this post was submitted on 20 Jul 2023
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You're getting downvoted but you're not wrong. I lived in Israel for 4 years and I was in an Arab neighborhood. They were mostly christian, but they were all pre-israel descendants and they had all the same rights as anyone else.
I'm super against what the government of Israel does, but apartheid just doesn't fit.
I have also lived in south Africa, post apartheid but close enough that I'm very familiar with what it really was.
I see why apartheid is used, in some ways it is descriptive and useful but it ignores a lot and is ultimately inaccurate like you say.
Yeah, the issue is that Israel lost the the global public relations war decades ago. Law makers in the US generally understand the facts, which is why they almost universally support Israel, but trying to get the public to understand an issue this nuanced is impossible.
Meanwhile, all the unwaivering, mindless, ignorant hatred of Israel has made it so that Israel perpetually in a "damned if they do, damned if they don't" situation.
If they ignore rocket attacks, no one gives them credit for restraint. If they do surgical attacks, they get vilified for collateral damage.
It's there any other county other than Israel that CALLS THEIR ENEMY ON THE PHONE AND GIVES THEM TIME TO EXIT A BUILDING BEFORE BLOWING IT UP? Israel literally does this when they find terrorist headquarters. No casualties, just blowing up a building... And yet they are accused of genocide.
Remember when they built a fence along their border to keep out suicide bombers? They were vilified them, too.
Truly, it doesn't matter how passive or defensive their actions are... a ANYTHING they do is met by accusations of apartheid and genocide.
If the international community won't reward or even ACKNOWLEDGE Israel's restraint, is it any wonder that their government is becoming more right-wing and hardline?
These ignorant attacks on Israel are having the opposite effect. Accusing Israel of evils they aren't guilty of means that we aren't having honest and productive conversations about what behaviors they are engaged in that really do have the potential to be changed by international pressure.
I tihnk lawmakers in the US are paid a shit-load by Israeli Lobbyist, much like how they all support privatized healthcare and oil production despite the obvious problems those things have. As for Apartheid, what is this law? https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israels-knesset-passes-law-barring-palestinian-spouses-2022-03-10/
"One of, if not the most, powerful international issue lobby is that of the pro-Israel crowd.". More background is available here.
Some of the top recipients 2021-2022:
When looking at the overall numbers for all Pro-Israel bribe money to congress, there are 16 members of congress who have received over $1M USD. Here are the top 10: