Israel isn’t an ‘apartheid state’ – and I should know

Israel’s critics want you to acknowledge its uniqueness as the only country to enjoy the triple distinction of being a colonial, genocidal, and an apartheid state. Whether Israel is, or was, colonial I leave to the historians and political scientists. The question of genocide will eventually be decided by the International Court of Justice. In respect of the third transgression, however, as someone born and bred in apartheid South Africa, I may be able to shed some light, and expose the deficiencies of this increasingly pervasive analogy.

Israel is far from a paragon of virtue. But the sort of reckless invective that labels Israel an ‘apartheid state’ is a grotesque injustice – and an affront to those who suffered the long years of discrimination and persecution in South Africa.

Apartheid in South Africa, it is frequently forgotten – or conveniently overlooked – was not merely racial segregation.