Amnesty accuses Israel of subjecting Palestinians to system of apartheid
Amnesty International released a report Tuesday accusing Israel of subjecting Palestinians to a system of apartheid that the human rights organization describes as a crime against humanity.
The report, titled "Israel's Apartheid against Palestinians: Cruel System of Domination and a Crime against Humanity," argues that "Israel enforces a system of oppression and domination against the Palestinian people wherever it has control over their rights."
The organization's statement on the report says "Israeli authorities must be held accountable for committing the crime of apartheid against Palestinians."
Amnesty International cited massive seizures of Palestinian land and property, unlawful killings, forcible transfer, drastic movement restrictions and the denial of nationality and citizenship as evidence that Israel has committed the crime of apartheid under the Rome Statute and Apartheid Convention.
"Whether they live in Gaza, East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank, or Israel itself, Palestinians are treated as an inferior racial group and systematically deprived of their rights," said Amnesty International Secretary General Agnès Callamard upon the release of the report.
"Governments who continue to supply Israel with arms and shield it from accountability at the UN are supporting a system of apartheid, undermining the international legal order, and exacerbating the suffering of the Palestinian people," she added.
The report was applauded by the Palestinian foreign ministry and condemned by the Israeli foreign ministry.
Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lior Haiat said that the report was "using double standards and demonization in order to delegitimize the existence of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people," according to Reuters.
Another statement from the Israeli ministry said: "These are the exact components from which modern antisemitism is made."
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the United Nations to respond to the report with action.
"The international community needs to urgently and drastically change its approach to Israel's apartheid regime recognize the full extent of the crimes that Israel perpetrates against the Palestinian people," the ministry said in a tweet.
