A UN commission announced Thursday that it will investigate the allegation that Israel is an “apartheid state,” eliciting strong rebuke from pro-Israel organizations.
“We’re focusing on the root cause, which is the occupation, and part of it lies in apartheid,” said Navi Pillay, a member of the United Nations’ Commission of Inquiry on Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza (COI). “We will be coming to that. That’s the beauty of this open-ended mandate. It gives us the scope.”
Commissioner Miloon Kothari, who in July made comments about the undue influence of a so-called “Jewish lobby” on the media, said the COI would “have to look at issues of settler colonialism.”
“Apartheid itself is a very useful paradigm, so we have a slightly different approach, but we will definitely get to it,” he added.
