Bernie Sanders: Progressives Should 'Tone Down' Calling Israel An 'Apartheid' State

[Beastly Boy]

16. It's remarkable how widespread the misuse of the term "apartheid" has beome.

By definition, apartheid is a policy of legally, physically and socially separating different groups of residents of a state or territory on the basis of differences in appearance or genetics, but not on ethnic or religious grounds. One only has to look at a Palestinian and a Jew side by side, or compare their respective DNA, to see how ill-fitting the application of the term is with respect to Israel's Jews and Palestinians. There is virtually no difference between them on these grounds. Considering how far the definition of the term is removed from the reality of how the term is being applied towards Israel (and there can be no mistake that it is being applied to the State of Israel rather than any definable elements in Israeli government or society), it is easy to conclude that "apartheid" is being widely used as a derogatory term in Israel's case. Commonly, it is being used in anger and not, for obvious reasons partly stated above, as part of a rational argument.