Holocaust historian says, highlighting Israeli apartheid is not anti-Semitic

Goldberg said more and more people around the world, including in Israel, are recognizing the reality and acknowledging it

TEL AVIV, Israel – Holocaust historian Amos Goldberg has declared that calling Israel’s treatment of Palestinians apartheid is not anti-Semitic.

In a guest editorial in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), he stated that the Israeli government is opposed to human rights, democracy, and equality.

He said it also promotes authoritarianism, discrimination, racism, and apartheid.

Goldberg mentioned Benjamin Pogrund, a South African-born Israeli author who changed his stance from rejecting the term apartheid for Israel to recognizing its validity based on the denial of Palestinian rights and freedom.

The historian also quoted Barak Medina, a law professor, who argues that certain statements made by Israeli officials serve to justify an apartheid regime.

He said that equating apartheid with anti-Semitism is in line with the views of far-right politicians in Israel’s coalition government, who place the Jewish character of the state above its democratic character.

Goldberg said more and more people around the world, including in Israel, are recognizing the reality and acknowledging it.

He pointed to a petition co-initiated by Omer Bartov, the Israeli-born historian and professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University, entitled The Elephant in the Room, which states: “There can be no democracy for Jews in Israel as long as Palestinians live under an apartheid regime.”

The petition was signed by more than 2,000 academics, clergy, and other public figures.