Ya’ir Klein (Letters, 16 August) is perfectly entitled to his view that “accusing Israel of being an apartheid state practising ethnic cleansing” is incorrect. But he has no right to stop others reviewing the acres of evidence to the contrary and deciding that “apartheid” is a spot-on designation, with “ethnic cleansing” not far behind.
Just as examples: Israel administers two legal systems in the West Bank; two systems for permitting housing development in Israel and in the West Bank (yes for Jews and no for Palestinians); two West Bank road systems, swish, new and fast for (Jewish) settlers and potholed, rock-strewn and punctuated by checkpoints for Palestinians. It has run a decades-long campaign to destroy Bedouin homes, rights and culture in the Negev, driving shepherd communities off the land and into horrific crime-ridden “new town” slums. It even has the brand new Nation-State Law, explicitly excluding the 20% of its population who are Palestinian from any right to self-determination, and putting Arabic right back in its second-class place.
Archbishop Tutu (who presumably must be allowed some expertise in the matter), plus many Israeli journalists, human rights campaigners, even former directors of Shin Bet and IDF generals, have all looked at the behaviour of the Israeli state and called it apartheid.
Naomi Wayne
London
• I cannot agree with Ya’ir Klein that accusing Israel, a political entity, of being an apartheid state or practising ethnic cleansing is antisemitic. The Israeli state should never be equated with Jews, which is what is wrong with the IHRA definition of antisemitism and its muddling of the two. It was a mistake to adopt this definition in its entirety and many people warned against that from the beginning of its existence, which was never uncontroversial. Those who brave brickbats to maintain the distinction between freedom to criticise a state and prohibition of blanket characterisation of a whole ethnic or religious group are to be supported, not wrongly accused of prejudices that they do not have. It will not in the end help Israel if it is protected from criticisms that are allowed against any other state. We did not consider that accusing the old South Africa of apartheid was an incitement to hatred.
Jeanne Warren
Oxford
