Myth 6 – Israel is an Apartheid : From Blog Posts to Book
The purpose of “Myth 6 – Israel is an Apartheid” and these blog posts is to combine them into a published book entitled Safe Schools for Jewish Students: An Educator’s Guide to Preventing Antisemitism and Strengthening Belonging.
Go here for the full Table of Contents.
Chapter 3 – Myth 6: Israel is an Apartheid
Myth 6: Israel is an Apartheid State
Apartheid – The implementation and maintenance of a system of legalized racial segregation in which one racial group is deprived of political and civil rights.
Apartheid is a crime against humanity, one that is punishable under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
Racial Apartheid – In order to be completely accurate, there needs to be an example where the Israeli government creates laws to segregate people of different races, stripping the political and civil rights of a race.
Since Palestinians and most Jewish Israelis are both from the Middle East, they are of the same race, so segregation by race doesn’t apply here.
Ethnic Apartheid – To make the claim of apartheid true, those making the claim expand the definition, perhaps calling it ethnic apartheid. The problem is, overall, the laws in Israel apply to all Israeli citizens, Jewish or Arab, even for those Israeli citizens who identify as Arab Palestinians.
However, there are laws that favor Jewish Israelis, and there are laws that favor non-Jewish Israelis.
Obtaining Citizenship Favoring Jews in Israel
In Israel, Jews are the only ones with the “Law of Return.” Any Jewish person in the world can obtain citizenship in Israel. Non-Jews do not have the right of return granted to them. Only those non-Jews who lived in the British Mandate of Palestine before part of it became Israel and stayed could become Israeli citizens.
Is this unfavorable to non-Jews? Yes. Is it apartheid? No, because the law is not against a specific race or ethnicity. To call it an apartheid is to belittle the suffering of Black South Africans.
In Israel, if an Israeli citizen marries a Jewish non-citizen, the spouse can gain citizenship rather easily via the Right of Return. If the spouse is not Jewish, there is a longer route towards citizenship, a “gradual procedure” (nituah medurag) that the spouse must take to gain citizenship.
If, however, the spouse is a Palestinian from Gaza or the West Bank, they are not allowed citizenship. Even Gay Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank who flee for safety from the anti-LGBTQ laws of the Palestinian territories are only granted temporary residence in Israel.
Why? Palestinians from Gaza voted to be governed by Hamas, a terrorist organization whose mission in Article 7 of their original charter was to kill all the Jews. Palestinians from the West Bank voted to be governed by Abbas, the Palestinian Authority which has a Pay to Slay program granting funds for any Palestinian who kills Israelis. That’s why Israel does not allow citizenship to Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank. Safety is one of the biggest concerns in Israel.
However, if the Palestinian is a citizen of a country outside of Gaza or the West Bank, they can follow the gradual procedure all non-Jews follow to become citizens. Palestinians who are citizens of countries friendly to Israel can become Israeli citizens.
Is this unfavorable to Palestinians? Yes. Is it apartheid? No, because once the American Palestinian or British Palestinian or any other non-Jewish citizen follows the gradual procedure for citizenship, they are granted citizenship and have the full rights awarded all Israeli citizens.
Military Service
Serving in the military is required for all Jewish, Druze, and Circassian Israeli citizens. The remaining Israelis, Christians and Muslims for example, are exempt from compulsory military service, but they can choose to volunteer. One can make an argument that the law differs based on ethnicity, therefor it generates some blurry vision of apartheid benefitting Muslims and Christians, but I haven’t heard the West complain about Israeli laws benefitting Muslims and Christians.
Comment Below
Please comment below with edits or suggestions on what should be changed in this post.
Please keep your comments civil. Comments are moderated.
If you spot any comment out of line, let me know.
Join My Safe Schools for Jewish Students Newsletter
If you’re new here, subscribe to stay updated on new blog post excerpts of Safe Schools for Jewish Students: An Educator’s Guide to Preventing Antisemitism and Strengthening Belonging.
Sign up for my newsletter here.
Author Biography of Safe Schools for Jewish Students
Ezra Barany, son of a Bronx father and a Dutch mother from Nazi-occupied Netherlands, loves riveting readers with Jewish thrillers. His first two books in The Torah Codes series were award-winning international bestsellers. In his free time, he has eye-opening discussions on the art of writing novels with his wife and book coach Beth Barany. A high school physics teacher, Ezra lives in Oakland with his beloved wife and two cats working on the next book. Ezra, not the cats.
0 comments