Apartheid

The attempt to equate Israel with apartheid is little more than "name-calling" and a convenient challenge used to delegitimize the Jewish state. Since the conflict is asymmetrical it is easy, albeit sloppy thinking, to label Israel an apartheid state and transfer the legal, moral, and ethical degradations of apartheid to Israel. What is interesting, however, is the contrast between the substantive meaning of apartheid, which bears little resemblance to the Israeli political environment, and the semantic and psychological theories that make it possible to label Israel as an apartheid state. I characterize the concept of apartheid, demonstrating its inapplicability to Israel, followed by a closer more theoretical look at the communicative, semantic, and political qualities of language that make it possible to apply such labels when they are not justified.¹

INTRODUCTION

Apartheid in its original context is based on the domination of one group (Whites) over an indigenous majority (Blacks). It is a racial ideology with its origins in South Africa. Apartheid is typically defined as a social and political policy of segregation and discrimination against a minority.² It was a racial discrimination policy against non-Europeans in South Africa. The black majority was discriminated against, segregated, and denied rights of political participation. Moreover, the scope and comprehensiveness of the discrimination was all encompassing. There were legal and structural prohibitions against interracial marriages, extra-marital sex, as well as "petty segregation" with respect to amenities such as public transportation, swimming pools, restaurants, and acceptable geographic locations. Blacks were required to carry a pass that determined which neighborhoods they could travel in, and they needed a permit to go from one area to another. Apartheid was an exhaustive system of racial discrimination that restricted education, political engagement, and social contact.³

In the 1970s a coalition of Arab states and their allies began to equate Zionism with apartheid. This charge labeling Israel an apartheid state was even considered to be true because Israel is a Jewish state and therefore apartheid-like. Yet, this coalition of Israel critics is silent with respect to "Christian" or "Muslim" states. It has been clear that the apartheid campaign against Israel is designed to deny Israel's legitimacy. This campaign gained traction in the 1970s when Soviet and Arab states, along with their allies, had an easy majority in the UN and were able to pass a resolution defining Zionism as a form of racism. The resolution was rescinded in 1991 but the poisonous seed of hate and animosity had been planted.⁴ Moreover, the UN World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance, from Durban, South Africa, in 2001 accused Israel of crimes against humanity and launched a global campaign against Israel. The charge of apartheid has been used against the Israelis since its inception in the 1970s. It remains an effective rhetorical strategy and is clearly invoked by Israel's critics at every opportunity. In 2017 the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (i.e., ESCWA) of the UN concluded that Israel was an apartheid state.⁵

ZIONISM AND APARTHEID

Zionism is a political movement concerned with national defense and security of the Jewish people. It is not concerned with racist ideology. Zionism is little more than a concern for the care, development, and security of the Jewish people. Zionism says nothing about Palestinian or God-given rights to land. These have become issues but they are not part of Zionism. Zionism is philosophically rooted in the principle of self-determination—the same principle applies to Palestinians and other groups. The 1973 International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid defines the term as "inhuman acts committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons and systematically oppressing them."⁶ Apartheid is a racial ideology. It applies to human acts of segregation and discrimination and acquires the status of crimes against humanity if it is intentionally designed to serve the purpose of racial domination.

The following elements must be present for a state to meet the requirements of apartheid: discrimination must be...