Why is Israel accused of being an apartheid state? | Start Here

Summary

The video by Al Jazeera discusses why Israel is accused of being an apartheid state, a label historically associated with South Africa. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch claim Israel commits crimes against humanity due to its treatment of Palestinians. The video delves into the definition of apartheid under international law, emphasizing Israel's policies that prioritize Israeli Jews over Palestinians, especially in occupied territories. While the Israeli government denies these accusations, citing equal rights for all citizens, rights groups argue significant systemic inequalities persist.

Highlights

• Israeli government denies apartheid allegations, claiming equal rights for all citizens 🇮🇱✌️.
• Rights groups accuse Israel of establishing a racial domination system over Palestinians 🌐🔎.
• Amnesty International's reports detail systemic inequalities affecting Palestinians' daily lives 🍽️🔍.
• Significant discourse exists internationally about Israel potentially being an apartheid state 💬🌍.
• The historical context of apartheid in South Africa sheds light on current accusations against Israel 🌍🕊️.
• Public opinion and international relations significantly impact the perception of Israel's policies 🌐🗣️.

Key Takeaways

• The term apartheid, once exclusive to South Africa, is now associated with Israel's treatment of Palestinians 🇮🇱✡️.
• International bodies like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch accuse Israel of upholding a system of racial domination 🇺🇳⚖️.
• The definition of apartheid as a legal term includes acts that maintain racial domination and oppression 🚫🔍.
• Israel cites equal rights for all citizens as a defense against apartheid accusations, despite significant inequalities 🏛️⚖️.
• Different organizations vary in their assessment of where apartheid applies, from Israel itself to only the occupied territories 🌍🗺️.
• International diplomacy and public opinion play crucial roles in shaping the narrative around Israel's policies 🇪🇺🌐.

Overview

The video unpacks the controversial topic of whether Israel can be considered an apartheid state, similar to the historical context of South Africa. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have released reports that frame Israel's policies towards Palestinians as apartheid, a crime against humanity under international law. The Israeli government denies these accusations, arguing that all citizens, including Palestinian Israelis, have equal rights.

Apartheid has a specific legal definition focusing on acts of racial domination and oppression, which rights groups apply to Israel's governance over Palestinians. The video discusses the different interpretations of these apartheid criteria, particularly how they apply either within the entire state of Israel or strictly in the occupied territories. This differentiation adds complexity to the labels and accusations.

Public opinion and international diplomacy play significant roles in the narrative of Israel's treatment of Palestinians. Parallels drawn to South Africa's apartheid era enhance the global discourse, influencing both legal perspectives and the court of public opinion. Despite Israel's attempts to counter these accusations, the debate continues amid growing attention globally.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Discussion on Apartheid Accusations Against Israel The chapter discusses the increasing use of the term 'apartheid' to describe Israel's treatment of Palestinians. It highlights accusations from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, which label Israel as an apartheid state based on international law and alleged criminal actions by Israeli authorities.
• 00:30 - 06:00: Apartheid in South Africa: Historical Context and Policies This chapter discusses the apartheid system in South Africa, aiming to understand its implications and why similar terminology is referenced in the context of Israel. Beginning with South Africa's historical narrative, the chapter sets out to depict what apartheid meant, how it was enforced, and its impact on the society.
• 06:00 - 07:00: International Legal Definition of Apartheid The chapter discusses the historical context of apartheid in South Africa, highlighting the colonial rule by the Dutch and British, which resulted in a white minority exploiting the black majority. Early 20th-century laws enforced racial segregation, confining the black population to impoverished reserves. This chapter transitions into the rise of the National Party in 1948, which intensified segregation through a policy officially termed as apartheid.
• 07:00 - 15:30: Accusations of Apartheid against Israel The chapter discusses the meaning of 'apartheid,' which originates from the Afrikaans word for 'separateness.' It highlights how the term was used in South Africa to promote racial segregation and maintain control of the white minority over the black majority. The National Party introduced numerous laws under this policy, targeting every aspect of life to ensure continued segregation and dominance.
• 15:30 - 19:00: Discussion on Israeli Internal Politics and International Perception The chapter delves into the complexities of Israeli internal politics and how these issues are perceived internationally. Drawing a parallel to apartheid in South Africa, the chapter discusses laws that categorized people into racial groups to enforce power dynamics and subjugation, reflecting on similar systemic structures.

Why is Israel accused of being an apartheid state? | Start Here Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 let's talk about [Applause] apartheid for a long time the word was only associated with South Africa but more and more people are using it to describe Israel's treatment of Palestinians let's talk about the a word Amnesty International has accused Israel of being in apartheid state we call it apartheid because it is apar under international law Human Rights Watch has released a report that says isra authorities are committing crimes
• 00:30 - 01:00 against humanity of apte but the Israeli government completely rejects the label so what does apartheid actually mean what did it look like in South Africa and why is the word being brought up in the context of Israel let's start with South Africa's story since the 60 00s the territory
• 01:00 - 01:30 that's now South Africa was under Dutch and then British colonial rule for centuries you had a white minority ruling over and exploiting the indigenous black population who were the majority from the early 1900s there were laws that essentially forced the black population to live in impoverished areas known as reserves but in 1948 a new government led by the National Party came to power they took segregation even further under a policy they called
• 01:30 - 02:00 aparte the word means separateness in Africans how they've um promoted a um aparted to the South African population was that unless um the white Community was solid on every single aspect of segregation there would eventually be a situation where they would be overwhelmed by the black majority over the following decades under the apartheid policy the National Party introduced a bunch of laws they covered every aspect of life but were all essentially aimed at the same thing
• 02:00 - 02:30 keeping the white minority in power and the black population subjugated one of the main laws classified people into four racial groups native that was the term for black people colored for those of mixed race Asian that was applied to people of Indian Heritage or white the population registration Act was uh Central to the legislation because that would allow you to have a clear legal definition of who belonged to what race and therefore you could begin to say who
• 02:30 - 03:00 should be schooled where who should live where who can marry whom and rules about who could live where were a big part of how apartheid operated black South Africans were forced to live in rural areas called bantustans or homelands these made up 133% of the total land even though black South Africans were at least 75% of the population there were other laws too black South Africans had to carry a special pass if they wanted to travel outside side of the bantos to go to work
• 03:00 - 03:30 for example and were fined or arrested if they didn't have the right paperwork public communities were also segregated non-whites were banned from certain Parks beaches and transport the education systems were different too you had your Bunch education and basically this would be a form of Education where they teach you how to do gardening how to do um cooking they weren't allowed to say study maths and signs there's a very rich literature
• 03:30 - 04:00 um on the black um South African experience under aart and the overwhelming Central aspect of that is the experience of being made a stranger or an alien in the land of your birth by a immigrant settler Community apartheid finally ended in 1994 but it took decades there was opposition from the start with mass protests and Civil
• 04:00 - 04:30 Disobedience campaigns led by black activists and the African National Congress orc that's the party of Nelson Mandela which has dominated South African politics in the post-apartheid era as the resistance movement grew through the 60s and 70s the South African government responded with [Music] violence we had young people coming together um standing in Union against
• 04:30 - 05:00 what was happening and so on and during that time you had people just murdered being shot at and so on over time the anti-ar movement also gained support internationally there were student protests in lots of countries South African sports teams came under pressure when they played abroad feelings about recent tragedies in South Africa are naturally running very strong just now the country was banned for major sporting events including the Olympics it was all part of a bigger campaign to
• 05:00 - 05:30 isolate South Africa politically and economically there was a un arms embargo boycots and sanctions by the late 80s major Western governments like the US and UK had joined in too and those are just some examples among a whole web of internal and external factors that eventually pushed South Africa's government to change course whilst none of them by in and off themselves were able to overthrow the government
• 05:30 - 06:00 they were able to create a situation of indemic Crisis which the aparted government realized it could not get out of at some point it became too costly to continue this racial segregation and that and other factors didn't contribute to towards this move towards democracy that happened in the 1990s and this was a huge moment when Nelson Mandela was released from prison he was one of the main anti-apartheid leaders and had been locked up for 27 years for his
• 06:00 - 06:30 opposition to the government when South Africa's first free elections were held in 1994 he became president another huge moment the people of South Africa have spoken in this election they want change and change is what they will get so that was the story of a partid in South Africa the short version anyway
• 06:30 - 07:00 the South African experience explains the root of the word but the concept of apartheid has evolved for many people aparti uh means similarity to South Africa that is no longer the case today apartheid is a clearly defined legal term that's because apartheid has been established as a crime against humanity under international law in 1973 the United Nations adopted what's known as
• 07:00 - 07:30 the apartheid convention it defines apartheid as inhuman acts committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining Domination by one racial group over any other racial group and systematically oppressing them and in 1998 apartheid was included in the Rome statute the treaty that underpins the international criminal court and it uses similar language is there a system of Domination by one group over others is law being used to Implement that system
• 07:30 - 08:00 are there elements of dehumanizing the oppressed groups and if all the elements exist then the crime exists and in recent years that conclusion that the crime of AP partite exists is one that many human rights organizations have come to in relation to Israel's treatment of Palestinians they include Palestinian groups Israeli groups and two big International ones Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International who've both published investig that are
• 08:00 - 08:30 hundreds of pages long the core accusation is that the Israeli government maintains a system of Oppression and domination that prioritizes Israeli Jews over Palestinians now all of them have reached their conclusion in slightly different ways and they differ over exactly where they think AP parte is happening let's look at the map you've got Israel here and then the Palestinian territories which are under Israeli military occupation meaning Israel has ultimate authority over this whole area now some groups including amnesty argue
• 08:30 - 09:00 that AP partite is happening in Israel itself as well as the occupied territories we'll get back to that other groups like Human Rights Watch say the term apartheid only applies in the occupied territories here are some of the things they point to there are 700,000 Israeli settlers living in the West Bank in East Jerusalem and the Israeli government has granted them a superior status under the law as compared to Palestinians living in the same territory that's how Human Rights Watch puts it it's things like
• 09:00 - 09:30 separate Justice systems settlers are subject to Israeli civil law Palestinians are typically subject to Israeli military law the Israeli military writes the regulations and the rules which determine how and where you build how and where you travel uh how and where you conduct your normal business your economy how much water uh you are allowed it's two
• 09:30 - 10:00 different worlds the Arabs live under military occupation while the Israelis are enjoying the Palestinian land which they live on but at the same time they enjoying all the Privileges that you can get by being an Israeli citizen Palestinians can't move around in the way Israelis can in the West Bank they have to pass through military
• 10:00 - 10:30 checkpoints they often need special permits and are banned from using certain roads we have a Palestinian dedicated app that shows the route that Palestinians can take when they want to go from one place to another they also can't travel freely between the West Bank and Gaza even before the recent War Israel had a total blockade on the Gaza Strip and this is all part of what the rights groups call territorial fragmentation because while Israeli territory is contiguous I IE it's one
• 10:30 - 11:00 chunk of land Palestinians have been pushed into a patchwork of territory the Israeli organization B selum says this separates the Palestinians into distinct groups which helps Israel promote Jewish Supremacy and thwarts criticism and resistance so there is quite a lot of agreement among rights groups that Israel is practicing a partide here less so on whether the criteria for a partide is met in Israel itself the Israeli government and others say that all Israel citizens have equal rights
• 11:00 - 11:30 including Palestinian citizens of Israel who make up about 20% of the population there is forly a democracy Democratic regime Jews and Arabs have the same rights they can be elected there is even an Arab judge in the Supreme Court so actually there is some
• 11:30 - 12:00 discrimination of course between Arabs and Jews inside Israel but basically uh according to the Israeli law there should be no discrimination on the basis of race religion gender so forth others say that in practice it's not so clear-cut amnesty for example argues that Palestinians citizens of Israel do face considerable rights
• 12:00 - 12:30 violations including things like home demolitions and forced evictions and they say because those violations are happening in the context of the wider system of domination and oppression of Palestinians the apartheid criteria are met people began to say well this system of apartheid doesn't only exist in the West Bank for settlers versus Arabs but it's really part and parcel of the entire enire system of
• 12:30 - 13:00 Israel in all the areas under its control even though it is uh applied in different ways now the Israeli government has called groups like amnesty delusional for making the accusation of apartheid and say they're fueling anti-Semitism Israel isn't perfect but we are a democracy committed to international law open to criticism I hate to use the argument that if Israel was wasn't a Jewish State no one at
• 13:00 - 13:30 amnesty would dare make such a claim against it but in this case there's simply no other explanation criticizing the government for uh practicing apart hiide is becoming not politically correct in Israel you will not find it in the mainstream media even in the Academia professors are very careful about using a part but asking the question is Israel a
• 13:30 - 14:00 paride is more legitimate yes outside of Israel especially in the context of what's happening in Gaza that question is getting more and more attention for example some people are drawing parallels between the pro Palestine movement and the campaigns to isolate South Africa during its apartheid era South Africa's government itself is making a link it referred to apartheid at the un's highest court where it's ing a case against Israel for another
• 14:00 - 14:30 International crime genocide which Israel also denies we as South Africans sense see hear and feel to our core the in inhumane discriminatory policies and practices of the Israeli regime as an even more extreme form of the appetite that was institutionalized against black people in my country so the label of a partide is being attached to Israel and in the court of public opinion and
• 14:30 - 15:00 international diplomacy labels can be powerful ultimately though the legal question of whether Israel's guilty of the crime of apartheid is one for an international Court to decide check out our episode on the two-state solution between Israel and Palestine our full playlist of episodes is here and if there is a topic that you want us to explain let us know in the comments [Music]