Apartheid State? You're having a laugh...
​
The origin of the word 'Apartheid' is, of
course, in the racist political system which
existed in South Africa between 1948 and
1991. By contrast, Israel's Declaration of Independence offered Arab inhabitants
"full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions."
Do racism and discrimination exist in Israel? They exist in every country, unfortunately. Israel is no exception.
​However, to claim that "Israel is racist" is rightly defined as antisemitic in the internationally-accepted IHRA definition. That kind of blanket statement, particularly when used in isolation, singling out Israel for criticism and holding it to a standard you do not apply to others, is hate speech. When South Africans from Africans for Peace visited us in 2018, they confirmed how ludicrous it is to allege that Israel practises Apartheid: offensive both to Israel and to the majority of South ​Africans who suffered under that system.
​The only place that Apartheid can possibly be said to exist in Israel is that practised by the Jordanian Waqf which controls the Temple Mount. Of the gates which enter the Temple Mount, all but one are reserved for Muslims, and non-Muslims are routinely prevented from even entering streets leading to these gates. Any Christian hoping to see the place where Jesus challenged the money-changers or spoke with the teachers or taught his followers will discover, after queueing for 45 minutes to enter by the Mughrabi gate, that non-Muslims are not allowed to pray and their bags will be searched to ensure they are not carrying any religious tracts.
Any Jews who enter the most holy site in the world will discover that the Arab guides who offer to show people around will tell them that the Temple never even existed! The narrative that "al Aqsa" is not just the mosque tucked away in a corner of King Herod's extension to the site, but refers to the whole Temple Mount, is one that is gaining currency among hate groups such as the grotesquely dishonest Middle East Monitor.
The Cato Institute's Human Freedom Index rates Israel as 1st out of 19 countries in the Middle East and North Africa for both economic freedom and personal freedom. In fact, it's not even close.
