Kenneth Moeng Mokgatlhe
Referring to Israel as an apartheid state similar to what South Africa experienced between 1948 and 1994 is far-fetched and dubious.
It is a preposterous and empty political statement to label Israel as an apartheid state because I have personally seen Jews, Arabs, Africans (Ethiopian Jews) and Druze living together in a country that does not have divisive laws in favour of one race against the other.
What I have seen and agree with, which is widely reported on, is the occupation of the West Bank by the Israeli army for several decades. Many Israelis are genuinely against the occupation of the West Bank, however the political leadership from both Palestinian and Israeli sides have failed to sit around the table and reach a peaceful consensus over the occupation. It is negligent to dramatise the Israel-Palestine political impasse with the intention of damaging Israel’s reputation.
It is shocking to learn that the Dutch Reformed Church Western Cape synod has followed an anti-Semitic trend that Israel should be declared an apartheid state when they asked their mother body to consider their opinion at its October 2023 Synod.
Apart from preaching about forgiveness and reconciliation behind the pulpits, churches have a societal role to facilitate confrontation between individuals or groups and contribute towards transformation in relationships where there is conflict. It is embarrassing to listen to religious leaders fuelling division in their membership when they should be seizing this great opportunity to reconcile the warring sides. One is tempted to ask what the purpose of the church is in society.
It is myopic to be misled into believing that demonising Israel by referring to them as “bad guys” would help the Palestinian people. Egypt, Washington, and other political actors have been taking an active lead in harmonising the tension between the Israelis and Palestinians.
These political actors have not been encouraging or fuelling further divisions as they are committed to seeing an end to the Israel-Palestine political impasse, which has lasted for several decades.
An apartheid state as we knew and understood it referred to “separating or setting apart”; it was a racist policy by the National Party (NP) which advocated for separating or dividing people based on pigmentation. It is a known fact that white minorities were the main beneficiaries of this divisive policy, while the majority of black people were ill-treated.
Calling or referring to Israel as an apartheid state trivialises the trauma, calamity, and suffering that black South Africans experienced during white minority rule between 1948 and 1994. Black South Africans, who took control of political power in 1994, are still feeling the consequences of the apartheid rule almost 30 years after it ended. It will take many years for black South Africans to restore their economic justice and dignity.
I am flabbergasted whenever I hear people falling for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanction group (BDS) in victimising the Jewish state as being an apartheid state. BDS uses language that they know South Africans will easily fall for, such as “apartheid”, because black South Africans despise apartheid and those who advocated for it.
On my visit to Israel, I have never seen boards or signs separating Arabs, Jews, whites, Africans, and Druze as we knowhappened in South Africa where white people were privileged to receive the highest standard of services, and black people were subjected to inferior treatment.
Many people do not take well the notion that Israel is a Jewish state, it is not a secret that Jews are in the majority in Israel, therefore the laws and policies are influenced by the culture of Jewish people, but they do not discriminate against non-Jewish people.
Botswana is a country with the majority of the population being Batswana, which therefore means that Setswana as a language will be the official language, while the culture of Batswana will be at the centre of the formulation of policies and laws. Why is Israel denied the right to self-determination?
In 2018 I visited the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, where I saw members of parliament from all races that could be drawn from in Israel. There are many political parties led by people of all races. I’ve seen Arabs, Jews, and Druze serving on the Israel Defence Force (IDF), demonstrating their loyalty to Israel as the country of their birth.
Israel was declared a state in 1948, but it does not mean that Jewish people do not have history or are not indigenous to that piece of land. The Union of South Africa, which was the forerunner of the South African government, started in 1910 between the English and Afrikaner, but it doesn’t mean that there were no people in this part of southern Africa before 1910. So in Israel, the formulation of the Jewish state took off in 1948, but many battles were fought and a lot of people lost their lives for the Jewish people to end up with their own country where they have self-determination.
As a black youth from a rural background who's been offered a lifetime opportunity to study Master of Arts (African Studies) from the middle of this month at Israel’s Ben Gurion University (BGU), I do not agree with the sentiment that Israel is an apartheid state because I’ve never encountered anyone being treated unfairly because of the colour of their skin. It is therefore nonsensical and unfounded that Israel is an apartheid state.
Mokgatlhe is an independent writer and political analyst.