Who is talking about Israeli Apartheid?

Untitled_design.jpg

Many Palestinians, solidarity activists, and academics have recognized the "apartheid" character of Israel for many years. Recently, however, there has been a notable shift in mainstream organizations and figures willing to use this language. Below is an updated (but not exhaustive) list of notable organizations and figures who have recently adopted, or expressed openness towards, the terminology of Israeli apartheid.

Last updated: November 7, 2023

Jump to category:

United Nations

  • Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (2023) - In August 2023, a legal study commissioned by the United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP) concluded that "Israel’s administration of occupied Palestine is carried out in breach of the prohibition of racial discrimination and apartheid": "Notably, Israel applies discriminatory apartheid policies and practices against Palestinians on both sides of the Green Line. Although the core framework institutionalizing the apartheid regime was established in the years after 1948, the segregationist laws, policies and practices continued in the form of military orders in occupied Palestine beginning in 1967."
     
  • UN Special Rapporteur Michael Lynk (2022) - In March 2022, the UN Human Rights Council received a report from Michael Lynk, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, which conducted a legal analysis of Israel’s rule over the occupied territory, and definitively concluded that it “satisfies the prevailing evidentiary standard for the existence of apartheid”: "With the eyes of the international community wide open, Israel has imposed upon Palestine an apartheid reality in a post-apartheid world."
        
  • Five UN Special Rapporteurs (2022) - In April 2022, five UN Special Rapporteurs issued a statement describing Israel's housing policies in East Jerusalem as amounting to  “racial segregation and discrimination against the Palestinian people,” and “echoed the findings” of a recent report by UN Special Rapporteur Michael Link which concluded that “Israel’s 55-year occupation of the Palestinian territory constitutes apartheid” (see above). 
     
  • UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese (2022) - In October 2022, the first report by Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, accepted the findings of previous experts in determining that systemic Israeli policy and practices amount to apartheid. Francesca's report enriched this discussion by addressing the aspects of settler-colonialism and self-determination: "Dismantling the Israeli apartheid in the occupied Palestinian territory in particular, while necessary, will not automatically address the question of Israeli domination over the Palestinians, restore permanent sovereignty over the lands Israel occupies and the natural resources therein, nor, on its own, fulfil Palestinian political aspirations."
     
  • UN Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices (2022) - In an end-of-mission statement, the UN Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories noted the importance of engaging with 'apartheid' claims: "By design, Israel’s 55-year occupation of Palestine has been used as a vehicle to serve and protect the interest of a Jewish State and its Jewish people, while subjugating Palestinians. The Special Committee is cognisant that many stakeholders consider that this practice amounts to apartheid. This concern must be given serious consideration by the international community, for it owes obligations erga omnes to prevent and end the most serious crimes under international law." 
     
  • UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) - In 2017, a UN report was published with the title "Israeli Practices towards the Palestinian People and the Question of Apartheid." It was authored by Virginia Tilley and Richard Falk, and commissioned and published by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA). The report concluded that "Israel has established an apartheid regime that dominates the Palestinian people as a whole," and that its practices constitute the crime of apartheid under international law (p. 1). It was subsequently withdrawn after political pressure, compelling the resignation of ESCWA's Under-Secretary General and Executive Secretary.

  • UN Special Rapporteur John Dugard (2007) - In 2007, the UN Human Rights Council received a report from John Dugard, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, which concluded that "Israel’s laws and practices in the OPT certainly resemble aspects of apartheid ... and probably fall within the scope of the 1973 International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid." 

International Human Rights Groups

  • Amnesty International – On February 1, 2022, Amnesty published a 280-page report titled Israel’s Apartheid against Palestinians: Cruel System of Domination and Crime against Humanity. The report found that “Israel has established and maintained an institutionalized regime of oppression and domination of the Palestinian population for the benefit of Jewish Israelis – a system of apartheid – wherever it has exercised control over Palestinians’ lives since 1948.” This extends to Israel’s rule over Palestinians in Israel, the occupied Palestinian territories, and those who are refugees. Israel’s policies constitute apartheid as a crime against humanity, as defined in the Rome Statue and the Apartheid Convention. Amnesty’s recommendations include a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel, a ban on settlement goods, and targeted sanctions against Israeli officials.

  • Human Rights Watch (HRW) - In April 2021, HRW published a 200-plus page report concluding that Israeli officials are committing the crimes against humanity of “apartheid” and “persecution” against the Palestinian people. HRW explains that "the Israeli government has demonstrated an intent to maintain the domination of Jewish Israelis over Palestinians across Israel and the OPT. In the OPT, including East Jerusalem, that intent has been coupled with systematic oppression of Palestinians and inhumane acts committed against them. When these three elements occur together, they amount to the crime of apartheid." HRW provided governments with a series of recommendations, including the need to condition trade and military agreements on efforts to eliminate apartheid, and imposing sanctions (including asset freezes and travel bans) against Israeli officials.

Palestinian Civil Society

  • Al-Haq and seven Palestinian, international and regional human rights organizations - In November 2019, a group of Palestinian and related organizations submitted at Joint Parallel Report to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), which substantiates that "Israel has created and maintained an apartheid regime over the Palestinian people as a whole, in violation of its obligations under international law." Signatories include Al-Haq, BADIL, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights, Addameer, the Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem (CCPRJ), the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), and Habitat International Coalition – Housing and Land Rights Network (HIC-HLRN). The CERD is expected to respond to the report in 2022.
     
  • Palestinian and global civil society (Almost 200 Palestinian organizations, 450+ total) - In September 2020, a wide coalition of more than 450 Palestinian and global civil society organizations, including almost 200 Palestinian organizations, urged Member States of the UN General Assembly to launch international investigations into Israel’s apartheid regime over the Palestinian people as a whole. Palestinian signatories included Al-Haq, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, Addameer, Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), Defense for Children International Palestine (DCIP), Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center (JLAC), and about 170 additional civil society and Palestinian trade union groups.

  • Over 100 Palestinian organizations - In January 2021, a joint statement by the Palestinian NGOs Network (PNGO), the Palestinian Human Rights Organisations Council (PHROC) and the Palestinian National Institute for NGOs (PNIN), representing more than 100 Palestinian human rights and civil society organizations, said that Israel's discriminatory COVID-19 vaccine rollout "exposes Israel’s inhumane acts of apartheid": "In its on-going roll-out of COVID-19 vaccinations, Israel is directly violating its humanitarian and human rights law obligations by denying lifesaving vaccines to Palestinians as part of its policy of maintaining its apartheid regime of institutionalised domination. This policy has revealed in a direct and clear manner how the system of apartheid operates." 
     
  • Al Mezan Center for Human Rights - In November 2021, the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, a Palestinian NGO, published a major report exploring Israel’s crimes of apartheid as perpetuated against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. As the report notes, "As a sealed-off enclave, fragmented from the rest of the OPT and controlled by Israel within its apartheid system, Gaza is a strip of land that can be likened to a South African bantustan."
     
  • Al-Haq and six other Palestinian organizations - In January 2022, seven Palestinian organizations submitted a joint parallel report to the United Nations Human Rights Committee, urging the committee to acknowledge that "Israel has imposed an institutionalized regime of racial domination and oppression amounting to a regime of apartheid targeting the Palestinian people as a whole in violation of the [International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights]."
     
  • Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association and the International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School - In February 2022, Palestinian NGO Addameer and the IHRC at Harvard issued a joint report to the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry. Looking specifically at the West Bank, their submission finds that "Israel’s actions in the occupied West Bank are in breach of the prohibition of apartheid and amount to the crime of apartheid under international law."

Israeli Human Rights Groups

  • Joint statements by prominent Israeli human rights groups:
      
    • 17 Israeli NGOs - In July 2023, a group of 17 leading Israeli NGOs published a report which argued: "So extreme is the situation that after 56 years of occupation, Israel's actions in the West Bank today meet the criteria of apartheid, as defined in international law [...] The current government’s steps [of annexation], motivated by its stated Jewish supremacy ideology, will also deepen the apartheid regime governing nearly all aspects of oPt Palestinians’ lives." Signatories include the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Bimkom - Planners for Planning Rights, Breaking the Silence, HaMoked, Center for the Defence of the Individual, Combatants for Peace, Emek Shaveh, Gisha - Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, Human Rights Defenders Fund, Ir Amim, Parents Against Child Detention, Peace Now, Physicians for Human Rights Israel, Rabbis for Human Rights, The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, Torah of Justice, Yesh Din, and Zazim - Community Action.
        
    • 20+ Israeli human rights groups - In December 2022, following the formation of Israel's far-right government, 20+ Israeli human rights groups issued a statement which warned that "the occupation and apartheid in the occupied Palestinian territories have made Jewish supremacy the de facto law of the land, and the new government seeks to adopt this into their official policy." Signatories include Combatants for Peace, HaMoKed, Bimkom, Human Rights Defenders Fund, Mashsom Watch, Zazim, Gisha, B'Tselem, Ir Amim, Association for Human Rights in Israel, Yesh Din, Oz VeShalom, Rabbis for Human Rights, Breaking the Silence, Physicians for Human Rights Israel, Peace Now, Adalah, and more.
        
    • 4 Israeli human rights groups - In December 2022, 4 Israeli human rights groups issued an analysis of signed coalition agreements between Likud and Religious Zionism, concluding that many aspects of these agreements commit the emerging Israeli government to take steps towards "annexing the West Bank to Israel and strengthening the apartheid regime in the West Bank." Authors include Yesh Din, Breaking the Silence, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) and the Israeli Center for Public Affairs.
        
    • 13 Israeli human rights groups - In February 2022, 13 Israeli human rights groups issued a joint statement defending Amnesty International against "vicious attacks" due to its report on apartheid, saying: "Many of us have used the term and/or have made the legal designation of 'apartheid' in relation to various aspects of Israel's treatment of Palestinians. The debate around the crime of apartheid of which Israel is accused, and its geographic scope, is not only legitimate, but absolutely necessary." Signatories include Adalah, Breaking the Silence, B'Tselem, Combatants for Peace, Gisha, HaMoKed, Haqel, Human Rights Defenders Fund, Ofek, Parents Against Child Detention, Physicians for Human Rights Israel, The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, and Yesh Din.
       
  • B’Tselem - In January 2021, Israel's largest human rights organization B'Tselem published a position paper concluding that Israel is an "apartheid" regime, or “a regime of Jewish supremacy from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.” (January 2021)

  • Yesh Din - In June 2020, Israeli rights group Yesh Din published a legal opinion concluding that "the crime against humanity of apartheid is being committed in the West Bank. The perpetrators are Israelis, and the victims are Palestinians." (June 2020)

  • Gisha Access - Following the B'Tselem report, Israeli rights group Gisha Access wrote: "B’Tselem’s new report 'This is Apartheid,' asks Israelis to confront a painful reality that Palestinians have lived and described for decades. Those who think it’s easier to look away or blame the messenger are mistaken. The faster that Israelis face up to what they are doing and what is being done in their names, the faster the injustice can be brought to an end. The word apartheid evokes revulsion, as it should. There are undoubtedly differences between the apartheid regime in South Africa and Israel, but the thread that connects them is undeniable." Gisha also gave a presentation to a June 2021 conference at the Knesset entitled “After 54 Years: Between Occupation and Apartheid.” In 2022, Gisha welcomed Amnesty's report, noting the "relevance of the term apartheid as a description of the reality Palestinians are forced to live."

  • Physicians for Human Rights Israel - Israeli group PHRI's August 2021 report on COVID-19 in the West Bank argues: "This state of affairs demonstrates a reality of apartheid, whereby while two populations live under a single sovereignty, one will receive a high-quality vaccine early on, whereas the other will receive fewer vaccines, of another type and at a later time. The very fact that two populations living under the same regime are treated in such disparate ways is unparalleled confirmation of the existence of a reality of apartheid in the West Bank" (pp. 48-49). 

  • Breaking the Silence - Israeli rights group Breaking the Silence participated in a June 2021 conference at the Knesset entitled “After 54 Years: Between Occupation and Apartheid,” where they made a direct comparison between Israel's policy of 'separation' and South African apartheid: “Does anyone not think that there is a separation-based regime in the territories? [...] Separation in Afrikaans is apartheid. It is time to face the reality we have created and bring an end to the occupation as soon as possible.” In November 2021, BtS participated in a protest against the Israeli President's visit to Hebron, tweeting: "If there were ever a place where the word apartheid is relevant to the Israeli case, Hebron would be it." In February 2022, BtS welcomed the Amnesty report, tweeting that it "strengthens a growing consensus among the international human rights community that Israel is committing the crime of apartheid. The question under discussion is no longer if, but where and to what extent."

  • Peace Now Israel - Israeli rights group Peace Now Israel participated in a June 2021 conference at the Knesset entitled “After 54 Years: Between Occupation and Apartheid,” and spoke about how "Israel’s occupation and settlement construction in the West Bank have created an apartheid-like reality." In November 2021, Peace Now participated in a protest against the Israeli President's visit to Hebron, tweeting: "We came to say no to apartheid, no to fascism, no to violating Palestinian human rights in our name." In 2022, Peace Now Israel did not endorse Amnesty's conclusion that apartheid existed within the Green Line, but warned: "It is crystal clear that allowing the status quo of creeping annexation to continue will lead to an apartheid state from the river to the sea." On June 8, 2022, they tweeted of the separate legal systems in the OPT: "This is Apartheid."

  • Adalah - The Legal Centre for Minority Rights in Israel - Israeli rights group Adalah described Israel's "Nation-State Law," passed in 2018, in terms of apartheid: "This law – which has distinct apartheid characteristics – guarantees the ethnic-religious character of Israel as exclusively Jewish and entrenches the privileges enjoyed by Jewish citizens, while simultaneously anchoring discrimination against Palestinian citizens and legitimizing exclusion, racism, and systemic inequality

  • HaMoked - Center for the Defence of the Individual - Israeli human rights group HaMoked has been saying since at least 2009 that Israel is practicing the crime of apartheid. As HaMoked's executive director tweeted in November 2021, "The reality in Hebron is a blatant manifestation of apartheid.
     
  • Combatants for Peace - Israeli human rights group Combatants for Peace welcomed Amnesty's report on Apartheid in February 2022, stating that "this report provides an important opportunity for Israelis to learn that the term ‘Apartheid’ is not a historic comparison, but is a war crime, defined as such in several international treaties. Apartheid means that there are separate and discriminatory legal frameworks for different ethnic groups, just as there are in Israel towards its Palestinian citizens and vastly within the occupied territories towards the Palestinian population therein ..."

Public Opinion

  • Canadians -
    • An August 2023 survey of Canadian public opinion found that "apartheid" is the top choice for how they view Israel. Excluding those who responded “I don’t know,” the largest number of Canadians who provided an answer said that they view Israel as "a state with segregation similar to apartheid" (38%), which is more than three times as many Canadians who said they view Israel as a vibrant democracy (11%). Almost half (48%) of Canadians aged 18–34 who provided an opinion said that they view Israel as a state with segregation similar to apartheid.
    • A November 2023 survey of Canadian public opinion found that more than two-in-five (43%) say Israeli policy towards Gaza is a "form of apartheid," which is significantly more than those who disagree (27%). 
       
  • Americans - A March-April 2023 survey of American public opinion found that nearly one-third (31%) of Americans who provided an opinion said that they view Israel as "a state with segregation similar to apartheid."
     
  • Israelis and Palestinians - An April 2021 survey of all Israelis and Palestinians living between the Jordan river and the Mediterranean sea (analyzed together as a single population unit), found that about 25 per cent of Jewish Israelis believe the term “apartheid” is a fitting or very fitting description of the Israeli regime, as did a strong majority (75 per cent) of Palestinians. 
  • Middle East Scholars - An August-September 2021 survey of Middle East scholars found that 65% would describe the current reality in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, as “a one-state reality akin to Apartheid.”  

  • American Jews - In a June-July 2021 national survey of Jewish voters in the United States, one quarter (25%) of Jewish voters, and 38% of Jewish voters under the age of 40, agreed that “Israel is an apartheid state." 

Post-Apartheid South Africa and Namibia

  • South Africans - Support for Palestinians and the "apartheid" comparison has been broadly popular in post-apartheid South Africa for many years, but it has increasingly been used by government leaders.
    • Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa's President, told France 24 in May 2021 that Israel’s actions brought back “very terrible memories of our own history and apartheid,” and said that Israel could “quite easily” be characterized as an “apartheid type of state.” 
    • In August 2021, the ruling African National Congress (and major liberation movement during the struggle against apartheid) sponsored a massive billboard in Soweto that read: “End Israeli Apartheid Now!" 
    • On February 14, 2022, South Africa's foreign affairs minister Naledi Pandor told Parliament: “We all know that our history of struggle, and the values derived from it, against racism and colonialism, make us duty-bound to be a voice for the oppressed and marginalized everywhere. […] We are considering further measures to indicate our significant dismay at the continued apartheid practices of Israel against the long-suffering people of Palestine. [...] We are studying the recent human rights report on Israel, and hope to approach cabinet with a further proposed direct action against well-documented apartheid practices of Israel.”
    • On July 26, 2022, South Africa gave an address to the United Nations Security Council about Israel's "imposition of an apartheid system." The same day, South Africa's foreign minister urged Israel to be classified as an apartheid state and called on the UN to investigate the matter.
  • Namibians - Namibia was illegally occupied by South Africa for decades (at the time it known then as South West Africa), where South Africa imposed its apartheid policies on the population. 
    • Namibia’s ambassador to the United Nations told the UN Human Rights Council in March 2021 that Israel was practicing apartheid against the Palestinian people, and called for the restoration of the UN Special Committee on Apartheid to investigate Israel's practices. 
    • In March 2022, Namibia told the UN Human Rights Council: "We must all take a stand against Israeli apartheid by calling a spade a spade ... We must explore the possibility within this Human Rights Council of establishing a mechanism to deal exclusively with the Israeli apartheid practices against the Palestinian people on both sides of the Green Line. It is also time for the UN General Assembly to consider reviving the UN Special Committee Against Apartheid.”

Other Notable Figures and Organizations

  • Tamir Pardo, former head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency (2011-2016) - said in September 2023 that Israel was enforcing an apartheid regime in the West Bank: “There is an apartheid state here ... In a territory where two people are judged under two legal systems, that is an apartheid state.”
     
  • Amos Goldberg, leading professor of the Holocaust at Hebrew University in Jerusalem - wrote in August 2023: “Accusing Israel of apartheid is not anti-Semitic. It describes reality.”
     
  • 1,000 academics in Israel, the US, Canada, and more - a joint letter signed by more than 1,000 academics stated that "there cannot be democracy for Jews in Israel as long as Palestinians live under a regime of apartheid, as Israeli legal experts have described it," and urged American Jewish leaders to "support human rights organizations which defend Palestinians and provide real-time information on the lived reality of occupation and apartheid." Signatories include a wide range of academics in Jewish studies and other mainstream figures.
     
  • Israel's Law Professors Forum - representing 120+ Israeli law professors, wrote in March 2023 that changes to Israel's governance of the occupied West Bank transferring control over 'civil' matters outside of the military "validates claims that Israel practices apartheid, which is prohibited under international law." 
      
  • Ban Ki-moon, former secretary-general of the United Nations - wrote in June 2021 that Israel’s “structural domination and oppression” of the Palestinian people “arguably constitutes apartheid.” In June 2022, he said: “I’m just thinking that, as many people are saying, that this may constitute apartheid.”  

  • Juan Manuel Santos, former President of Colombia - wrote in May 2022: "The fact that patriotic Israelis and respected international figures are using the term 'apartheid' reinforces the need for an objective debate about the evidence, grounded in the international legal framework that defines this crime."
     
  • Daniel Levy, former Israeli negotiator - in a speech to the United Nations Security Council in August 2022, described "the increasingly weighty body of scholarly, legal and public opinion that has designated Israel to be perpetuating apartheid," and said that "it must be a wake-up call" to the international community about the failure to hold Israel accountable.
     
  • Yuval Noah Harari, Israeli author of the bestselling book Sapiens - while not using the "apartheid" word itself, very explicitly described the political reality in Israel a way identical to that of apartheid: "In short, the ruling powers in Israel moved from a two-state solution to a three-class solution. They foresee one country between the sea and the Jordan, where three types of people will live: Jews, who will enjoy all the rights; Type A Arabs, who will have some of the rights. And Type B Arabs, who will have almost no rights. This is the reality today, and judging by the votes at the ballot box, it seems that most Jews in Israel prefer that this is how it will remain." 

  • Two former Israeli ambassadors to South Africa - wrote in June that Israel’s activities in the occupied Palestinian territories amount to a “reality” of apartheid, adding: “It is time for the world to recognize that what we saw in South Africa decades ago is happening in the occupied Palestinian territories too.

  • Presbyterian Church (USA) - The Presbyterian Church in the United States, which has more than 1 million members, adopted a resolution in July 2022 to "recognize that the government of Israel’s laws, policies, and practices regarding the Palestinian people fulfill the international legal definition of apartheid," and urging churches members and bodies to "seek appropriate ways to bring an end to Israeli apartheid."
     
  • United Church of Christ (UCC) - The UCC, a mainline church in the United States, voted 83% in July 2021 for a policy to "reject Israel’s apartheid system of laws and legal procedures."  
  • Church of Sweden - In November 2021, the Church of Sweden's main decision-making body passed a resolution instructing the church's central board to “raise the issue of scrutinizing the implementation of international law in Israel and Palestine [for example, by bringing this issue up with ecumenical organizations like the World Council of Churches], also from the perspective of the United Nations convention on apartheid and the definitions of apartheid in the Rome Statute.”
     
  • UK Labour Party conference - In September 2021, the UK Labour Party conference overwhelmingly adopted a motion referring to the HRW and B'Tselem reports concluding that Israel practicing the crime of apartheid.

  • Yehudit Karp, former Israeli deputy attorney general - wrote in October 2021: "the time has come to call a spade a spade: An apartheid regime is the name given in international law by the international community to a regime of the type that Israel is maintaining in the occupied territories."
     
  • Michael Benyair, former Israeli attorney general - wrote in December 2021 that Israel's regime extends beyond the West Bank: "The apartheid regime is in all areas controlled by Israel, between the sea & the Jordan River. The distinction… between democratic Israel & the West Bank that it controls is wrong.” (Translated by Lara Friedman). In February 2022, he wrote an op-ed saying: "It is with great sadness that I must also conclude that my country has sunk to such political and moral depths that it is now an apartheid regime. It is time for the international community to recognise this reality as well."
     
  • David Grossman, prominent Israeli author - said in December 2021 of the West Bank: “Maybe it should no longer be called an ‘occupation,’ but there are much harsher names, like ‘apartheid,’ for example."
  • Amos Schocken, publisher of the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz - wrote in December 2021: "The product of Zionism, the State of Israel, is not a Jewish and democratic state but instead has become an apartheid state, plain and simple."

Canadian Politicians and Organizations

  • More updates to be added soon...
  • Jon Allen, former Canadian Ambassador to Israel (2006-2010) - said in a speech in August 2022: "Whether Israel can legitimately be accused of carrying out apartheid in the West Bank – and I believe its actions fit within the international legal definition – it is clear that Palestinians’ rights are severely restricted as compared to their Israeli neighbours."
     
  • Jagmeet Singh, leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) - in August 2022, Singh circulated an email to supporters in which he called on the Liberal government to "respond to reports from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Israeli human rights NGOs and the United Nations [specifically on the findings of apartheid] and accept their recommendations to states."

  • Heather McPherson, NDP foreign affairs critic - In a parliamentary committee in March 2022, McPherson asked the Foreign Affairs Minister: "I know you will be aware of a report that Amnesty International brought forward recently on the state of the situation in Israel and Palestine ... Will you provide a rationale for why you reject what the Amnesty report claims over four years? It's a very robust report over four years. Will you be providing any sort of acknowledgement of why that is the case or why you are rejecting it?"
     
  • Elizabeth May, Green Party of Canada co-leader - Tweeted on November 29, 2022: "I stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people living under conditions worse than apartheid."
  • Jonathan Pedneault, Green Party of Canada co-leader - In a Green Party of Canada leadership debate on November 9, 2022, Pedneault said that "Both Amnesty and Human Rights Watch call the situation in the occupied territories as apartheid, and I stand by that conclusion."
      
  • Anglican Church of Canada and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada - Adopted a “Resolution on Peace and Justice in Palestine and Israel” in June/July 2023 which commits the church bodies to “examine, discuss, and address emerging realities, including the implications of the recent reports by B’Tselem, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International [on Israeli apartheid], and for its governing bodies to respond appropriately.”
     
  • Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) - The General Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the US and Canada adopted a motion in support of Palestinian rights which affirms “that many of the laws, policies and practices of the State of Israel meet the definition of apartheid as defined in international law.” The denomination has almost 20 congregations across Canada.
       
  • Political or notable individual supporters of the Together Against Apartheid campaign by Independent Jewish Voices Canada (IJV) include (but are not limited to):
    • Québec solidaire (Québec political party)
    • Leah Gazan (NDP MP)
    • Niki Ashton (NDP MP)
    • Matthew Green (NDP MP)
    • Gord Johns (NDP MP)
    • Peter Julian (NDP MP)
    • Rima Berns-McGowan (Former Ontario NDP MPP)
    • Libby Davies (former NDP MP)
    • Paul Manly (former Green MP)
    • Alex Neve (Former Secretary General, Amnesty International Canada)
    • David Viveash (Former Canadian Representative to the Palestinian Authority, 2006-08)
    • Avi Lewis (Filmmaker and activist)
    • Leilani Farha (former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing)
    • Judy Rebick (author, activist and founder of Rabble.ca)
       
  • Organizational supporters of the Together Against Apartheid campaign by Independent Jewish Voices Canada (IJV) include (but are not limited to):
    • Black Lives Matter Canada
    • Canadian Federation of Students Ontario
    • Canadian Friends Service Committee (Quakers)
    • Coalition of Canadian Palestinian Organizations
    • Palestinian Canadian Congress
    • Palestinian Youth Movement
    • United Jewish People's Order
    • Centre international de solidarité ouvriére
    • Fédération nationale des enseignantes et des enseignants du Québec
    • United Network for Justice and Peace in Palestine and Israel
    • Mennonite Church Canada Palestine-Israel Network
    • Canadian Foreign Policy Institute
    • Canadians United Against Hate
    • Canadian Friends of Sabeel
    • Labour for Palestine
    • Faculty for Palestine
    • Just Peace Advocates
    • Socialist Project
    • Student Christian Movement of Canada
    • UofT Law Union
    • Centre justice et foi
    • IfNotNow Toronto

Background - Notable Analyses

  • Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa - In 2009, the Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa commissioned a report with the title: "Occupation, Colonialism, Apartheid? A re-assessment of Israel's practices in the occupied Palestinian territories under international law." The report concludes that the "State of Israel exercises control in the OPT with the purpose of maintaining a system of domination by Jews over Palestinians and that this system constitutes a breach of the prohibition of apartheid" (p. 22). 

CJPME acknowledges that our offices, located in Montreal, are on the unceded, unsurrendered Territory of the Kanienʼkehá꞉ka (Mohawk), whose presence here reaches back to time immemorial.  CJPME recognizes the Kanienʼkehá꞉ka as the customary keepers and defenders of the St. Lawrence River Watershed and its tributaries. We honour their long history of welcoming many Nations to this beautiful territory and uphold and uplift the voice and values of our Host Nation.  Further, CJPME respects and affirms the inherent and Treaty Rights of all Indigenous Peoples across this land. CJPME has and will continue to honour the commitments to self-determination and sovereignty we have made to Indigenous Nations and Peoples.  CJPME also acknowledges the historical oppression of lands, cultures and the original Peoples in what we now know as Canada and fervently believes that its work should contribute to the healing and decolonizing journey we all share together.

Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) 580 Sainte-Croix Ave, Suite 060, Saint-Laurent, QC,  H4L 3X5. 
©2007-2023 CJPME

Sign in with Facebook, Twitter or email.

Created with NationBuilder