Der südafrikanische Anti-Apartheid-Aktivist Tshediso Mangope glaubte der israelfeindlichen Propaganda, derzufolge der jüdische Staat die Palästinenser unterdrücke wie Südafrika einst die Schwarzen. Dann reiste er nach Israel – und begann umzudenken:
„First and foremost, my visit to the region confirmed for me that there is no meaningful comparison between the State of Israel and the former apartheid regime in South Africa. I grew up under apartheid. I saw my parents being humiliated under apartheid. The scars of apartheid still live with us to this day and are strongly embedded in the psychology of my people. Therefore, in considering what a just solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict involves, I reject both the analysis that Israel practices apartheid and the demand that Israel should be dismantled and replaced with a single state of Palestine.
It appears that those who compare the State of Israel to apartheid South Africa do not understand the fundamentals of apartheid, nor have they experienced it. Let me explain. (…)
Don’t get me wrong, there are many things that, in my view, Israel should have handled differently, but it is grotesque naiveté to reduce Israel to an apartheid state. The insistence of the Arab world on denying Jewish people, the indigenous people of Israel, the right to sovereign existence is a main reason this conflict has lasted for so long. (…)
Despite the fact that Jewish people have a legitimate claim to Jewish land, most Palestinians refuse to recognize Israel’s right to exist. They have essentially supported the call for the genocide of Jewish people – and, indeed, a single state between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River could only be achieved by killing and expelling the majority of Jews currently living there. (…)
The only way to protect Jewish people from all the hardships they have suffered the world over is to defend their inalienable right to self-determination.“
(Tshediso Magope: „I’m a South African Activist Who Used to Fight Against Israel – Until I Went There“)