Letter to the Editor, December 28, 2017: Israel and Apartheid?

December 28, 2017

By Dana Fine

According to its definition, apartheid is a policy/system of segregation or discrimination on the grounds of race. Between the years 1948-1994, South Africa enforced through legislation an apartheid regime, which harshly discriminated the non-white racial groups. This discrimination encompassed every aspect of life, such as the right to vote, job opportunities and education. It also encroached on aspects of simple, everyday life: which road you could walk on, which park bench you could sit on, at which beach you could go swimming; even intermarriage between whites and non-whites was strictly forbidden. What is important to emphasize is that these people, despite being grossly discriminated against, were in fact, equally defined as citizens by the South African laws.

Israel is the only true democracy in the Middle East, and 20% of its population are Arabs. Totally contradicting the above accusations, any form of discrimination against the non-Jewish minorities is strictly forbidden by law in Israel. Thus, the Arab-Druze population is fully represented in the Knesset by sixteen Arab/Druze-Israeli members. Likewise, the judiciary is typified by equality between Jews and Arabs. In this way, the Supreme Court judge, Salim Joubran (incidentally an Arab), found the former Israeli president, Moshe Katsav (Jewish), guilty and sentenced him to serve seven years in prison (https://goo.gl/FgwvSk). Another example of this policy of equality is provided by the IDF Colonel Ghassan Alian, a Druze-Israeli, the commander of the Golani brigade, which is one of the leading infantry brigades in the Israeli Defense Forces.

Similarly, Jewish and non-Jewish students study side by side in colleges and universities; Jews and non-Jews receive exactly the same medical treatment under the same roof and use exactly the same means of transport. In short, NO SEGREGATION! In fact, Israeli-Arabs are considered among the best and brightest in the Arab world. For example, in 2013, the level of illiteracy in Egypt was 28.6%, in Syria 20.4%, in Lebanon 13.5%, in Jordan 10.1%; and how much the Israeli-Arabs? 6%. https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/refuting-the-lie-of-the-israeli-apartheid/

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So, still accusing Israel of apartheid? Ludicrous.

In preparing her letter, Dana Fine incorporated material from multiple websites.

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