Israel has replaced apartheid South Africa as an international pariah

By Herbert Rothschild

U.S. Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) issued the following statement on July 28:

“I cannot defend the indefensible. Israel’s actions in the conduct of the war in Gaza, especially its failure to address the unimaginable humanitarian crisis now unfolding, is an affront to human decency. What appears to be a deliberately induced famine among a civilian population — including tens of thousands of starving children — can never be an acceptable military strategy.

“While clearly justified in responding to the horrific attack by Hamas on innocent Israeli citizens, that tragic event cannot in turn justify the enormous toll on Palestinian civilians caused by Israel’s relentless bombing campaign and its indifference to the current plight of those trapped in what’s left of Gaza.

“I in no way accept or condone the actions of Hamas, but recent events have placed a moral burden on Israel to ameliorate the current crisis, a burden it has thus far totally failed to meet.

“For these reasons, I am through supporting the actions of the current Israeli government and will advocate — and vote — for an end to any United States support whatsoever until there is a demonstrable change in the direction of Israeli policy. My litmus test will be simple: no aid of any kind as long as there are starving children in Gaza due to the action or inaction of the Israeli government.”

It bodes ill for Israel that a self-described moderate like King was prompted solely by his conscience to issue such a statement. In the short-term, Israel will get away with committing large-scale atrocities, and the U.S. will continue to supply the weapons that Israel uses to murder civilians. But while Netanyahu may be content to play a short game — indeed, his political survival may necessitate it — Israel will come to regret its massive assault on universally recognized values.

Before the war in Gaza, no nation had joined the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which Israel has termed an “existential threat.” Last year, Ireland’s Strategic Investment Fund divested from six Israeli banks and Ireland’s central bank divested from four others. Last week, Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the largest in the world, announced that it was divesting from 17 Israeli companies with close ties to the West Bank and Gaza, and this week it announced an additional six. The longer the campaign of deliberate starvation continues, the more countries, I think, will follow suit.

Increasingly, too, Israelis will not be welcome abroad. To date, the following countries (all Muslim-majority) will not grant them visas: Afghanistan, Algeria, Bangladesh, Brunei, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, the Maldives, Oman, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen.

While entry bans on everyone holding an Israeli passport may not spread rapidly, rejection of their athletic, academic and cultural delegations will. The Israel Academic Monitor reported that, since the Gaza war, about one-third of Israeli researchers have reported disruptions in international collaborations. These include canceled conference invitations, a freeze on their appointments in foreign institutions, and difficulties publishing papers.

Organizations such as pension funds can act more quickly than national governments. In May 2024, the United Methodist Church pension fund divested from Israeli bonds. In other U.S. churches, universities and public employees’ retirement systems, there are vigorous campaigns for divestment. More and more of them will succeed.

In sum, Israel now occupies the place in the world that apartheid South Africa once had. In that case, it took at least two decades for global economic, diplomatic and moral pressure to become irresistible, but it did.

There’s a historical fitness to that succession, because Israel supported apartheid South Africa, especially militarily. From the 1960s through the 1980s it sold South Africa aircraft, radar and other advanced systems. It assisted South Africa’s RSA missile program. Most egregiously, it helped South Africa develop nuclear weapons. Before the apartheid government collapsed and Nelson Mandela’s government scrapped the program, South Africa had created six uranium bombs of the primitive “gun type” that the U.S. used on Hiroshima. One quid pro quo was that South Africa allowed Israel to test a nuclear weapon off its coast on Sept. 22, 1979.

People in the geographic area that Ashland.news serves can do a couple of things right now on behalf of human decency. One is to ask the Ashland Co-op to stop stocking any items from Israel. A campaign to that effect has been ongoing for the last several weeks. If you’re a member, your voice can be particularly effective.

The other is to ask Sen. Jeff Merkley to file a companion bill in the U.S. Senate to House Resolution 3565, which would forbid the Trump administration from supplying the specific bombs, tank shells and artillery rounds that Israel most uses in Gaza. Merkley’s contact information can be found here. It’s true that we haven’t yet succeeded in passing any bills that would halt military aid to Israel, but those attempts are part of the continuing pressure that will at last prevail. Working for peace and justice is a marathon, not a sprint.

Herbert Rothschild’s columns appear Fridays. Opinions expressed in them represent the author’s views. Email Rothschild at [email protected].