Reality Check for ‘Apartheid Week’

Benjamin Pogrund, distinguished campaigner against South African Apartheid and now a citizen of Israel, was on hand this week to deliver a harsh dose of reality to the misguided and destructive campaigners taking part in the spuriously titled “Israel Apartheid Week.”

Mr Pogrund was deputy editor of the Rand Daily Mail in Johannesburg, a newspaper which fearlessly fought against oppression in South Africa in the sixties when few others would do so. His groundbreaking reporting of torture and police conduct was heralded by many as crucial in the regime’s downfall and won him the respect of many and the friendship of Nelson Mandela.

Mr. Pogrund has spoken to audiences at the Board of Deputies and the Student Jewish Medical Association as well at Universities up and down the country including Birmingham, Leeds, Oxford and Cambridge.

His message is simple. Israel is certainly not perfect, it has complex problems to resolve, but the accusation that it is an apartheid state is not only factually incorrect but also actively damages hopes of reaching a peaceful resolution. His fascinating and authoritative perspectives on both apartheid South Africa and the Middle east conflict have left audiences in no doubt that those who seek to delegitmise Israel with this terrible comparison do so most commonly from a position of ignorance about one or both of these intricate political and social conflicts.