Ironically, much of the case Human Rights Watch lays out draws on the work of watchdog groups based in Israel, making the precise efforts toward reform that the report leaves no room to acknowledge. None of those groups — more than 40 in all — would have been able to function under a true apartheid regime. As I saw happen to the activists I knew in South Africa, under apartheid, those groups’ staff would instead be doing time behind bars without the benefit of a trial.
AuthorHirsh Goodman
Hirsch Goodman is a Senior Research Associate at the Jaffe Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University, where he directs the Bronfman Program on Information Strategy. Prior to joining the Jaffee Center in August 2000, Goodman was the Vice President of the Jerusalem Post. In 1990 he founded the Jerusalem Report and served as its Editor-in-Chief for eight years.