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Re: Report; Zionist assassins bomb sleeping civilians.
Lets look at Dr. John Dugard for a moment.
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John Dugard, a South African professor of international law and an ad hoc Judge on the International Court of Justice, serving as the Special Rapporteur for the United Nations on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories described the situation in the West Bank as "an apartheid regime ... worse than the one that existed in South Africa." [23]. Dugard has since become an outspoken critic of the separation barrier and of Israeli practices in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.[24]
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Critics argue that the term is inaccurate, anti-Semitic, dangerous, [37] and used as a rhetorical device to isolate Israel. [1]
Ian Buruma, Professor of Democracy, Human Rights & Journalism at Bard College, New York, finds the comparison to be "intellectually lazy, morally questionable, and possibly even mendacious." Though he disagrees with Israel's policies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in his view:
Inside the state of Israel, there is no apartheid. In proportion to its population, Israel has the largest minority within its borders of any country in the Middle East. The official figure for Copts in Egypt is 10%. Non-Jews, mostly Arab Muslims, make up 20% of the Israeli population, and they enjoy full citizen's rights. Israel is one of the few Middle Eastern states where Muslim women are allowed to vote.[38]
In 2002, Lee Bollinger, then President of Columbia University, said that the analogy of Israel to South Africa at the time of apartheid, "is both grotesque and offensive". [39] David Matas, senior counsel to B'nai Brith Canada, argues that the starting point for anti-Zionists is the "vocabulary of condemnation", rather than specific criticism of the practises of Israel. He writes that "any unsavoury verbal weapon that comes to hand is used to club Israel and its supporters. The reality of what happens in Israel is ignored. What matters is the condemnation itself. For anti-Zionists, the more repugnant the accusation made against Israel the better."[1] Because apartheid is universally condemned, and a global coalition helped to bring down the South African apartheid regime, anti-Zionists "dream of constructing a similar global anti-Zionism effort", writes Matas. "The simplest and most direct way for them to do so is to label Israel as an apartheid state. The fact that there is no resemblance whatsoever between true apartheid and the State of Israel has not stopped anti-Zionists for a moment." [1]
In 2004, Jean-Christophe Rufin, former vice-president of Médecins Sans Frontières and president of Action Against Hunger, recommended in a report about anti-Semitism [40] commissioned by French Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin[41] that the charge of apartheid and racism against Israel be criminalized in France.[37] He wrote:
[T]here is no question of penalising political opinions that are critical, for example, of any government and are perfectly legitimate. What should be penalised in the perverse and defamatory use of the charge of racism against those very people who were victims of racism to an unparalleled degree. The accusations of racism, of apartheid, of Nazism carry extremely grave moral implications. These accusations have, in the situation in which we find ourselves today, major consequences which can, by contagion, put in danger the lives of our Jewish citizens. It is why we invite reflection on the advisability and applicability of a law ... which would permit the punishment of those who make without foundation against groups, institutions or states accusations of racism and utilise for these accusations unjustified comparisons with apartheid or Nazism.[37]
In 2003, South Africa's minister for home affairs Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi said that "The Israeli regime is not apartheid. It is a unique case of democracy".[42] According to Fred Taub, the President of Boycott Watch, "[t]he assertion ... that Israel is practicing apartheid is not only false, but may be considered libelous. ... The fact is that it is the Arabs who are discriminating against non-Muslims, especially Jews."[43]
In The Trouble with Islam Today, Irshad Manji lists a number of issues that she argues show the allegation of apartheid in Israel to be misleading. She writes that Arabs can run for office; there are several Arab political parties; and Arab-Muslim legislators have veto powers. In 2003, when two Arab political parties were disqualified for supporting terrorism, the judiciary overturned the disqualifications. Women and the poor can vote. Emile Habibi, an Arab, was awarded the Israel Prize for literature. Hebrew-speaking children are encouraged to learn Arabic. Road signs are bilingual. Arabs, Jews, and others study side-by-side in universities, and live in the same apartment buildings. Palestinans who commute from the West Bank are entitled to state benefits and legal protections. Israel has a free Arab Press, Al-Quds. [44]
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