(Day 527) Swords of Iron – “Is Israel an Apartheid state?”

Chaim starts by pointing out that many people who are speaking out against Israel don’t even know what the terms they’re using mean. “Zionism” means that Jews want a homeland where they can live in peace and develop their culture and identity, but many who condemn “Zionism” use that term as a slur and compare it to “Fascism” and other genocidal movements from the past.

Another term that gets thrown around a lot is “apartheid” and it refers to a very specific set of circumstances that existed in South Africa for many decades whereby the White minority had all kinds of rights and privileges that the black majority did not have. It is not like that here in Israel where the Arab minority has all the same rights and privileges as the Jewish majority.

Chaim says it’s a bit different in Gaza, as well as in Judea and Samaria, because there are different administrative structures there.

But in Israel, all Arab citizens have access to all the same rights and privileges as Jewish citizens and they take full advantage of it, holding jobs in the judiciary, having representation in the Knesset, being mayors of villages, professors at large universities, serving in the IDF, etc.