There is no space here to address every one of the untruths, half-truths and exaggerations that form the tissue of Amnesty’s pernicious document. But even the briefest look at Israel’s prominent Arab citizens will allow one to conclude that the “apartheid” claims are poppycock. 

Ironically enough, the same week that the Amnesty report was published, Osila Abu Assad, from Nazareth, became the first female Arab judge to be elevated to an Israeli district court. She was one of six Arabs appointed to important positions in the judiciary this week, half of them women. 

This is a country in which an Arab judge has presided over the prosecution of a former Prime Minister. The chairman of Bank Leumi, the largest bank in Israel, is an Arab, as is Israel’s Covid czar. Arab Christians in Israel consistently perform far better in education than their Jewish counterparts. And in 2019, thousands of people attended the funeral of Ayman Sofia, the prominent gay, Arab-Israeli ballet dancer, who had drowned while trying to rescue a friend. It is impossible to imagine this taking place anywhere else in the Middle East.

If this is apartheid, then clearly we need a new word to describe the former regime in South Africa.

High-flyers aside, it is true that Arab Israelis generally occupy a lower socio-economic position than their Jewish compatriots. They also receive less state investment, in education in particular, and crime rates in Arab communities are high. These are social problems that must be fixed, something the government is working on. Given the domestic unrest in Arab areas last May, many maintain that the government is not acting quickly enough (I have argued this myself). But this does not amount to apartheid, any more than similar problems do in Britain.

It is also true that Palestinians living on the West Bank can be subjected to invasive Israeli security measures, such as checkpoints on certain roads or violent detention. This can be demoralising and oppressive for Palestinians. Many in Israel, such as the public intellectual Micah Goodman — a friend of Naftali Bennett — have advocated for such measures to be relaxed where possible. 

Nevertheless, the threat of terror attacks in Israel is real, and claims many lives each year. Who in their right mind would argue for Israel to lift security controls in a way that puts its own civilians at risk?

The real question is why Amnesty is so overwhelmingly concerned with Israel — the sole outpost of democracy, gay rights, the rule of law and equality for women in the Middle East — while giving comparatively little attention to the truly despotic regimes around the world.

In the last five years, Amnesty has released six reports criticising North Korea. By comparison, 50 have targeted Israel. I know which country I’d rather live in. Moreover, the group has barely mentioned the extensive human rights abuses in the Palestinian territories — where Jews are banned from living and working. Which is really the more divided society?