Twenty-six years ago, on Dec. 16, the UN revoked its resolution that equated Zionism with racism. UN General Assembly Resolution 3379 of 1975 had cited “the racist regime in occupied Palestine and the racist regime in Zimbabwe and South Africa” as having “a common imperialist origin … having the same racist structure and being organically linked in their policy aimed at repression of the dignity and integrity of the human being."

Growing displays of xenophobia, incitement against minorities and serial legislation curbing human rights organizations are poisoning Israel with the plague of racism. There’s no more blatant example than the call issued this week by a senior government minister to boycott tens of thousands Israeli Arabs, the vast majority of them law-abiding citizens, and to revoke their citizenship.

UN General Assembly Resolution 4686, which removed Israel from the UN’s list of racist nations, was a reward for the participation of then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir (together with Deputy Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) in the international Mideast peace conference convened in Madrid in October 1991. Israel’s agreement to open negotiations on ending its occupation of Palestinian territories opened the hitherto closed doors to many states, among them Russia and China. Israel’s occupation of the territories, which has since only deepened, and the attendant oppression of the Palestinian population and delegitimization of human rights groups are pushing Israel back into the pariah camp.

Such a display of racism was provided Dec. 10 by Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman. Following demonstrations in the Wadi Ara northern region in Israel against President Donald Trump's Jerusalem proclamation, Liberman called for boycotting residents there. ''They have no connection to the state of Israel, and I call on the citizens of the state of Israel simply to boycott Wadi Ara. One shouldn't go into the stores or receive any services,'' he said.