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Wrong, New York Times: Israel Is No Metaphor for Apartheid
A taxi passes by in front of The New York Times head office, Feb. 7, 2013. Photo: Reuters / Carlo Allegri / File.
South African Apartheid is not a metaphor for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. For some reason, many attempt to make a despicable conflation between the two, when they could not be more different.
In Lydia Polgreen’s New York Times op-ed “South Africa is not a Metaphor,” she delves into the rise and fall in popularity of the African National Congress (ANC) party among average South Africans since its revolution in apartheid South Africa.
Buried among the personal anecdotes of ex-ANC supporters, are six paragraphs dedicated to arrogantly drawing a false comparison to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and current Israel-Hamas war. In doing so, Polgreen leaves out necessary context.
It may be subtle but @lpolgreen‘s @nytimes op-ed includes a despicable attempt to conflate South African apartheid with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Here’s some of the context that she missed out. https://t.co/f5N6ldru3z
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) June 2, 2024
Polgreen brings in the International Court of Justice (IJC)’s contentiously misinterpreted January ruling regarding IDF operations in the Gaza Strip, and the “plausibility” of “genocide” against Palestinian civilians.
The court agreed in a decision in January that South Africa’s case was at least plausible,” she says, “and demanded that Israel take greater care to protect civilians and provide aid.
As confirmed by former ICJ president Joan Donoghue, the court did *not* decide that Israel’s war against Hamas could plausibly be considered genocide. @lpolgreen has dangerously misinterpreted the ruling.
Read more here: https://t.co/IW83nfvsOY pic.twitter.com/6CVqFUv1jz
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) June 2, 2024
We have seen this time and time again from different reporters, and the ICJ ruling on the IDF’s operation in Gaza does not cease to be reported by the media in a manner that is not only irresponsible, but dangerous.
Words create a ripple effect in real world behavior. Journalists are looked to as vehicles to uncovering truth, and are supposed to be reliable sources of information.
But this op-ed was published long after clarifications were made, including by former ICJ president Joan Donoghue, among others. These corrections and clarifications were blatantly ignored in what appears to be an effort to continue fitting someone’s personal narrative. It’s unfortunate — for Polgreen, The New York Times, and for Jews around the world who inevitably bear the heat of this dangerous reporting.
Polgreen also attempts to mask the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), a United States-recognized terror group, as a “left-wing ally,” by explaining its support for the ANC during the fall of apartheid. She then goes on to describe “separation” and “oppression” of Palestinians by Israel, falsely portraying the conflict as a racial one.
However, Israeli military actions are primarily based on security considerations to prevent terrorism, and have no place being compared to racial oppression, segregation, or class systems.
The op-ed then discusses the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement — and the result of that boycott movement as a bright-shared future for “Israel and Palestine.”
But despite the article’s claims, the words “peaceful” do not exactly describe what comes out of BDS efforts or a one-state solution. Both mean the destruction of the Jewish state of Israel. This oversimplification of a nuanced and complicated conflict cannot be compared with South Africa’s revolution against apartheid.
Nevertheless, the most naïve portion of the Israel-South African comparison is the creation of a fantasy, originally by author Mahmood Mamdani. His book, Neither Settler Nor Native, is cited to explain how the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can be solved the same way that South African apartheid was: by wrongly forcing Israelis to admit their role as white colonialist settlers, and painting Palestinians as oppressed and the only natives of the land. Then, he says, the plan is to abolish these labels and roles in order to enact a path for forgiveness and create a new, shared future.
This would not only broaden the conflict between Israelis and Palestinian on the ground, but suggesting this resolution can be applied to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict erases Jewish history and Jews’ presence in the land of Israel for 3,500 years. Polgreen perpetuates a popular libel that Jewish people are white colonialists who illegally established a state.
Polgreen did manage to get one part right — that there are “real limits to comparing South Africa’s transition” and “the possibilities for transformation in Israel and Palestine.” She adds, “they are different places with different histories….”
Yes, they are. So why do it?
Channa Rifkin started her career in broadcast journalism, as producer and correspondent at ILTV and i24NEWS, focusing on Israel, the Middle East, and Jewish world. She studied Communications and Political Science at Bar-Ilan University, and attained a master’s degree in Diplomacy and Conflict Studies at Reichman University in Israel. She is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
The post Wrong, New York Times: Israel Is No Metaphor for Apartheid first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Smotrich Says Defense Ministry to Spur Voluntary Emigration from Gaza
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attends an inauguration event for Israel’s new light rail line for the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, in Petah Tikva, Israel, Aug. 17, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
i24 News – Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Sunday that the government would establish an administration to encourage the voluntary migration of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
“We are establishing a migration administration, we are preparing for this under the leadership of the Prime Minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] and Defense Minister [Israel Katz],” he said at a Land of Israel Caucus at the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. “The budget will not be an obstacle.”
Referring to the plan championed by US President Donald Trump, Smotrich noted the “profound and deep hatred towards Israel” in Gaza, adding that “sources in the American government” agreed “that it’s impossible for two million people with hatred towards Israel to remain at a stone’s throw from the border.”
The administration would be under the Defense Ministry, with the goal of facilitating Trump’s plan to build a “Riviera of the Middle East” and the relocation of hundreds of thousands of Gazans for rebuilding efforts.
“If we remove 5,000 a day, it will take a year,” Smotrich said. “The logistics are complex because you need to know who is going to which country. It’s a potential for historical change.”
The post Smotrich Says Defense Ministry to Spur Voluntary Emigration from Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Defense Ministry: 16,000 Wounded in War, About Half Under 30
A general view shows the plenum at the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, in Jerusalem. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – The Knesset’s (Israeli parliament’s) Special Committee for Foreign Workers held a discussion on Sunday to examine the needs of wounded and disabled IDF soldiers and the response foreign caregivers could provide.
During the discussion, data from the Defense Minister revealed that the number of registered IDF wounded and disabled veterans rose from 62,000 to 78,000 since the war began on October 7, 2023. “Most of them are reservists and 51 percent of the wounded are up to 30 years old,” the ministry’s report said. The number will increase, the ministry assesses, as post-trauma cases emerge.
The committee chairwoman, Knesset member Etty Atiya (Likud), emphasized the need to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy for the wounded and to remove obstacles. “There is no dispute that the IDF disabled have sacrificed their bodies and souls for the people of Israel, for the state of Israel,” she said. Addressing the veterans, she continued: “And we, as public representatives and public servants alike, must do everything, but everything, to improve your lives in any way possible, to alleviate your pain and the distress of your family members who are no less affected than you.”
Currently, extensions are being given to the IDF veterans on a three-month basis, which Atiya said creates uncertainty and fear among the patients.
“The committee calls on the Interior Minister [Moshe Arbel] to approve as soon as possible the temporary order on our table, so that it will reach the approval of the Knesset,” she said, adding that she “intends to personally approach the Director General of the Population Authority [Shlomo Mor-Yosef] on the matter in order to promote a quick and stable solution.”
The post Defense Ministry: 16,000 Wounded in War, About Half Under 30 first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Over 1,300 Killed in Syria as New Regime Accused of Massacring Civilians
Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad speaks during an interview with Sky News Arabia in Damascus, Syria in this handout picture released by the Syrian Presidency on August 8, 2023. Syrian Presidency/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – Over 1,300 people were killed in two days of fighting in Syria between security forces under the new Syrian Islamist leaders and fighters from ousted president Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite sect on the other hand, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Sunday.
Since Thursday, 1,311 people had been killed, according to the Observatory, including 830 civilians, mainly Alawites, 231 Syrian government security personnel, and 250 Assad loyalists.
The intense fighting broke out late last week as the Alawite militias launched an offensive against the new government’s fighters in the coastal region of the country, prompting a massive deployment ordered by new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa.
“We must preserve national unity and civil peace as much as possible and… we will be able to live together in this country,” al-Sharaa said, as quoted in the BBC.
The death toll represents the most severe escalations since Assad was ousted late last year, and is one of the most costly in terms of human lives since the civil war began in 2011.
The counter-offensive launched by al-Sharaa’s forces was marked by reported revenge killings and atrocities in the Latakia region, a stronghold of the Alawite minority in the country.
The post Over 1,300 Killed in Syria as New Regime Accused of Massacring Civilians first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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