Posted by Rolene Marks..
Media Team Israel..
12 March '13..
This week is devoted to one of sanity’s ignominious lapses – Israel Apartheid Week – an event that not only displays the startling ability of assumedly-thinking students to lose all sense of rationality, but to rather exist in a bubble of self delusion, fostered by the blatant lie that Israel is an apartheid state. The zeal with which these young people throw their weight behind this misguided “cause” is in itself revealing of a malaise, deeper than mere social altruism.
Ask the vast majority of the participants in this self-serving exercise in hypocrisy, ignorance and dishonesty, how they reconcile that Israel is guilty of apartheid and they will either mouth the clichéd, irrational platitudes that they have learned to repeat like a bunch of lemmings, or find themselves unable to offer any point of view that will remotely reflect any semblance of reality.
My challenge is simple: Just ask yourselves the following two questions and do your very best to provide sensible, logical and, above all, honest answers.
There is no question in any rational mind that Israel is anything but a true democracy. If you don’t believe me refer to the website of Freedom House, (www.freedomhouse.org) the authoritative and independent think tank formed in 1941 on the initiative of Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of President Franklyn D. Roosevelt. Non-political Freedom House rates Israel as a “Full Democracy” in every sense of the term, and the only one of that stature in the entire Middle East.
So now the question: How is it possible that a country that upholds the principles of democracy in every possible sense (and under the most demanding of circumstances) can also practise apartheid considering that apartheid demands the total absence of democracy in order to exist? The fact is, apartheid is anathema to democracy. Please explain.
The second question is a natural follow-on to the first: If all ethnic groupings (including Arab Israelis) in Israel are represented in the Knesset (Parliament) as they are, with the Arabs sporting 14 Members of the Knesset represented within 5 Arab political parties; with serving judges (up to the level of the Supreme Court; with access to the same schools and universities as other Israelis; access to all medical facilities, government departments, buses, taxis, public toilets, park benches, beaches etc, while an Arab represented Israel at the Miss World pageant; an Arab singer represented Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest; while Israeli Arabs, Ishmael Khaldi (Read an interview: (http://tyglobalist.org/onlinecontent/blogs/ishmael-khaldi-an-israeli-arab-diplomat/ ) and Ali Yahya have represented Israel as full-scale Foreign Service Diplomats, how in heaven’s name is Israel deserving of this craze-driven mission to label her as an apartheid state? Why is there no focus by our dedicated activists on the apartheid that exists in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Iran where non- Muslims are either prevented from entering the country while apostates commonly face sentences of death?
Ah, you might say – but what about the poor Palestinians who have no access to the positive aspects of this wonderful Israeli democracy?
As far as I recall, the West Bank, which is minimally occupied by Israel to prevent it acting as a spring-board for terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians, is not part of Israel and its citizens do not therefore qualify as citizens of that country. This does not prevent 180,000 Palestinians from crossing into Israel in 2012 alone for treatment at Israeli hospitals or 15,000 Palestinians entering Israel daily with valid work permits.
And correct me if I’m wrong but didn’t Mahmud Abbas succeed in gaining recognition from the GA of the United Nations for a new, independent Palestinian state? Is this not the same Abbas who has failed to hold presidential elections for the past 7 years despite the requirement that he do so every five years, an undertaking to do so which, incidentally, applies to Gaza as well where it has been equally ignored.
So – before you rush off to wave your banner and paint your wall denouncing Israel as an Apartheid state, think about these very basic questions and come up with some sensible answers. I am always willing to look, listen and learn.
Link: http://mediateamisrael.wordpress.com/2013/03/12/an-open-letter-to-the-organizers-of-israel-apartheid-week-victor-gordon/
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