(Spiked-UK) Daniel Ben-Ami - Since the 1970s the term "Apartheid" has been redefined to mean something other than South Africa's Apartheid regime. In broad terms, it now means institutionalized racial discrimination. But if Israel is charged with institutionalized discrimination - an accusation that could be leveled against many other regimes - why give it the special label of "Apartheid"? The answer is that "Apartheid" is being used as a moral signifier. It is a coded way of saying Israel is morally worse than virtually every other nation on Earth. Amnesty slams Israel for using lethal force against protests on the border fence separating Gaza and Israel. Yet it is clear that armed Hamas activists played a key role in provoking such conflict. This habit of putting all the blame for the problems in the area on Israel permeates the report. Unfortunately, the framing of Amnesty's report makes it impossible to have a rational debate. Amnesty's goal is to criminalize Israel. It explicitly accuses Israel of the "crime against humanity of Apartheid" and calls for individual Israelis to be held criminally responsible. It demands Israel be hauled before the International Criminal Court. Amnesty is itself guilty of the most gross discrimination - it is holding Israel to a different standard to every other country.
2022-02-07 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive