Apartheid? Not in our neck of the woods

In December, as the world was saying its goodbyes to Nelson Mandela, I visited the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg. The visit helped me understand the conditions in which South Africa's first black president lived.

The museum is constructed to give visitors the personal sense of living under apartheid. It is an uneasy feeling, thankfully alleviated upon leaving the building and seeing blacks, whites and people of all colors walking together along the same paths.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has been the center of an uproar these past few days, after the Daily Beast website quoted his warning that if a diplomatic agreement is not reached, "Israel will become an apartheid state."

Israel? An apartheid state? What does this mean? Separate lines for Jews, Arabs and blacks at the local bakery in Jaffa if Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his new partner, Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, don't sign a deal-

"If I could rewind the tape, I would have chosen a different word," a regretful Kerry said on Tuesday.

Perhaps the time has come for us to understand just how different the reality in South Africa was in 1948-1994 from the reality in Israel since 1948.

In South Africa, an apartheid regime was created on the basis of racial separation between whites, blacks and other people of color. The white minority ruled over the huge black majority, and had more rights than anyone else. In 1948, Daniel Francois Malan's government ratified a series of laws categorizing the population according to race. Segregation was institutionalized and comprehensive.

The Israeli reality is not ideal. It fosters inequality and sometimes, we need to admit, the rights of certain citizens are infringed upon. However, this stems from a unique diplomatic-security-legal situation, the goal of which is to usher in change one day, with the help of our neighbors. In Israel, in contrast to South Africa under apartheid, there is no law or regulation instituting race-based separation.

Israel is not perfect, and, much like the other countries of the world, may never be. But to accuse it of essentially being an apartheid state -- something that has become quite fashionable -- is ridiculous and incorrect.

This notion, however, has already seeped in so deeply that it has touched the American secretary of state. It is good that he expressed regret. We can be blamed of many things, but apartheid? Not in our neck of the woods.

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