South Africa is already here

We need a leader who is innovative and non-ideological to serve the needs of Israel moving forward, instead of the recycled leadership of Netanyahu, Peres, Barak, etc....

Obama et. al. - you are nothing compared to the power of settlers of Greater Israel, a holy force!

let's be honest, for more than 60 years the Kibbutz movement has had selection committees that keep out all the non-Ashkenazim, including Arabs, and all the Haredim. Is there one Ethiopian member of the vaunted Kibbutz? The real apartheid was set in stone long ago.

The /\ writer hasn't been to many countries nor has he heard that Apartheid is practiced in almost Every country on earth.Only in heaven,above is there real equality for all. You don't have to be a genius to figure that one out. Do you ?

South Africa is today the country with the highest murder. Rape ,Aggrivated robbery and battery . HIV .etc etc and on and on RATES in the world .If Barel plays the apartheid formula card then he must subscribe to its collateral formula..ie post apartheid South Africa ..Is murder rape robbery and total collapse of personal security his vision for Israels future ?Wow..never thought leftist were so full of violence !

Where are the democracy-loving Israelis? Have they given up the ideal of Prophetic Judaism?

It is absolutely correct that Israel should be enforcing their right as a nation to determine who they wish to invited inside it's protected areas. Apartheid has nothing to do with it at all. This is not a racist issue, it's an issue of who do you serve? Those muslim who serve satan, must leave the world period, you are not wanted, will not be tolerated any longer. Your reign is over, you will be defeated, as will your leader satan. Thank God for Israel who is finally standing up against you. I only wish my home country, and this adopted country I now live in; would have the backbone to stand against you to.

According to recent surveys from the Arab sector most are happy to live in Israel. Arab professors from Haifa University did the research.

Twenty years ago Arabs from Umm al-Fahm became a law unto themselves. They total disregarded the law and made the lives of police in the area really unpleasant. They would taunt police at the outskirts of the town and race back in to receive the protection of the citizens. Where was Zvi Barel then? Why did he not demand that the police not allow themselves to be humiliated by a bunch of runts? Why did he not demand that the police enforce the law equally? Don't come and preach to us years later Mr Barel. At least there are still Jews who still have pride and are not willing to take the humiliation that you allowed us to take back then.

Israel was a staunch supporter of the racist govt which was overcome because of the godliness in of most international community.So too will the racist regime of Israel be overcome eventually.The longer it takes the more the racists will suffer the consequences

Thank you, thank you, Haaretz for finally publishing what has been true for some years. Israel is not becoming Apartheid. It is Apartheid. When you have former Chief Rabbi's declaring gentiles only exist to serve Jews, and compares the life of a gentile to the life of a Jews donkey, you have a pretty horrible problem...my support of Israel is becoming not supporting Israel.

After the Arabs are separated it will be time to sort out the real Jew from the fake Jews. Only the Orthodox will be allowed in the very best areas of Israel and only they will be allowed to reside in Jerusalem and all who are not really Jewish will be removed. When that apartheid has been completed it will be time to separate the Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews.

Dear Sir, Having lived under the aparthied regime in South Africa and then chosing to leave it I feel a bit of perspective is needed! I as an Israeli Jew would not dear go into an Arab settelement or shopping centre in Israel, but I do see plenty Arabs in our Settelments\ Towns and Shopping centres. Legaly an arab may buy land in Israel,however for how long have they been KILLED by there own if they sell land to a JEW ! How many Arab countries welcome with open arms Jews and the purchase of LAND? Lets get real! This is the land of the Bible the Holy Jewish Bible. How many time is israel mentioned in the Koran ? Come on we are giving them back there own and standing up for our right's. If you don't like it you know what to do..but plese compare apples with apples and not penuts!

Attention grabbng headlines - that's all. He has NO idea of what Apartheid actually is and tries to draw egregiously superficial parallels (based on slogans) made by Israel's enemies. He should seriously go and study what the legal ramifications of Apartheid are and - then come back here and apologize). That Ha'aretz enables such sloppy journalism - is a also disgrace.

very fierce criticism. It seems to be highly valued and featured prominently in a front line national publication. I imagine most disagree with your assessment, certainly the PM and right disagree. Do you fear for you freedom to write such an article? I doubt it. Somebody may yell at you at the petro station, but in general you enjoy a very free, pluralistic society, with great personal, professional, and political freedom. I suspect your article will help improve the country. Although only if it keeps the readers engaged in considering more broadly the questions you raise. I can list a string of differences between even the reprehensible citizenship law and Apartheid, or Jim Crow, or any other example. I can also see your point. As long as both sides are visible, your inflammatory writing is surely helpful. So have a good week, enjoy great freedom, and get about improving matters. peace

I lost count of the number of time Zvikelleh uses the word "apartheid" in his essay. Clearly trying use the loaded word as a weapon. He gives several examples of the draconian apartheid laws of South Africa - forgetting that those laws don't and never have existed in democratic Israel. I lived in SA for the first 27 years of my life, and am happy to have lived in Israel for the next 40. There is no comparrison. Anyone who compares SA to Israel is either unfamiliar with apartheid South Africa, with Israel, or just an anti-Semitic buffoon. By the way, most of the people there were poilice - only about 40 demonstraters. Barel conveniently lumps the numbers together to make an impression. Misguided indeed, and trying to misguide readers.

To equate Israel with apartheid displays a profound ignorance of the horror that was South Africa. In South Africa, apartheid was enshrined in its constitution and supported by its legal system. Under apartheid, people were legally classified into racial groups and forcibly separated from each other. A wide range of laws ensured racially based discrimination, including the prohibition of Blacks from voting, using Whites-only schools and hospitals, or even mixing with Whites in public places. Apartheid South Africa was also ruled by a Whites only minority government. The State of Israel has nothing in common with apartheid. In Israel, all citizens have equal rights, regardless of their gender, religion or ethnic origin. This is clearly spelled out in the Israeli Declaration of Independence. Israeli Arabs form political parties, compete in free and fair elections, and are represented in the legislature, executive and judiciary, all the way to the Supreme Court. They can be found in every Israeli university as professors and students and in every Israeli hspital as physicians and patients. Arabic is an official language in Israel. Of course nobody can deny that there is discrimination in Israel against its Arab citizens. Knowing Israel's history, this unfortunate fact is easily understandable. Many in Israel strive to abolish that discrimination and progress is being made. But such discrimination is found in many countries. From England (ask the Muslim Council of Britain) to France, and from Italy and Belgium to the Scandinavian countries. But Bar'el would never find any parallels between those countries and apartheid South Africa. By using the highly charged term "apartheid" with all its negative connotations, Bar'el helps the campaign of delegitimization of Israel.

The bottomline is that there is still a severe lack of trust on both sides. After 50 years, the bottom fell out of apartheid, not only because the world could not stand it anymore, but because trust had overcome mistrust. We have to aknowlegde that trust is thé uppermost condition for any kind of sollution to whatever the two parties want to accomplish. Although it takes time to heal wounds, in the meantime, everything should be done to gain eachothers trust éven when contradictory acts, like this needlessly damaging legislation, take place.

There are really no similarities. You are fighting for people that want Israel thrown into the sea. The Pals have never even recognized Israel's right as a Jewish state...because there has never been any belief in a long-term 2 state solution from the Arab world.

He is at the head of the 5th column. Shame on Jews of this kind.

sunni butchering shia and vice versa......jews not being able to live in arab world ? christians fleeing arabia ?

Because that would be a true reflection of the nature of zionism

That this kind of perversion of democratic principles could have ever been voted for in the Knesset is an indication that it is high time for a change in the composition of the members of Knesset! We need to wake up and take action by not v...oting for candidates who try to subvert a democratic state into one of fascism, bigotry and discrimination! The founders of the State of Israel would turn over in their graves could they behold the direction the country is headed for at the moment!

Too bad there's no law for that one . . .

Of course they lost. And to this day call for the destruction and removal of all Jews from the land of Israel. Sure there is Apartheid casued by Arabs and us Jews having to reinforce it to protect our lives. But simply put, Israel is my home and in my house if you refuse to follow the rules GET OUT. We are a law abiding country with rules. Once of which is we want to live. So we do not allow the Murderers in to apease these leftist propagandaists.

The US has religiously exclusive communities. South Africa today has small racially exclusive communities. Such as Oranje which Nelson Mandela visited and met there with the widow of Prime Minister Vervoed an Apartheid ideologue. Israel already has exclusive communities, buildings, suburbs that exclude secular Jews or Jews who have not served in the Army. Let small communities exist who want to be exclusive based on certain values, religious or other as long as they are not specifically excluding people based on race or other physical criteria.. Let them live in isolation as long as there is no discrimination in the places where well over 90% of the population live.

Apartheid was the legal situation in the south, and the real situation in the North. Most folks in the North thought they were not racists, and most folks in the south had close relationships with some blacks. The folks in the north thought they were not racists because they seldom encountered Negros. They lived apart, socialized apart, and often even worked apart. Unlike the South, that distance was by mutual action and choice. In the south the law stepped in to separate the races which were often quite mixed in reality. Israel is on the verge of moving from de facto apartheid to de jure apartheid. The course set by Liberman and Shas is clear. Even Netanyahu is opposing members of his party who have a more inclusive view of Israeli society.

Dear Mr Perplexed, i understand where you are coming from, but believe me nobody is telling me lies,this beautiful country,with many beautiful people seems always to be shooting itself in the foot, and also, i want us to be a Light Under Nations,but we have to help ourselves and not keep shooting ourselves, just because i am not Jewish does not mean i am a hostile gentile, sounds simplistic? i think not,thanks for the attention.

A thank you not and a note of appreciation. It is only people who think your way who will bring Peace to this nation. It extremely hard for the Palestinian Leadership to justify fighting extremism when the Israeli government is continuing to act as extremists itself. Will we ever have peace when this kind of act is put in place. This shows hate and only hate and serves the extremists on both sides. Give the Palestinians whether inside of Israel on the accupied land a window of opportunity and Israel will get the security it requires. The Palestinians want to only feel identity and dignity and live like any other nation in Peace. There are extremists but they do not represent the majority. What is feeding extremism is the State of Israel's action.

This one is already strictly implemented in Israel, from day one of its existence. There is nothing more characteristic about Israeli reality as it is not related to Israeli- Arab conflict - just pure xenophobia. Of course it is not racial segregation but ethnic and religious - but what's a difference?

I thought Barel was going to write about Palestine, where no Jews are allowed to live and where there are laws banning Jews from owning land and the death penalty for any Arab who sells land to a Jew. Any Jews in Ramallah? Nablus? Jenin? Of course not. Apartheid appears to have been invented for the Palestinians.

An analyst cannot compare South African segregation called aparthied to Israel and the Palestinians. Israel is all about Judaism and Islam and the Temple Mount. South African white Europeans and the natives was totally different and had a short term solution such as freeing the African blacks as in the U.S. They are not even similar. As soon as I see the word aparteid in the article I stop reading it immediately because it is a sure sign that the writer has no clue about the conflict between the Israeli Jews and the Palestinian Muslims.

They threw out all their palestinians. Will Israel be called worse than now by Barel&Co if she follows example ?

On what grounds the extreme left is justifying its own existence in Israel? Its easy to criticize one's country, its also allowed on a practical basis, to do so while enjoying the "fruits of Israeli usurpation of Palestinians - as the left-wing sees it". But on a moral basis, left-wing Jews living here should at least provide their own justification for living in Israel.

,when some went there to avoid Katyushas. They were being charged several times the amount at every place they went and their wives and daughters were being constantly harassed at streets . Does it happen in Israel ,Barel ?

I guess some victims are more equal than others

Israel is an apartheid regime like South Africa, and it will necessarily have the same solution to its conflict as South Africa. Soon all Palestinians within and without the Green Line will have to be granted Israeli citizenship and equal rights, and will vote the racist colonialists out of power. Democracy is the only solution for Israel.

my arabs friends have told me that if i wanted to rent an apartment in their town and someone (had the nerve and) agreed to rent me a place, that my car would be burned and my house ransacked. yes, my friends told me this. friends!

Has Barel ever contemplated of leaving his column to an Israeli Arab ?

What's good for the goose is good for the gander. Why not let all of the progressive liberal neighborhoods and cities set an example and invite Arab residents into their midst. Then we can start talking about the rest of us...

Frightening article, but so very true.How did The Light Under Nations beccome so lost??

why not just call it fascism and ethnic cleansing...which is what it is anyway? As for your NOT naming the historical analogy, of whose beginnings it is MOST closely modeled after, your choice of SA apartheid is nevertheless far more palatable and politically correct.

Nice article. If only our Mks think the same way

Pretty sad how desperate and demonative haaretz is getting? They seemed to have adopted the double standard as their modus operandi. As atrocious as the neo Nazi march is was an illustration of democracy and free speech, not Apartheid and facism, just like th march in Um el Faham. Quite telling when haaretz can't tell the difference.

... between Israel and South Africa. In Israel, the oppressor is the majority. In South Africa, apartheid had no option but to fall, because the minority could not hold power forever against the majority. In Israel, however, apartheid has a long and glorious future ahead of it ......

There are apparently close ties between Israeli racists and those in other countries, including South Africa. A sort of Racist International is about to be formed, with right-wing members of the European Parliament leading the way and admiring Israel.