Rights group B’Tselem says Israel is an apartheid state
A new report by one of Israel's leading human rights groups argues in favor of the analogy to segregated South Africa.
One of Israel’s leading human rights organizations has labeled the country an “apartheid state” in an extraordinary step that is bound to draw backlash among conservative segments of Israeli society and from members of the government.
In a report entitled “This is Apartheid,” B’Tselem said Israel has become a “regime of Jewish supremacy” with different rules for the Jewish Israeli and Palestinian populations in the territories under its control.
The analogy to white-ruled South Africa gained traction in the 1990s among dedicated advocates of the Palestinian cause for self-determination. The term has been used to challenge claims that Israel is a democratic state with a separate and temporary military occupation of Palestinian territories.
That distinction “has grown divorced from reality,” B’Tselem’s report alleged Tuesday.
