Mission Middle East: Is Israel an Apartheid State?
Many words are being thrown at Israel, but none more confusing than calling it an apartheid state. Why? Let's find out.
Marchers in Ohio protest Israel’s war in Gaza claiming Apartheid. (Photo: Stephen Zenner/Sopa Images/Rex/Shutterstock)
As many of you know, I’ve spent decades working in the Middle East. Over 30 years ago, I lived in Haifa the northernmost city of Israel. During that time, the line of confrontation was between Israel and Lebanon. The terrorist group Hezbollah was establishing its dominance over half of Lebanon. Israel was fighting an insurgency alongside Maronite Christian allies of the Southern Lebanon Army.
At that time the only way for the terrorists to project strikes into Israel was to do direct ground attacks with men. They would try to cross the Israeli border and attack any person they encountered with rifles, grenades, and shoulder-fired rockets. Since that time Hezbollah’s sponsor, Iran, has invested billions of dollars into ensuring that Israel was surrounded by better-armed enemies, who could strike terror through the use of long-range rockets and suicide bombers. They funded HAMAS, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Syrian Militias, and Hezbollah. HAMAS alone received over $100 million … per year, for Gaza terrorist weapons and infrastructure.
Then came the tragedy of the HAMAS invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023. The Hamas terrorist group conducted a mass slaughter of not just Jews but a widely diverse population. They killed people from 52 nations. Including rice farmers from Thailand, Muslim Bedouins, Christians, taxi drivers, and African guest workers … not to forget, the young Tanzanian trade student taken hostage and then stabbed to death on camera. His only crime was being on the other side of the border in Israel.
But within 24 hours, when Israel decided to strike back, it appeared that the world had shifted its position of horror and support for Israel and instead saw Israel’s ability to defend itself using massive amounts of air power as an act of extreme aggression.
Within 72 hours, the "lie heard around the world" occurred, the proclamation of an Israeli airstrike on the al-Ahli Hospital killing 500 people and destroying the hospital, setting the world on fire. All across North America and Europe, social justice activists joined Palestinian and Muslim protesters to create a wave of anti-Israeli revulsion. However, no such attack had happened. It was an accidental rocket fired by a Palestinian terror group. It killed and injured fewer than 40 people.
No matter. Within 72 hours, the big international #FreePalestine movement was using the word "genocide" to describe Israel's aerial counterattack against the HAMAS terrorist group. Additionally, they were describing Israel as Colonial and Apartheid.
So, I’d like to take apart each of these claims in an essay. Many people who think they are allies of the Palestinian people are using extremist terminology that they don't understand. Because it's important for you, the reader, to understand that words matter. In this part of the world, words literally will kill you and those you love.
Today I want to start with the word apartheid
The fundamental question is "Is Israel an apartheid state?”