I don’t agree with everything that Richard Cohen argues, but his central thesis about charging Israel with apartheid is unassailable:
What can be said about others who apply the term to Israel in general? No apology has come from them — and the way things are going, none will be forthcoming. The use of the word has become commonplace — Google “Israel and apartheid” and you will see that the two are linked in cyberspace, as love and marriage are in at least one song. The meaning is clear: Israel is a state where political and civil rights are withheld on the basis of race and race alone. This is not the case.
The Israel of today and the South Africa of yesterday have almost nothing in common. In South Africa, the minority white population harshly ruled the majority black population. Nonwhites were denied civil rights, and in 1958, they were even deprived of citizenship. In contrast, Israeli Arabs, about one-fifth of the country, have the same civil and political rights as do Israeli Jews. Arabs sit in the Knesset and serve in the military, although most are exempt from the draft. Whatever this is — and it looks suspiciously like a liberal democracy — it cannot be apartheid.
The West Bank, more or less under Israeli military rule, is a different matter. But it is not part of Israel proper, and under every conceivable peace plan — including those proposed by Israeli governments — almost all of it will revert to the Palestinian Authority and become the heartland of a Palestinian state.
The problem is that though anti-Zionism (and with it, its attendant antisemitism) is that it has been made respectable by Palestinian nationalism. After all, who can object to “national aspirations” or “self-determination?” So the Nazi inspired hatred and rejection of Israel has a fig leaf. And as the reality of Zionism has appeared more reasonable and sympathetic harsher and harsher terms are needed to condemn it.
If anyone had told you twenty years ago that Israel would cede Gaza and withdraw from southern Lebanon and that would strengthen Hamas and Hezbollah, no one – except for “right-wingers” – would believe you. And that’s exactly what happened. Israel not only talked to but negotiated with the PLO and got an “Aqsa intifada” in return. The point is that Israel has indeed liberalized with regards to the Palestinians over the past sixteen years – at great cost – and is still treated as a pariah by much of the world. The Arabs haven’t changed but hide behind the pretext of “Palestinian rights” to justify their continued rejection of the Jewish state.
The now annual Israel Apartheid Week on college campuses is no noble enterprise. It is a continuation of the demonization of Israel by its implacable enemies; it is not advocating for anyone’s freedom.
Crossposted on Soccer Dad.
