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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Comment
Benjamin Pogrund

I have long rejected claims that Israel is an apartheid state. Now I believe that is where it is heading

Israel South Africa Benjamin Netanyahu Nats Discrimination Likud United States West Bank
People protesting against the government’s 'judicial reform’ law, Tel Aviv, Israel, 12 August, 2023.
A protest against the government’s 'judicial reform’ law, Tel Aviv, Israel, 12 August, 2023. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Israel 2023, South Africa 1948. I’ve lived through it before: power grabbing, fascism and racism – the destruction of democracy. Israel is going where South Africa was 75 years ago. It’s like watching the replay of a horror movie.

In 1948, as a teenager in Cape Town, I followed the results of the 26 May election on a giant board on a newspaper building. The winner-takes-all electoral system produced distorted results: the Afrikaner Nationalist party, with its smaller partner, won 79 parliamentary seats against 74 for the United party and its smaller partner.

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