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MSNBC host Ali Velshi declared that Israel's treatment of Palestinians is "apartheid."
"Let's make one thing clear: Israel has a right to exist and to defend itself. That is an indisputable fact. But so do Palestinians, and that’s a fact that’s often ignored," Velshi began a monologue on his Saturday program. "Palestinians are at best third class citizens in the nation of their birth. The idea that it is even remotely controversial to call what Israel has imposed on Palestinians a form of apartheid is laughable. One look at a current map of Israel, Gaza and the occupied territories conjures up only one other example, apartheid-era South Africa."
"The Israeli government, on an ongoing basis, declares parcels of land on which Palestinians live to be either military of archeology importance causing residents to be evicted. Sometimes there’s a court case and almost always Palestinians lose. Months or weeks later that important land becomes home to a brand-new Israeli settlement," Velshi explained. "As more and more Jewish settlers take over land on which Arabs live, the occupied West Bank becomes de facto more Israeli and more Jewish. This is a long-standing attempt and deliberate attempt to force Arabs that have lived in that land, sometimes for hundreds of years, out. It is an attempt to dilute their presence because to have Arabs as full participants is in the opinion of the Israeli government and their courts diluting Israel."
Velshi bashed the US government for not helping Palestinians and defending their right to "defend themselves". He also cast doubt in the assertion that Hamas is a terrorist organization, saying its "supported by the majority of Palestinians" and while it "may not be in the best long-term interests of Gaza," the host strongly suggested it is Israel's fault for putting the group in the position it is in.
"Israel needs a new approach to the Palestinians and America needs a new approach to Israel," Velshi said. "After more than seven decades of not just being deprived of land from which they were evicted, Palestinian frustration runs deep. It may be worth going deeper than what you may hear inside your bubble and understanding the depth to which the Palestinian people are subject to apartheid in their own land, deprived of basic necessities and subject to relentless civil rights violations. This is not a secret. It is out there for you to see. You just have to look for it."
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The MSNBC host doubled down on this condemnation of Israel in an opinion piece published on Monday, simply summarizing that "Israel's treatment of Palestinians is apartheid. Period."
"There is currently no existential threat to the state of Israel," Velshi declared. "Under international law, Israel has a right to exist and defend itself, especially from external threats. But Palestinians have no state to protect their right to exist, a fact that seems to get missed when tensions flare."
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