Amnesty International’s Report:
A detailed and scathing report released early on Wednesday morning by Amnesty International, a globally respected human rights organization, has denounced the State of Israel, labeling the country as an “Apartheid State.”
Amnesty International has joined Human Rights Watch, and most of the world’s leading human rights organizations in accusing Israel of being guilty of ethnic cleansing and apartheid. Some have labeled Israel’s collective actions as genocide.
Amnesty International cited the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians that happened at the hands of European Jews who illegally colonized and settled native Palestinian land, forcibly expelling over 800,000 Palestinians in 1948. There are over 6,000,000 Palestinian refugees today. The report also cites villages being wiped off the map, entire neighborhoods being demolished, and sub-human living conditions that are imposed on Palestinians.
The roughly 280-page report was accompanied by a short video that explained Amnesty International’s decision, and calls on all defenders of human rights to stand-up against the apartheid state. Watch the video below:
Israeli government officials over the years:
“[Palestinian] villages should be destroyed …. and their inhabitants expelled beyond the borders.” – David Ben-Gurion (1947), the founder and first prime minister of Israel. [Ben-Gurion was born and raised in Poland].
“New settlement will not be possible without transferring the [Palestinian] Arab fellahin [farmers] … Jewish power, which grows steadily, will also increase our possibilities to carry out the transfer on a large scale.” – David Ben-Gurion (1937, the founder and first prime minister of Israel. [Ben-Gurion was born and raised in Poland].
“I support compulsory transfer. I don’t see anything immoral in it.” – David Ben-Gurion (1937), the founder and first prime minister of Israel. [Ben-Gurion was born and raised in Poland].
“There is no such thing as a Palestinian people.” – Golda Meir (1969), former prime minister of Israel. [Meir’s birth name was Golda Mabovitch, she was born in the Ukraine and raised in Wisconsin. She changed her name to Meir to make her name sound Hebrew].
“Israel is not a state of all its citizens… [but rather] the nation-state of the Jewish people and only them.” – Benjamin Netanyahu (2019), former prime minister of Israel [Netanyahu is of Polish ancestry, he changed his name from “Milleikowsky” to Netanyahu to make his name sound Hebrew].
“[Palestinians] are only here by mistake, because Ben-Gurion didn’t finish the job, didn’t throw you out in ’48.” – Bezalel Smotrich (2021), Israeli lawmaker who is allies with Benjamin Netanyahu [Smotrich was born in an illegal settlement in occupied Palestine to Zionist settler parents who were originally from Russia. Smotrich openly calls for segregation between Palestinians and Jews and opposes mixed marriages between them.
US Response:
Despite the Israeli army killing a Palestinian-American just last month, the US government pushed back against Amnesty International’s report, defending Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.
State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters, “I reject the view that Israel’s actions constitute apartheid.” While other US government officials called Amnesty’s report “absurd.”
The US government supported Apartheid South Africa for decades, only withdrawing support in the mid-1990’s. However, the US government has not stopped supporting Israel. In 2020 alone, the US government gave Israel over $3.8 billion, almost all of it was military assistance which the Israeli government uses to impose apartheid and occupation on the native Palestinian population.
Last year, Minnesota Representative Betty McCollum introduced a bill in congress, H.R. 2590, “Defending the Human Rights of Palestinians Children and Families Living Under Israeli Military Occupation.” The bill would prohibit the US from giving Israel funding that supports their apartheid policies.
“The bill prohibits the use of any funds that are made available for assistance to Israel in support of (1) military detention, interrogation, abuse, or ill treatment of Palestinian children; (2) seizure, appropriation, or destruction of Palestinian property and forcible transfer of civilians in the West Bank; or (3) unilateral annexation by Israel of West Bank territory.” (H.R. 2590) 117th Congress [2021-2022]
After the bill was introduced, it was referred to the House Foreign Affairs committee, chaired by NY Rep. Gregory Meeks, a self-proclaimed supporter of Israel.
