Apartheid lie about Israel is repeated over and over

ONCE again we are confronted with an article by Iqbal Jassat on the subject of apartheid Israel (“Saks has his head in the sand on apartheid state of Israel”, The Star Letters, August 11).

Each time he receives a reply proving there is no apartheid in that land. If there was, then he should be able to contradict the opposing evidence, but he does not do so. He simply repeats it over and over just as the Nazi minister of propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, advised: Repeat a lie often enough and eventually those who do not know the truth will believe it.

And once again, we have to read of the “occupying power, Israel”. Israel evacuated all its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005, so who is occupying it now? Then we come to the oftrepeated lie of apartheid Israel.

Under apartheid in South Africa, the black majority was denied basic human rights. Not in Israel, and if I am wrong, then prove it. Apartheid laws were enforced by parliamentary legislation. No such thing in Israel.

Blacks were oppressed on grounds of their colour. Show me where this is legislated in Israel. Blacks were not allowed to vote and were excluded from Parliament. Israel’s parliament is multiracial. In 2007, the acting president of Israel was a Druze. Can you imagine Verwoerd having a coloured deputy? During apartheid, the judiciary was all white. Israeli Arabs serve in the Israeli system. It was an Arab judge in Israel’s Supreme Court who sent Israel’s former president to jail on a rape charge.

Black South Africans were unable to get medical treatment in white hospitals. Every Israeli citizen, irrespective of race or creed, is entitled to equal treatment in Israeli hospitals.

Black South Africans were not allowed to own property in the country. Israeli Arabs have equal right to purchase long-term leases of land. Interracial marriage was banned in South Africa. No such thing in Israel.

The rights mentioned above relate to Palestinians who live in Israel. Those who live in Gaza and the West Bank are treated differently because they are not citizens of Israel. The Palestinian Authority governs the West Bank, and Hamas governs Gaza in which there is no Israeli presence.

Media Review Network members have said that one swallow does not make a summer, meaning that a few handpicked Arabs do not refute apartheid. During winter migrations, birds fly to Israel before continuing south. Perhaps they know something that the network prefers not to see.

Killarney, Joburg