Black Lives Matter says 'Israel is an apartheid state'

Movement for Black Lives document says US complicit in the genocide taking place against the Palestinian people

Israeli border policemen detain a Palestinian journalist during a protest near Israel's Ofer Prison near the West Bank city of Ramallah.
TRT World and Agencies

Israeli border policemen detain a Palestinian journalist during a protest near Israel's Ofer Prison near the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Israel's illegal settlement policy and its actions against the Palestinians have been likened to 'genocide' in a wide-ranging policy document issued by the Movement for Black Lives.

In the comprehensive document which addressed the federal policies of the United States, the Movement for Black Lives, a coalition of 50 organizations that also encompasses the Black Lives Matter network, called for invest/divest campaigns that would end military aid to Israel, which it termed an 'apartheid' state.

"Approximately 3 billion dollars in US aid is allocated to Israel, a state that practices systematic discrimination and has maintained a military occupation of Palestine for decades," the policy platform, released on Monday, said.

"The US justifies and advances the global war on terror via its alliance with Israel and is complicit in the genocide taking place against the Palestinian people," it added.

The policy document lists six demands, which the Movement for Black Lives said 'articulated' its vision.

The six core demands are built around criminal justice, reparations, investment and divestment, economic justice, community control, and political power.

Although the document, titled 'Vision for Black Lives', focuses largely on domestic policies in the US, the Movement for Black Lives said it had 'a shared struggle with all oppressed people'.

And the continuing US military aid to Israel was not only 'diverting funds from domestic education and social programs' but also made Washington complicit in the abuses committed by the Israeli government, it said.

"Israel is an apartheid state with over 50 laws on the books that sanction discrimination against the Palestinian people,"

"Palestinian homes and land are routinely bulldozed to make way for illegal Israeli settlements. Israeli soldiers also regularly arrest and detain Palestinians as young as 4 years old without due process."

The criticism of Israel's actions by the Movement for Black Lives comes just days after a United Nations special envoy on the Israel-Palestine conflict condemned the decision to build new settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Sections of the Movement of Black Lives document in which it criticises Israel were, however, termed a 'false narrative' by the US-based Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) on Wednesday.

"We are deeply dismayed by elements of this platform, specifically the co-opting and manipulation of a movement addressing concerns about racial disparities in criminal justice in the United States in order to advance a biased and false narrative about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict," a JCRC statement published by Telesur TV said.

Terming the platform a "profoundly disturbing development," JCRC announced it would "dissociate" itself from Black Lives Matter.

The list of 'demands' by the Movement of Black Lives are being viewed by many sections of the American press as an indication that the movement for justice for African Americans is building.

Their comprehensive document has been published at a time when protests demanding the end of police brutality against African Americans continue across the US.

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