The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has just taken its latest steps towards using the Apartheid smear to delegitimise Israel.
Everybody with an ounce of sense knows that there is no Apartheid in Israel. And this certainly includes those who have needed to butcher and mash-up several definitions in order to write lengthy reports that argue the opposite. Two minutes of walking through Israel’s diverse cities is all it takes to disperse any doubt at all. So why are the world’s largest human rights NGOs, leftist politicians, academics, numerous activists – and probably soon the UNHRC – arguing otherwise? Read on to understand the disgraceful truth behind this deliberate smear:
The basics
The underlying truth which should form the basis for every discussion on Israel remains this:
The Arabs (a Pan-Arab bloc which included those who today identify as Palestinians) refused to accept that Jews should have any state at all – behind any borders – no matter how small. The Arabs violently opposed Jewish immigration and then the UN Partition plan. When all this – and even civil war – failed to stop the inevitable, the neighbouring Arab states invaded the Jewish enclave – on the day of its birth – seeking to wipe it out.
Had they not done this – had instead the Arabs chosen to compromise – there would not have been a single day of war and not a single Arab refugee created. Had the Arabs been able to live side by side with the Jews, a Palestinian state would have been created 74 years ago.
No apology
This simple truth should never be forgotten. Nor should Israel apologise for surviving a genocidal war that sought to destroy it. Any separation that occurred evolved from the need of Jews to defend themselves from those that sought to kill them. Today’s Palestinians are the remnants of the failure of the Arab world to wipe out Israel.
This map is taken from the London Evening News in May 1967, just a few weeks before the Six-Day-War. It will leave many anti-Israel activists scratching their heads. It shows the political world as it was then. A world without Palestine:
Since the original conflict in 1948, the Arabs fought again and again – in military and political conflict – seeking to wipe Israel out – and they failed time after time. Following a devastating defeat in 1967, and a growing realisation in the 1970s that they could not beat Israel militarily, some Arab states began making peace. For the extremists, who still refuse to accept any Jewish self-rule, the focus became an intense diplomatic ‘delegitimisation’ campaign.
The ‘Arabs of Palestine’
Putting aside the Jordanians (whilst relevant this would be an unnecessary complication here) the Arabs who resided in (or moved into) the area that was awarded (by the League of Nations) to the British for the purpose of creating a Jewish homeland fit mostly into three categories:
- Israeli Arabs – Beduin, Druse, Muslim and Christian, who did not flee the conflict arena in 1948. They are full Israeli citizens and are the only Arabs in the entire MENA region who experience true democratic freedom.
- The ‘Palestinian Arabs’. These Arabs were in the Jordanian or Egyptian ‘occupied’ territory that Israel took control of during the Six-Day-War.
- The Palestinian refugees. Arabs who mostly fled during the Israeli war of Independence in 1948-49. Instead of being absorbed by the Arab states – they were left to rot in camps. Then, for no reason other than to perpetuate the conflict the title ‘Palestinian refugee’ was given hereditary status. They are mostly based in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. There are many absurdities, such as the attempt to suggest a Palestinian born in Gaza or Jenin is a refugee (is he not in his homeland?) Some were even born in the UK, US and other countries around the world – citizens of the world’s greatest democracies and perversely still call themselves refugees.
It is important to understand these three separate groups – and distinguish between them – because it is the goal of anti-Israel activists to blur these lines.
The three stated goals of the boycott movement – BDS
The three goals of BDS are explicitly and deliberately created to capture all three categories.
- Goal 1: Deals with the lands captured in 1967 – and therefore covers the ‘Palestinian Arabs’.
- Goal 2: Calls for full equality for ‘Palestinians’ living in Israel – and therefore outrageously appropriates Israeli Arab citizens
- Goal 3: Covers the right of return of the Refugees – and therefore deals with those Arabs who are descendants of the Arabs who fled the 1948 war.
This is important and not accidental. The creation of the BDS strategy to include Israeli Arabs delegitimises Israeli sovereignty in every cm of land that Israel controls.
It means that BDS will continue to attack – even if a compromise is reached with the Palestinians – even if the refugee issue is settled. These extremists will continue to attack until Israel has been wiped out completely. BDS is the siege engine of the radical Islamic terror groups.
The failure of BDS
The problem was that BDS failed – and it failed badly.
Firstly, Israel’s economic growth since the BDS movement launched in 2005 has been outstanding. Even the 2008 global crash barely touched its sides. But beyond this, Israel has become a global player in technological and medical innovation and has recently even begun to export gas. Sure, BDS may dupe someone living in Boston or Sheffield into not purchasing an Israeli avocado -but it cannot stop the billion-dollar investments in Israeli innovation.
Secondly, people saw through it. I am the first to admit that if BDS had restricted itself only to the core question of a Palestinian state based on a 2-state solution, it would have fared much better. This wouldn’t make it right – but it would at least look more sincere. But the BDS movement seeks the destruction of a democracy. It is vague, racist, inconsistent, anti-democratic, deceitful, and based on hypocrisy. Unless you are a fool or an antisemite, you’d want no part of it. The BDS campaign rarely succeeded in breaking out of its own extremist bubble.
The key problem for the extremists behind BDS is simple. Israel is the only democracy in the entire MENA region. It is the only nation in the area in which all its citizens are free. On top of all this the Jewish people have a right to self-determination in their historical homeland. BDS and its extremist backers needed to undo these core truths. They needed to turn reality on its head.
This is the root cause of the Apartheid smear.
Enter the NGOs
Time was that only the Soviet / Arab propaganda machine pushed the Apartheid smear. Over time, especially since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the changing demographic face of wester democracies – the terminology entered the west. As the radical Islamists and the hard-left began to work together in the west, the seeds spread into academia and leftist political circles. The hard-left capture and politicisation of the NGOs was part of this struggle.
Timing was everything. The Second Intifada took place alongside the global spread of the internet, the birth of social media, mass immigration in the west and universities opening their doors. As Hamas bombers blew up buses, cafes and shopping malls, the terrorist networks used their ‘diplomatic’ arm to attack Israel through the viral spread of disinformation online.
In the real world ‘Hamas’, ‘PFLP’ and ‘Muslim Brotherhood’ sympathisers entered the western university space on scholarship programs. From there they could corrupt the local environment from within. Many never even left. They took their PhDs and became academics themselves. Today’s campus atmosphere is a direct result of this. Some of the extremists did leave campus to cause trouble elsewhere – such as becoming ‘Human Rights activists’ inside major NGOs.
The ‘apartheid wall’ and Gaza
The earliest mainstream use of the term ‘Apartheid’ came when Israel began to build a defensive barrier to stop the incessant and deadly terrorist attacks during the Second Intifada.
It was just a wall Israel was forced to put up because radical Islamic terrorists were entering Israeli cities and slaughtering civilians. But anti-Israel activists jumped at the opportunity. Note at this point, there is no attempt to push this Apartheid claim into the mainstream beyond a *false* accusation that the path of Israel’s defensive barrier was problematic.
The same is true of Gaza. People have forgotten the truth completely here. The Palestinians celebrated Israel’s complete withdrawal from the Gaza strip.
“”Today is a day of joy and happiness that our people were deprived of in the past century,” Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas Sep 10 2005.
It is not Israel’s fault that the Palestinians denied themselves yet another opportunity, voted for the radical Islamic terror group Hamas and turned Gaza into a rocket factory. But this withdrawal provided another opportunity for the extremists to use the Apartheid smear against Israel – this time because it was giving Palestinians a chance to rule themselves:
The Apartheid smear was pushed *only* against some of Israel’s political actions and *only ever* with reference to the 1967 areas. The anti-Israel industry knew nothing else would wash. They have since had twenty years to normalise the disinformation campaign by blurring all the lines.
The Apartheid smear – upping the ante
It is true that most people do not know the first thing about the conflict. Most are unaware of how the conflict started or that Israel is home to almost 2 million Arabs. This general ignorance provides fertile ground for a successful disinformation campaign.
It was necessary to attack Israel’s heart. To create an illusion of discrimination against the Arabs living in Israel. Not the Palestinians – not the refugees – but the Arabs of Israel itself. By doing this the anti-Israel industry could delegitimise Israel’s very existence.
In the early 2000s, the NGO Adalah began to advertise a list of what it claimed were Israeli laws that discriminate against its non-Jewish citizens. Adalah eventually turned it into a database for anti-Israel activists to use. Except the list itself is nonsense – including such items as the Israeli flag, Jewish holidays and so on.
Truth is not relevant here. Nobody ever bothered to read them. It was all about disseminating information that anti-Israel activists could use – repeat and spread around. Over and over. ‘Israeli Apartheid week’ became a regular annual accurence on university grounds in the west. It went on for a week each year, then two weeks, then three. These days ‘Israel Apartheid week’ can last for months.
All this means that when talking about Israeli Apartheid, activists could begin to conflate issues – and when directed towards an ignorant public, the lines became increasingly blurred.
The ICC
For several years – use of the Apartheid smear grew in activist circles. The NGOs like Amnesty openly used their facilities to promote its growth. The decay of the NGOs is a vital part of this story. Amnesty destroyed itself by using the extremists as a recruitment pool.
Two quick examples.
- Saleh Hijazi is one of the key figures for Amnesty’s Israel strategy. He is a Palestinian who used to have profiles of terrorists on his Facebook page.
- Ali Jarrar was at Codepink. She was actively campaigning to boycott Airbnb at the extremist group Codepink. Amnesty hired her. Shortly afterwards Amnesty began an Airbnb campaign themselves.
Here she is *eleven years ago* calling Israel an Apartheid state:
Across the board, in NGOs, academia and media – these extremists corrupted from within. If you continually employ biased extremists, you will become biased and extreme yourself.
But things on the outside continued to work against them. The rising threat of Iran, the increasing economic strength of Israel, and a growing weariness for the Palestinians in Arab political circles, began to create a ticking time-bomb under their feet.
Israel became more and more normalised in the Middle East. With the collapse of both Syria and Iraq – the extremists had nothing but the terrorist groups behind them. The UAE and Bahrain began to make noises for peace – and even Saudi Arabia softened. It became imperative to take the argument to the next level – so the Palestinians took the case to the ICC.
Choreography in the twilight zone
What followed proves that everything you know about truth and justice can be set aside. What we are witnessing is a choreographed attempt by extremists to undermine the very foundations of Israel. The ICC despite having no jurisdiction in Israel suddenly claimed that it does. The ICC also decided to go to bat for the Palestinians – even though it breaks their own rule book. Just like we see with the NGOs, the ICC has been corrupted from within.
The ICC decision created a snowball effect and the NGOs needed to play their part. It became important to add the charge of Apartheid to the Israel crime sheet. So B’tselem, HRW and Amnesty produced their reports.
There is no doubt at all, this was an organised and choreographed assault on the truth.
The simple truth
I saw this on Twitter recently and it better exposes the Apartheid lie better than 10000 words could do. This is a map of the MENA region.
Within the green section there used to be almost a million Jews, until they fled heavy Islamic persecution. There are just a few thousand Jews left in this massive area. The Christians and other minorities are being forced out of the green area as well. Anyone who remains lives under Islamic supremacist rule – as second-class citizens. In many states there is legislation enforcing this discriminatory rule. Whilst in the tiny, red-marked area of Israel, live two million non-Jews. They are the only free non-Jewish citizens in the entire MENA region. Yet Amnesty and HRW seriously want you to think that Israel is the Apartheid state.
It is a simple fact; the only free Muslims, Christians, Jews, Druse and Beduin in the entire MENA region all live in Israel.
Understanding the Apartheid smear
There is nothing logical or honest about the Apartheid smear at all. It is a deliberate and vindictive lie. Make no mistake. Amnesty and HRW know they are pulling the wool over everyone’s eyes.
It started by demonising Israel’s attempts to defend its own citizens against terrorist attacks. From there – in order to replicate the successful boycott of South Africa – the anti-Israel propaganda machine started building a pyramid of lies. To blur the boundaries until Israel’s very existence was brought into question.
These people break every value that they are supposed to believe in. They appropriate the identity of minority groups, break the ICC rulebook, butcher the definition of a refugee. They have destroyed human rights activism from within.
The Apartheid smear movement opposes peace. It is angered by the Abraham accords. It sees the PA itself as a betrayal (because it recognised Israel). These people oppose a two-state solution. This is not a friendly movement that should be welcomed in leftist circles, but a terrorist supporting group of extremists that promote the destruction of the only democracy in MENA.
{Reposted from the author’s blog}
