US-based NGO Human Rights Watch has accused Israel of the crime of apartheid for the first time in the organization’s 43-year history.Israel met the legal definition for crimes of apartheid as set out by the Rome Statute, it said in a 213-page report scheduled to be released on Tuesday entitled, “A Threshold Crossed: Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution.
”HRW called on the United Nations to verify the claim and then apply an arms embargo against Israel until verifiable steps are taken to end such crimes.
“This detailed study shows that Israeli authorities have already turned that corner and today are committing the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution,” he said.
“HRW’s report is part of a concerted NGO campaign over the past 18 months to interject the term ‘apartheid’ into discourse about Israel,” it said.
“Indeed, HRW reiterates, cites and quotes many of these NGOs in its publication.
But as an example of discrimination, it cited Israel’s Law of Return, which grants citizenship to Jews who want to immigrate to Israel.
“As noted by the UN Committee, but erased in the HRW report, this provision seeks to remedy ‘inequalities resulting from the circumstances of history’… and to prevent ‘further imbalances from arising,’” it wrote. »