Christian Zionism - New Life Tabernacle of Chattanooga

Apartheid State. In it Davis exposed the inherent apartheid in the official
structures of the Jewish State which has, since 1948, like South Africa,
defined the national status and citizenship rights of its population on racial
grounds. He shows how, for example, 90% of the State of Israel has been
legally defined as land which only Jews can lease or cultivate. 1133 In every
aspect of Israeli society, whether in terms of educational provision, access to
medical care, employment rights, or treatment under the judicial system,
Arabs suffer systematic and institutional discrimination and racism. On Israeli
birth certificates for Jewish children citizenship is given as ‘Israeli’. In the case
of Arabs this category is left blank. Arab children are thus stateless at birth,
and must earn Israeli citizenship, whereas the Jewish child is born with it.
Arab villages falling outside Israeli zoning plans are technically illegal and do
not appear on Israeli maps, and thus cannot apply for water, electricity or
telephones, etc. Since 1948, over 500 such villages have been demolished
within the State of Israel. While all Israelis receive child benefit for their first
child, benefit for subsequent children is dependent on the parents completing
their military service. Orthodox Jews are exempted from this requirement,
while Arabs are not. Consequently 99% of Jews apply, 99% of Arabs do not.
Numerous other well known Jewish figures have been critical of
Israel’s apartheid policies. For example, in 1991 Sir Yehudi Menuhin, was
awarded the prestigious Wolf Prize by the Israeli Government. In his
acceptance speech before the Israeli Knesset he referred to Israel’s
continued occupation of the West Bank in these terms:
‘This wasteful governing by fear, by contempt for the basic dignities of
life, this steady asphyxiation of a dependent people, should be the very
last means to be adopted by those who themselves know too well the
awful significance, the unforgettable suffering of such an existence. It
is unworthy of my great people, the Jews, who have striven to abide by
a code of moral rectitude for some 5,000 years, who can create and
achieve a society for themselves such as we see around us but can
yet deny the sharing of its great qualities and benefits to those dwelling
amongst them.’ 1134
Noam Chomsky, has made similarly outspoken criticisms of the Israeli stance
America, (New York, Oxford University Press, 1991), p224.
1133
Uri Davis, Israel: An Apartheid State, (London, Zed, 1987).
247