I am seriously disturbed that the two US churches (Touchstone, August 2022) have swallowed whole, without fair, detailed analyses of the actual situation on the ground, BDS’s and human rights groups’ depictions of Israel as an “apartheid state”.

South Africa’s apartheid was a state-legislated system of racial separation to deny the majority of her people citizen status, civil rights, and inclusion in representative government. Israel proper cannot be an “apartheid” state. Yes, there are numerous government regulations and informal discriminations against her Arab citizens (as we have against Māori and Pacific peoples in Āotearoa). But Arab Israelis are not barred from full participation in Israeli politics or society.

The situation in the West Bank is different. BDS et al know full well that Geneva Conventions on occupations determine that a military administration must continue until a final status and settled borders are agreed. Yet how does Israel negotiate with corrupt, nepotistic, dictatorial, terrorist administrations that exist solely to bring about Israel’s total demise? Danielle Pletka, teacher of US Middle East policy at Georgetown University says it best:

“The fate of ‘Palestine’ is in the hands of the most extreme elements in Palestinian politics. Fatah, the party of Palestinian president-for-life Mahmoud Abbas, has hewn the middle road—some terrorism, some extremism, some corruption, some cooperation with Israel, lots of grandstanding, not much governance. Hamas, the terror group that controls the Gaza Strip, has been hard put to govern; its popularity has shrunk as the group has failed to deliver any tangible improvements. Hamas blames the Jews; Hamas’ subjects are quietly unsure whether the Jews are to blame, or just Hamas. They don’t dare say so. Terrorism is what Hamas is good at, but it has been outbid by Palestinian Islamic Jihad. …”

Gary Clover, Richmond, Nelson