Palestinian Attorney Noura Erakat: The U.S. Is Normalizing Apartheid by Hosting Israel’s President

This is an important interview. The longstanding normalization, collusion, and support of apartheid by our government and the Israeli government is abhorrent to me. It is absolutely insane, barbaric, and pure heartless madness. I am sickened by Biden's hosting of this sociopath. There is no justification for this. None. — Molly

As President Biden meets with Israeli President Isaac Herzog at the White House today, several progressive Democrats have announced plans to boycott Herzog’s address to a joint session of Congress. This comes after Biden invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit the United States this year despite recently criticizing the makeup of Netanyahu’s far-right Cabinet as “one of the most extremist” he has seen. The visits from Israeli leadership are an attempt to “normalize apartheid,” says Palestinian human rights attorney Noura Erakat, who compares today’s U.S. support of Israel to the nation’s support for South African apartheid. “The United States is complicit and a pillar of Israeli apartheid in its provision of unequivocal financial, diplomatic and military support.” Erakat also applauds the efforts of activists and politicians who have shifted Democrats’ sympathies more toward Palestine than Israel, according to a recent Gallup poll.

NOURA ERAKAT: "So, let’s just begin by setting up the context, that this is 2023, in the aftermath of the legacy human rights organizations, Israeli human rights organizations, U.N. committees, U.N. agencies, as well as multiple scholars and independent investigations have all concluded that Israel oversees an apartheid regime. This is also in a context where, since the collapse of the peace process in 2000, Israel has made clear that there will be no Palestinian state, there will be no such thing as binationalism, that they will catalyze and enhance their takeover of Palestinian lands and their removal. They have shifted from occupation to warfare."

Please go here for the original interview and transcript: https://www.democracynow.org/2023/7/18/israel_palestine