So why the double standard? Why are they allowed to point out the obvious truth (that Israel is an apartheid state) but the rest of us are either antisemites or self-hating Jews for daring to criticise Israel when it violates international laws and perpetrates war crimes?
Israel is not overflowing with self-hating Jews and neither is the rest of the world. I am not an anti-semite for having the same concerns as Jews critical of Israel, nor is anyone else who condemns apartheid. Concerns like these do not make you antisemitic, they make you a human being.
About the Author: Mansoor Dahri is an online editor for The Review of Religions. He graduated from UCL in BA Ancient Languages.
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