(BICOM) - Alan Johnson The idea that Israel is an "apartheid state" is the intellectual foundation of the movement to boycott, divest from and sanction Israel (BDS). This is a smear - a malicious lie that does huge damage to the peace process. The smear causes political polarization, damaging the chance of compromise, mutual recognition and reconciliation. Being a "Jewish state" does not make Israel an apartheid state. Israel is not a theocracy (rule by clerics) or a state exclusively for Jews, but a democracy, governed by the rule of law as drafted by an elected parliament. The Palestinian Authority is not a "Bantustan." the security barrier is not an "Apartheid Wall," and settlements have not killed the two-state solution. The smear originated in the well-funded and often anti-Semitic "anti-Zionist" campaigns waged by the Communist states for Cold War purposes from the 1940s to the 1980s.
2014-02-21 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive