Amnesty International labels Israel as an apartheid state

Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa welcomes Amnesty International’s ground-breaking declaration of Israel as an apartheid state.

 Titled “Israel’s Apartheid against Palestinians” the 211-page report concludes that the occupation state has imposed a “cruel system of domination” and is committing “crimes against humanity.”

“Our report reveals the true extent of Israel’s apartheid regime. Whether they live in Gaza, East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank, or Israel itself, Palestinians are treated as an inferior racial group and systematically deprived of their rights. We found that Israel’s cruel policies of segregation, dispossession and exclusion across all territories under its control clearly amount to apartheid. The international community has an obligation to act” 

Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General

 Amnesty’s declaration comes on the heels of reports last year from B’Tselem, Israel’s largest human rights organisation, which declared Israel to be “A regime of Jewish supremacy from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea: This is apartheid” and from the Nobel-Peace-Prize-winning US-based organisation Human Rights Watch which release a 213-page report detailing how Israeli policies constitute crimes of apartheid and persecution.

 As the largest and most respected international human rights organisation the declaration from Amnesty International demands robust international action against Israel and international support for BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) against Israel just as the world did in the case of South Africa.

 Palestinians and South Africans have always seen Israeli policies as apartheid. The rest of the world is now catching up.

 “This is a welcome development. There is no place to hide”, says PSNA National Chair John Minto.

 In the words of the international expert on apartheid, the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa “to be silent in the face of oppression is to take the side of the oppressor”.

© Scoop Media