Israeli executive at Amnesty: Apartheid report problematic, lacks strong foundation

An Israeli executive at the Israeli branch of Amnesty International speaks out against the organization’s scathing report on the Jewish state, which deemed it an “apartheid” regime.

Tal Gur-Arye, resource development director at Amnesty, writes in a Facebook post that he is “not content with this report,” whose conclusions are “problematic, to say the least.”

“While there is undoubtfully an institutional system of discrimination against Palestinian citizens, the claim that this amounts to apartheid, does not enjoy a strong foundation in international law, academia, and civil society, yet alone the same claim made about Palestinians residing in other countries,” he says.

He says he attempted to influence the report and that his positions were heard but generally not accepted.

He adds: “My support to Amnesty International as a movement has not waivered, and I believe that the movement promotes global change in a direction that is right and just. Despite my strong disagreement with this specific report, I will continue my work in the organisation.”