I wrote most of this article in 2013 and it was published in the Jerusalem Post.

Despite the great strides being made in unmasking the BDS Movement as blatant anti-semitism echoing the Nazi's catchcry: "Don't buy from Jews"; it seems that their anti-semitic canard that Israel is an "Apartheid State" is alive and well in some circles.

So I'm republishing my thorough debunking of this canard here on my favourite blogging platform Steemit.

Israel - The Un-Apartheid State

The anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions Movement (BDSM) love to make the false accusation that “Israel is an apartheid state” to justify their racist persecution of Jewish Israeli businesses and academics.

They like to imagine that their campaign of aggressive protests around tiny retail cosmetics stands and chocolate shops is comparable to the mass protests against the Springboks that characterised the campaign against South African apartheid in the 1970s and 80s.

But the attempted analogy between Israel and apartheid South Africa is false on every level.

Israel is one of the most un-apartheid states in the world, with a record of successful multi-culturalism, protection and integration of minorities that puts most western countries, even Australia, my birthplace, to shame.

Apartheid South Africa had a system of strictly enforced laws that enshrined racial discrimination against “blacks” and “coloureds” in every aspect of the fabric of South African society. This was similar to, but more extreme than, the system of racist laws that Australia had in place prior to the recognition of indigenous Australians as equal citizens in 1967 (by Constitutional amendment).

In contrast to Australia and South Africa’s foundational racism, Israel’s declaration of independence in 1948 guaranteed “complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex”. Unlike South Africa and Australia, Israel has never had laws that overtly discriminated between citizens on the basis of race.

Today, just like Australia and most western countries, Israel has strong anti-discrimination laws that prohibit discrimination on the grounds of race, religion, nationality, land of origin, sex, sexual orientation, political views, personal status or parenthood in a broad range of contexts. Israeli law also prohibits incitement to racism.

These laws are more stringently enforced in Israel than in Australia because of the plethora of NGOs, well funded by the EU, that specialise in searching out and bringing to Court any cases of indirect racism against Arabs or Muslims. Unlike Australia, Israel allows NGOs to bring such cases direct to its Supreme Court.

But there is more to the elimination of racism in a society than repealing racist laws and passing laws outlawing racial discrimination. Practical outcomes of successful multi-culturalism and integration of minorities at all levels within society is the true measure of the elimination of racism in a society.

And on this measure Israel puts Australia and much of the western world to shame.
The practical reality in Israel is that minorities succeed to prominent positions at a far better rate than in Australia. This is true in all areas of society:

Politics

In Israel 10% of Israel’s Parliament, The Knesset are from minority groups (Christian, Muslim & Druse). This includes over 4% from parties with racially mixed composition. This large representation of minorities has been a consistent feature since the early days of the State.
Three Members of religious and racial minorities (Nawaf Massalha (Muslim Arab), Salah Tarif & Raleb Majadele (both Druse) have served at Ministerial level in the Israeli government including the later two as cabinet Ministers.

In contrast, only 1.3% of Australia’s current federal Parliament are from religious minorities (one Muslim & two Jews) and this itself is a huge increase from previous Parliaments that often featured less than 0.5% non-Christian representation. While there have been a similar number of Australian Jews who have served as Ministers, no other religious minority has been so represented.

Judiciary

Israel has a Judge from the Arab minority serving on its highest Court (Salim Joubran). Sadly Australia has not had a single High Court Judge from a racial or religious minority for over 80 years, since Sir Issac Issacs!

Military

Israel has three Generals from the Druse minority serving in its Defence Forces (Major General Yusef Mishleb & Brigadier Generals Imad Fares & Hasson Hasson). Disturbingly, it appears that Australia has not had a single General from a religious or racial minority for over 80 years, since Sir John Monash!

The legislature, judiciary and military are the key sources of hard power in any society and the success of racial and religious minorities reaching these corridors of power is a litmus test of the true openness and lack of racism in a society. Australia’s scorecard on this test compares very poorly to Israel’s.

But success of minorities in areas of soft power is an equally important measure of lack of racism in a society. Here too Israel outclasses Australia.

Socio-Economic Statistics

In Israel the life expectancy, educational attainment and earnings of the Arab minority are on par with, if not better than, that of Arab minorities in virtually all Western European countries and far above that of other Arabs in the Middle East. In Australia the life expectancy, educational attainment (including basic literacy) and earnings of indigenous Australians is nothing short of appalling, worse than many third world countries.

Popular Culture

An Israeli Christian Arab, Lina Makhoul won "The Voice" Israel this year. In contrast not a single person from a minority religion has won the equivalent Australian Idol. Salma Fiomy-Farij, a hijab-wearing Israeli Muslim Arab, came second in this years Israeli Masterchef (the winner was a German convert to Judaism). In Australia Masterchef has not had a single winner from a religious or racial minority.

Thus on both legal and practical measures Israel is a less racist country than Australia and as far from apartheid South Africa as any country could possibly be.

Israel truly is an un-apartheid state, one of the freest, most open and non-racist societies in the world.