"As people of faith who are distressed by the pain of the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza -- and who long for security and a just peace for both Palestine and Israel -- we can no longer ignore the realities on the ground. We are opposed not to the Jewish people, but to the policies of Israelis' governments, which are becoming ever more extreme," Archbishop Thabo Makgoba wrote.

The resolution also calls for future Christian pilgrimages to Israel to include an interfaith component, a discussion regarding the current situation of Christians in the Holy Land, meetings with Palestinian Christians where possible, and visits to the sites of events in Jesus' life, including those that are in territories controlled by Israel.

"When black South Africans who have lived under apartheid visit Israel, the parallels to apartheid are impossible to ignore. If we stand by and keep quiet, we will be complicit in the continuing oppression of the Palestinians," said Makgoba.

"Colored" people (ie. Mixed race) were also subject to apartheid it should be noted.

Makgoba opined that his province was not opposed to the Jewish people, but to the policies of Israelis' governments, "which are becoming ever more extreme."

However, bombs don't rain down on governments they rain down on people -- Israelis die, governments go on.

This lie about Israel is not new but it comes around when things heat up in the Middle East, when bullets fly and the rockets rain down on Israeli settlements.

The question is; is it true? Is Israel an apartheid state?

"It's a particularly vicious falsehood designed to demonize and delegitimize Israel," writes Melanie Phillips, a British journalist, author, and public commentator.

"The claim is as fatuous as it is pernicious. Apartheid was the name given to South Africa's systematic oppression of its black inhabitants, who were denied political, civic and human rights."

"By contrast, Arab Israeli citizens have fully equal rights. They study in Israel's universities; enjoy Israel's beaches and parks; receive equal treatment as patients in Israel's hospitals, and work there as doctors and other medical staff; serve as members of the armed forces and as judges, and are represented by members of Knesset who are currently lynch-pins in Israel's governing coalition," said Phillips.

"Those Arabs who live in the disputed territories don't have Israeli rights--for the very good reason that they aren't Israeli citizens. They have no civic entitlements purely because the status of those territories remains unsettled as a result of Palestinian Arab rejectionism and violence--and because Arab states regard them as a nuisance preferably to be ignored."

The "Israel apartheid" smear, however ludicrous, isn't new. It has its roots in the infamous 1975 "Zionism is Racism" U.N. resolution. Although that was revoked in 1991, it was resurrected at the scarcely-less infamous U.N. conference in Durban in 2001, writes Phillips.

The "apartheid" libel is a potent weapon because it is unlike claims that Israel is practising genocide and ethnic cleansing against the Palestinians that are demonstrably fatuous (the number of Palestinian Arabs has at least tripled since Israel's creation), she said.

"By contrast, the "Israel apartheid" smear triggers emotions of deep anger and disgust among the shallow and ignorant, whose knowledge of Israel is entirely drawn from malicious propaganda that misrepresents the defensive measures of the Jewish state as racist aggression, but which they believe as unchallengeable truth."

South African apartheid was a system as unique as it was evil. The "Israel apartheid" libel is an evil that once again singles out the Jews for a unique level of persecution.

It should be noted that the term "Palestine" is a neologism devised in the 2d C CE to distinguish the geographic landmass from association with Judaism: i.e., the area of Judea. There never was and probably never will be a "nation of Palestine." It's a complete figment of the Arabists' imagination.

Archbishop Justin Welby who is always at the ready to blast African Anglican provinces over their homosexual policies, might want to take a look at what Makgoba and his Provincial Standing committee recently proposed about Israel and pick up the phone for a 'come to Jesus' moment about Israel and unproven allegations of apartheid.

END