Amnesty Report Accuses Israel of Apartheid Against Palestinians, Including Its Own Citizens

The organization calls on the International Criminal Court to consider including the crime of apartheid in its current investigation against Israel, and the UN Security Council to impose an arms embargo on Israel. This is mainly due to the shooting at protesters in front of the fence in Gaza. Palestinian towards Israelis and in any case her monarchy was prevented from "terrorism". There are few mentions of fighting with Hamas and protests in the cities involved in May referring to non-violent demonstrations, casually mentioning "inter-communal violence."

The 211-page report, entitled "Israeli Apartheid Against Palestinians: A Cruel System of Oppression and Crime Against Humanity," reviews a series of Israeli measures and policies toward Palestinians, including expropriation of land, illegal killing, forced transfer, movement restrictions, and denial of citizenship. All of these factors together, the report said, crystallize into apartheid crime. Amnesty International Secretary-General Anice Kalmer said the report reveals the true extent of the apartheid regime in Israel. "Whether they live in Gaza, East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank or in Israel itself, Palestinians are treated by an inferior racial group and their rights are consistently denied them."

The Foreign Ministry refused, in principle, to deal with specific allegations raised by the report. "They took pieces of facts, some were taken out of context and some were wrong, put them together, ignored other information and called what came to them as 'apartheid,'" Foreign Ministry spokesman Lior Hayat said. A broken image, to discredit Israel and delegitimize it. This is not a critique of the occupation, but a critique of the very existence of Israel as the state of the Jewish nation. "

The Foreign Ministry also notes that Amnesty has deliberately ignored the fact that much of the conduct attributed to Israel was done as part of the defense against terrorism directed at it by the Palestinian Authority: "They deliberately ignored terrorism. Whenever the word terrorism appears in this report, it is quoted. They called the perpetrators of violence on the streets in Hashomer Homat 'peace-loving demonstrators'. There is a deliberate disregard for the fact that Israel is responding security-wise to violence, which is a very significant component of the conflict. "If there is no Palestinian violence, you can say that the Israeli conduct is problematic and then they call it apartheid," the ministry said.

The report opens with a description of the events of recent May, noting their starting point in a strike by Arabs and Palestinians in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank on May 18. In Israel, the report said, police forces made arbitrary arrests of protesters and did not protect Palestinians from organized attacks. Jewish attackers. The report defines fighting in Gaza as a "brutal military attack" that began after Palestinian armed groups fired rockets indiscriminately from Gaza into Israel.

The report states that Israel was founded under an explicit policy of maintaining demographic-Jewish hegemony, while reducing the number of Palestinians in its territory. Later, according to the report, Israel expanded this policy to the West Bank and Gaza, In Israel, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The report claims that the Israeli authorities treat the Palestinians as an "inferior racial group, defined by their non-Judaism," and although the situation of Arab citizens of Israel is better, they are also under the same system.

According to the report, discrimination and oppression are reflected in the Nationality Law, Israeli control of the Palestinian population registry, the fragility of Palestinian residency status in Jerusalem and the fact that Palestinian refugees are not allowed to return to Israel. "Administrative arrests and illegal killings of Palestinians - such as shooting at demonstrators at a fence in Gaza. According to the report," the rules of opening fire and statements by Israeli officials reflect a policy of firing to kill or cause disability among Palestinians. "

The report states that Israel was founded under an explicit policy of maintaining demographic-Jewish hegemony, while reducing the number of Palestinians in its territory. Later, according to the report, Israel expanded this policy to the West Bank and Gaza, In Israel, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The report claims that the Israeli authorities treat the Palestinians as an "inferior racial group, defined by their non-Judaism," and although the situation of Arab citizens of Israel is better, they are also under the same system.

The report also deals with traffic restrictions imposed on Gaza residents and the siege that led to a humanitarian crisis, as well as restrictions on entry permits into Israel and border control against Palestinians in the West Bank.

Prof. Yuval Shani, a lecturer in international law at the Faculty of Law of the Hebrew University, believes that what is happening in the territories and what is happening in Israel should not be included under the same definition. "The distinction between what is happening in the territories and Israel is relevant. Although what is happening inside Israel raises problems of structural discrimination, to call it apartheid is a bit far-fetched." Shani added that "the question is, what has changed? Within the Green Line, it can be said that the Nationality Law was enacted, but there is also a trend in the opposite direction - such as Arab involvement in the coalition or government decisions designed to strengthen integration, so in Israel it seems weak." As for the territories, he says, the answer is more complex. He said that in order to define the crime of apartheid, a racial component is needed: "There is a sequence of actions that are problematic in terms of depriving Palestinians of freedom and discrimination, but I have doubts about the dominance of the racial component, since there is national separation and at least a security argument."

"For the purposes of this report, the entire existence of the State of Israel as a Jewish state that gives priority to Jewish aliyah, for example, is apartheid," said Pnina Sharvit-Baruch, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies and former head of the International Law Department at the Military Prosecutor's Office. Allow the right of return - so that there is a complete mix between the concept of apartheid which is racial discrimination and national conflict. " The balance sheets - let's say that Arab citizens of Israel have rights and they vote or that the West Bank has Palestinian authority, even if they present any of it, they immediately rule out its meaning. "

The report refers to Israel's security justification and writes that Israel has an obligation under international law to protect its citizens, but argues that most of what is described in the report cannot be justified under this justification. According to the report, the Israeli authorities pursue a policy that "deliberately discriminates against Palestinians for a long period of time and cruelly, in a way that has no reasonable security base - but to control the Palestinians and utilize their resources."

The organization's members say that they asked to meet with Foreign Minister Yair Lapid in October to discuss, among other things, the report's findings, but their request for a meeting was never granted. H. was also sent to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett before the publication. However, the Foreign Ministry denies that the report was forwarded to the Prime Minister's Office or to them before the publication.

At the same time, senior Israeli officials have expressed concern in recent weeks that Israel's definition of an "apartheid state" will trickle down to UN investigative bodies. To publish a significant report this coming June. According to the senior officials, such a declaration could also lead to a violation of Israel's status in the international arena and exclude it from various international events - including sports competitions or cultural events. In the de-legitimization of Israel. "

The Palestinian Authority welcomed the publication of the report, saying it endorsed "the cruel reality of ingrained racism." And national rights of the Palestinian people. "

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Previous reports attributing apartheid policies to Israel

Human Rights Watch, April 2021

According to the report, Israel commits apartheid crimes and persecution in the Occupied Territories.

B'Tselem, January 2021
The report characterized the Israeli regime as a whole as an apartheid regime and opposed the distinction between the democratic regime in Israeli territory and the military regime in the West Bank.

Yesh Din Organization, July 2020
Opinion of the jurist Michael Spain that apartheid is being committed in the West Bank - which includes committing practices that constitute "inhuman acts" essential to defining the situation as apartheid, including deprivation of development, denial of citizenship, persecution of regime opponents and expropriation and expropriation of land

Palestinian organizations, 2019
A number of Palestinian and Middle Eastern organizations, including the al-Haq organization that Gantz recently declared a terrorist organization, have submitted to the UN a report stating that Israel's actions against Palestinians in Israel, the territories and refugees have led to apartheid crimes.