The Israeli ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely, was subjected to violent threats at an event at LSE  on Tuesday evening by pro-Palestinian protestors, and had to be evacuated after the event under heavy security. But in universities, accusations against Israel of apartheid and racism against Palestinian Arabs have been rife for many years, even extending to smears involving Hitler and Nazism. For example, in March 2017 some 30 UK universities, including Cambridge, held ‘Apartheid Week’ protests. These were co-ordinated by the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign (PSC)¹ and were linked to the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divest & Sanction (BDS) movement.

Around the same time, this sign was prominently displayed round London.Israel is a racist endeavour advert It is much wider than the universities, however – in February of this year the UK Methodist Council followed the BDS initiative, as reported by BDS:

“Sabeel-Kairos welcomed the resolution passed at Methodist Council calling for a revision to the existing investment policy in light of the changes on the ground in Israel and Palestine …..”.³

Accompanying image to announcement of Methodist BDSNotice the image accompanying the announcement (to the left).

Sabeel-Kairos is a Palestinian organisation with a UK branch. Its 2021 Conference bears the title “A Christian Response to Israeli Apartheid”. Its Conference Statement is shown on the right:^{4SK conference statement}

In March this year, even with Covid restrictions, the BDS ‘Israel Apartheid Week’ was supported by at least eight British universities, despite its patently false allegation that “Israel ́s regime of apartheid, colonialism, and military occupation has gone unpunished for decades, subjecting the entire Palestinian people to a system of institutionalized and systematic racial oppression that denies their most basic rights.”⁵

Rights and achievements of Arabs in Israel

However, accusations of apartheid are far off the mark. According to the Jewish Virtual Library, roughly 21% of Israel’s nine million or so citizens are Arab, of whom about 83% are Muslim. They have equal voting rights in one of the few Middle East countries where women are equally entitled. Though Arabs may serve in the Israeli Defence Force, they are not required to do so (unlike the Jewish population). In fact, in August this year, Colonel Awad Suleiman took command of an Air Maintenance Unit. Brigadier Shimon Tsentsiper said he “burst through the glass ceiling … forming an example and an inspiration for so many that I am sure will follow him.” Also, the encouragement of the Arabic language is truly widespread across the entire country. Following the 2021 elections to Israel’s Knesset, of 120 seats, six are from the Joint List grouping of four Arab parties, whilst there are four from the Islamic party, Ra’am (total 8.3%). (The Joint list lost five of their previous 11 seats – pre-2021 total 10.8%.) Israel’s public health system is held up as a model for Jewish-Arab collaboration. In May 2017, 42% of all nursing students in Israel were Arabs, as were 38% of those studying pharmacy, and 38% of Haifa’s Technion medical students. Also, about 20% of Israel’s doctors, 25% of nurses, and nearly 50% of pharmacists are Arab.⁶

About 20% of Israel’s doctors, 25% of nurses, and nearly 50% of pharmacists are Arab.

Jews among Israel’s neighbours

None of this looks at all like apartheid, especially when one considers the Jewish populations of the surrounding mainly Arab nations:

• Gaza: NIL
• Egypt: In the 1950s, Egypt began to expel its Jewish population (estimated at between 75,000 and 80,000 in 1948), also sequestering Jewish-owned property at this time. As of 2016, the president of Cairo's Jewish community said that there were six Jews in Cairo, all women over age 65, and twelve Jews in Alexandria. ⁷
• Jordan: The only formally approved presence of Jews in Transjordan was in the late 1920s, in connection with the construction of a hydroelectric power plant. A new village, Tel Or, was settled in 1930, and was the only Jewish village in Transjordan at the time. Residents also farmed thousands of dunams of land. The settlement lasted until its depopulation in 1948, when it was overrun by Iraqi and Transjordanian forces and destroyed. Presently, there are no legal restrictions on Jews, and they are permitted to own property and conduct business in the country, but in 2006 there were reported to be no Jewish citizens of Jordan nor any synagogues or other Jewish institutions.⁸
• Syria: Although there were large communities in Aleppo and Damascus for centuries, by 2011 there were about 250 Jews still living within Syria, mostly in Damascus and by December 2014, fewer than 50 Jews remained in the area due to increasing violence and war. In October 2015, with the threat of ISIS nearby, nearly all of the remaining Jews in Aleppo were rescued in a covert operation and moved to Ashkelon, Israel and in the following year the last few were rescued, ending the Jewish presence in Aleppo, with only a few left in Damascus.⁹ None are presently known.
• Lebanon: Lebanon was the only Arab country whose Jewish population increased after the declaration of the State of Israel in 1948, reaching around 10,000 people. However, after the crisis of 1958, many Lebanese Jews left the country, especially for France and the Americas. The main synagogue in Beirut was bombed in the early 1950s and the Jewish population of the city, which stood at 9,000 in 1948, dwindled to 2,500 by 1969.¹⁰ Following the civil war of 1975-76, most of the 1,800 Jews emigrated. In the mid-1980s Hezbollah kidnapped several prominent Beirut Jews, mostly leaders of the tiny remaining community, four of whom were later found murdered. By 2004, though some 5,000 Jewish names were still on the electoral roll, only one voted. Most had fled or died, except for a small community of old women. Only 20 Jews were recorded in 2020.¹¹

Iraqi anti-Jewish actions

Qassam Al-Araji, Iraq’s National Security Advisor, said, ‘There are four Jewish people in Baghdad … but they feel fear in declaring their Jewishness, so they say they are Christians.’

These are but the Arab states that border Israel. Though limited for space here, it’s important also to consider the horror story of Iraq, a country that, unprovoked, attacked the infant Israel. In 1948, the year of Israel's independence, there were about 150,000 Jews there. Persecution, already well-established, greatly increased that year. The following facts are mainly selected from Wikipedia’s extensive account.¹²

•  In July 1948, the government passed a law that made Zionism a capital offence, with a minimum sentence of seven years imprisonment. Any Jew could be convicted of Zionism based only on the sworn testimony of two Muslim witnesses, with virtually no avenue of appeal available.
•  On August 28, 1948, Jews were forbidden to engage in banking or foreign currency transactions.
•  In September 1948, Jews were dismissed from the railways, the post office, the telegraph department and the Finance Ministry on the ground that they were suspected of “sabotage and treason”.
•  On October 8, 1948, the issuance of export and import licences to Jewish merchants was forbidden.
•  On October 19, 1948, the discharge of all Jewish officials and workers from all governmental departments was ordered.
•  In October, the Egyptian paper El-Ahram estimated that as a result of arrests, trials and sequestration of property, the Iraqi treasury collected some 20 million dinars or the equivalent of 80 million U.S. dollars.
•  On December 2, 1948, the Iraq government suggested to oil companies operating in Iraq that no Jewish employees be accepted.
•  By 1949 the Iraq Zionist underground had become well-established, smuggling Jews out illegally at a rate of 1000 a month.
•  In response to persecution and governmental threats of concentration camps and forcible expulsion, between 1948 and 1951, 121,633 Iraqi Jews were airlifted, bussed, or smuggled out of the country. These were officially more or less stripped of their assets. About 15,000 Jews remained in Iraq.
•  In the early 1970s, bowing to international pressure and having concluded that its emigration ban was useless, the Iraqi government allowed Jewish emigration and most of the remaining Jews left. The majority of those who stayed behind were elderly, and the community was subsequently pressured by the government to turn over $200 million worth of Jewish community property without compensation. In 1974, about 400 Jews still lived in Iraq. The last Jewish wedding in Iraq took place in 1978 and the last brit milah (circumcision) took place in 1984.
•  According to the Times of Israel, only four Jews now remain in Iraq. Qassam Al-Araji, Iraq’s National Security Advisor, said, “There are four Jewish people in Baghdad … but they feel fear in declaring their Jewishness, so they say they are Christians”¹³

One is left asking, “Which nation is truly racist? Where is the apartheid?” Truth matters!

Notes

1. Israeli Apartheid Week held at 30 UK universities, despite repression | The Electronic Intifada, accessed 1 Oct 2021
2. Is Israel a racist apartheid state or the realisation of Jewish self-determination? (prruk.org),
accessed 1 Oct 2021
3. Methodist Council calls to revise investments to screen companies profiting from occupation | BDS Movement 03 Feb 2021, accessed 04 Oct 2021
4. Sabeel-Kairos accessed 04 Oct 2021
5. The Israeli Apartheid Week 2021 Begins on Campus (israel-academia-monitor.com) 19 March 2021, accessed 5 Oct 2021
6. The Status of Arabs in Israel (jewishvirtuallibrary.org) accessed 4 Oct 2021
7. History of the Jews in Egypt - Wikipedia
8. History of the Jews in Jordan - Wikipedia
9. History of Jews in Syria - Wikipedia
10. History of the Jews in Lebanon - Wikipedia
11. Jews of Lebanon (jewishvirtuallibrary.org) accessed 04 Oct 2021
12. History of the Jews in Iraq - Wikipedia, accessed 4 Oct 2021
13. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jews-of-iraq accessed 7 Oct 2021; On Passover 2021,  Iraq's Jewish community dwindles to fewer than five | The Times of Israel