Amnesty on dealing with Palestinians: apartheid accusation against Israel

Amnesty International has published a report accusing Israel of apartheid. Palestinians would be treated as “inferior” citizens. Foreign Minister Lapid indignantly rejected the allegations.

Amnesty International’s report is a tough one: it talks about a cruel system of rule and about crimes against humanity. Israel is in the dock. Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s director for the Middle East, describes the serious allegations: “Today’s new report by Amnesty International shows that Israel has imposed a system of apartheid on the Palestinians,” she says. “In all areas controlled by Israel, i.e. both in the occupied Palestinian territories and in Israel.”

Israel maintains “an institutionalized regime of oppression and domination” designed to subdue the Palestinians as an “inferior ethnic group and willfully deprive them of their rights.”

Palestinians as a demographic threat

The confiscation of Palestinian land and property, unlawful killings, forced displacement, drastic restrictions on movement and the denial of citizenship and citizenship to Palestinians are all part of this system, the report said.

The human rights organization cites demographic development in the region as one of the reasons for the alleged apartheid regime that Amnesty International is responsible for in Israel. The Palestinians are seen as a demographic threat. The consequences are measures to control and restrict the presence and access of Palestinians to land in Israel and the occupied territories.

Foreign Minister: “propaganda without facts”

The Amnesty report sparked outrage in Israel: Foreign Minister Jair Lapid rejected the allegations in a video message and went on the offensive: “In the past, Amnesty was an organization respected by everyone. Today, Amnesty is no longer a human rights organization, it’s just a another radical organization that relays propaganda without considering the facts.”

“Why isn’t Amnesty talking about Syria?”

Instead of looking for facts, Amnesty cites lies spread by terrorist organizations, Israel’s foreign minister said. His verdict: The report is pure anti-Semitism. “Israel is not perfect,” says Lapid. “But we are a democracy committed to international law, open to criticism, with a free press and free institutions.”

And he asks: “Why doesn’t Amnesty talk about Syria, where the regime has murdered more than half a million of its own citizens? Why isn’t that apartheid? Why doesn’t Amnesty name Iran or other murderous regimes around the world? It’s all about Israel.”