Many who accuse Israel of apartheid do not understand what it really is and was. 

 

Apartheid was the South African system under which a small minority of whites subjected the majority black population to severe political, economic, and social discrimination. They could not be citizens, vote, or participate in the government, and they were segregated in every aspect of daily life.  International law defines apartheid as establishing and maintaining an institutionalised regime of oppression by one racial group over another.

 

Israel is the opposite of an apartheid regime. It is a multicultural liberal democracy whose legal system upholds equal rights, liberties, and protections for all of its citizens.  Israel is a diverse society of people from Africa, Asia, Europe, the Americas, and the Middle East. Their liberty, equality, freedom from discrimination, and freedom of religion are protected by law.

 

Israel’s founding document states that Israel, “will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture.”

 

 Israel’s 25% non-Jewish minority has always had equal voting and political rights. Arab Israelis were elected to the first Knesset (parliament) in 1949 and have won as many as 14 seats in a single election. Some hold important positions in the government, court system, and military. Arabs and other non-Jews have attained high positions in the government including Deputy Speaker, Acting President, member of the Prime Minister’s cabinet, Ambassador, and Consul General. 

 

In 2011 Arab-Israeli Supreme Court Justice Salim Joubran sat as judge in a case against former Israeli president Moshe Katsav and convicted him of misconduct. Israeli Druze, Bedouins, and Arabs fight in the Israeli Defense Forces and have attained ranks as high as Major General.

 

Of course, like all multi-ethnic democracies, Israel struggles with discrimination and the disadvantages its minorities face, but its laws are meant to eradicate—not institutionalise—these problems. There are many Israelis, both in the government and in the thriving NGO sector, who devote their lives to ending discrimination and helping Israel’s minorities. Israeli universities have enacted effective affirmative action programs to help Arab citizens overcome the educational disadvantages and social discrimnation they may face.

 

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