How is Israel s Zionism different than South Africa s former Apartheid besides the different races of course ?
It is not. It is actually worse.
Between 1990 and 1994, South African President Frederik Willem de Klerk ceased the prohibition of African liberation movements, released Nelson Mandela from imprisonment, engaged in negotiations with him, and initiated a series of reforms to deconstruct the apartheid system.
Published in December 1995, the Truth Commission report detailed the response to the significant reforms, highlighting the intensification of far-right militia activities and the emergence of the "Third Force"—"anonymous" elements not officially affiliated with either the regime or its opponents in the liberation movements.
The "Third Force" instigated political violence and instability in South Africa prior to the April 1994 general elections, aiming to undermine the nation's transition to democracy.
The clandestine organization coordinated violent incitement, indiscriminate killings, assaults on public transport passengers that resulted in hundreds of deaths, killings of pro-democracy advocates, and extensive massacres.
The report found insufficient evidence directly linking the "Third Force" to the upper echelons of the regime or demonstrating that the group was part of a covert policy of the de Klerk administration.
Nonetheless, it revealed that current and former security force members, including high-ranking officials, were affiliated with the group, which the de Klerk administration failed to dismantle effectively.
In the Seven Day War, occurring from 25 to 31 March 1990 in the Pietermaritzburg area, thousands of armed members of the Bantustan KwaZulu militia, along with white far-right extremists, invaded the properties of individuals linked to the African National Congress (ANC) and other liberation movements, killing about 200 people, destroying 3,000 houses, and displacing 20,000 civilians who were forced to flee their homes.
The majority of the victims were women, children, the sick, and the elderly who were unable to flee swiftly.
The Truth Commission uncovered evidence indicating that police officers and soldiers assisted the attackers by providing weapons and intelligence, and actively participated in the crimes, including transporting the assailants, standing by throughout the assaults, and engaging in the attacks themselves.
Pretoria deployed covert operatives into these groups, where the legal parameters of their activities were exceedingly ambiguous, and they actively engaged in the militias' armed operations. The Afrikaner Resistance Movement (AWB), the principal armed far-right organization, asserted that between 40 to 60 percent of the soldiers and police personnel were supporters of the far-right militias.
Until the mid-1980s, these far-right groups engaged in sporadic and uncoordinated violent actions.
Following de Klerk's announcement of political reforms in early 1990, the violent actions of extreme right groups intensified and became more organized. It encompassed the intentional assassination of anti-apartheid activists, indiscriminate slaughter and shootings, random attacks on Africans, and the extensive use of explosives.
Similar to the South African far-right, the Israeli far-right has also resorted to violent assaults involving multiple participants. In prior decades, Israeli far-right groups primarily functioned secretly and inside covert cells. In instances of public attacks, the assailants were typically masked.
When authorities recognized and apprehended the extremists, they claimed to be victims of political persecution. This was the case for the "Jewish underground," which perpetrated acts of terrorism during the 1970s and 1980s.
The same applies to what the Shabak referred to as the "rebellion organization," which produced the individuals responsible for the terrorist attack against the Dawabsha family, as well as the group that abducted, tortured, and murdered the Palestinian boy, Mohammed Abu Khdeir.
In the context of Netanyahu's far-right administration, far-right activists have ceased to conceal their activities from the onset of 2023.
In February 2023, around 400 far-right extremists engaged in a pogrom in Huwwara, during which they spent hours burning dozens of houses, flats, poultry coops, shops, and hundreds of vehicles.
In June 2023, around 150 far-right activists arrived in the village of Orif and hurled stones at Palestinians; around 100 activists perpetrated a pogrom in the village of Luban Ash-Sharqiya, vandalizing and setting fire to dozens of businesses, vehicles, and homes; and roughly 200 activists executed a pogrom in the village of Turmus Ayya, which involved the burning of numerous homes and cars.
The Israeli far-right activists no longer have a reason to operate underground. The pogroms were openly orchestrated on social media platforms and WhatsApp groups with the involvement or awareness of government officials and their coalition members in the Knesset, as well as their aides.
The physical advance of hundreds of activists into the Palestinian villages and their entry to them was promptly recognized and reported by Israeli media, Palestinian inhabitants, and human rights organizations. Even without their reports, the area is monitored by military and police surveillance cameras. Despite all of this, the pogroms persisted for extended durations, occasionally spanning several hours.
Similar to South Africa, Israeli police and soldiers stood by and permitted far-right extremists to carry out the pogroms unimpeded. The Israeli military shamelessly issued a statement asserting that Israeli riots were obstructing its counter-terrorism efforts, implying that the right-wing activists are not terrorists and that the pogroms do not constitute acts of terrorism.
Among the police officers, soldiers, and officers, there are likely individuals residing in illegal settlements on Palestinian lands or aligning with far-right ideologies. The presence of far-right activists using military-grade weaponry during the pogroms indicates that they are part of the settlements' local security forces.
Similar to South Africa, it's likely that the military and police in Israel provided significant assistance to far-right groups in carrying out their schemes.
It is also misleading to characterize the pogroms as acts of retribution. The attacks on Israeli settlers are only an excuse for choosing the date of the pogroms; however, they do not constitute the underlying motivation. These events are, in truth, celebrations of Israeli apartheid and Jewish supremacy.
The pogroms represent a natural progression in the evolution of Israeli apartheid, as government officials and coalition members are avowed supporters of the far-right Rabbi Meir Kahane, inciting the perpetration of war crimes and ethnic cleansing against the indigenous Palestinian population on both sides of the Green Line.
The pogroms are not a means but the goal itself.