Open Letter
Mondoweiss / October 26, 2021
We call on those appalled by Israel’s apartheid and by its attempt to crush human rights organizations, to join us in supporting the organizations under attack and to support Palestinian civil society’s call for BDS.
We, Israeli citizens, stand in absolute solidarity with Palestinian human rights groups and their admirable work for justice, in the face of the recent attack on their existence and their labeling as terror organizations. Like every colonial regime, crushing the colonized civil society has been a cornerstone of Israeli policies since its creation, both within the 1948 borders and in the territories it occupied in 1967.
Criminalizing any form of dissent and resistance by indigenous Palestinians, by labeling them as terrorists while at the same time calling its own colonial practices, of oppression and dispossession, “self-defense” is essential in order to sustain Israel’s settler-Apartheid system. Shamefully, this pro-colonial discourse has been adopted by many foreign politicians and journalists.
Recent attempts by Benny Gantz to silence organizations like Al-Haq are documenting and reporting on the war crimes committed by the Israeli occupation forces he himself commands, Defence for Children International- Palestine who have demonstrated Israel’s widespread abuse of children, or Bisan who collect data and provide information on Israel’s criminal activity – all this amounts to a clear attempt to obstruct justice in war crime investigations against Israeli war criminals.
Shutting down organizations which provide vital support and services to Palestinian farmers such as the Union Of Agricultural Work Committees and Palestinian women such as The Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees, or Palestinian political prisoners such as Addameer – all this is part of the continued efforts by Israel to erase the traditions, kinship and economy of Palestinian society and bring it to its knees.
We call on those appalled by Israel’s apartheid and by its attempt to crush human rights organizations, to join us in supporting the organizations under attack and to support Palestinian civil society’s call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS). Israel will not end its occupation and apartheid regime of its own free will. A joint effort is crucial for pushing to bring it to an end, just like the BDS campaign against apartheid South Africa decades ago did.
We support the call by Palestinian organizations to the international community to take concrete actions to rescind Israel’s absurd designations.
Signed,
Israelis Against Apartheid
