Apartheid Deniers, to coin a phrase

This my friends is the ugly steel and concrete face of apartheid: the wall that divides Gaza from Israel. Its purpose is Israel's security. Its effect is Gaza's imprisonment. Along the wall are numerous gun towers; some are manned, others operate via motion detectors, opening fire on anything that moves. On the Israeli side is prosperity, on the Palestinian abject poverty.

Nothing gets in or out without Israel's permission: not food, not fuel to run the power grid, not building materials, not cloth, not toys. Unemployment is at 40%. Agriculture is at half the 2007 level. Despair is rampant.

Israel's mission abroad is to criminalize the term "Israeli apartheid", to equate it with hate speech, to deny that such apartheid exists. I wonder what you would you call a system where your home can be taken over by soldiers, or demolished by settlers with no compensation and no recourse? Where a walled highway runs through your land for Jews only? What would you call a system that subjects you to endless checkpoints, where you must present your papers or be turned back? Mandela called it apartheid. Desmond Tutu called it apartheid. They should know.

It's beyond inappropriate for Israel to be playing the victim card when it holds all the power. It is also completely inappropriate for Israel's PR machine to attempt to put a chill on free speech in countries such as this one, aided and abetted by Stephen Harper and his merry band of religious fanatics. Apartheid deniers are every bit as heinous as holocaust deniers, both seeking to deny and cover up human rights abuse. It's time we started calling them what they are.
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