Brussels, February 2nd, 2022 – Amnesty International has accused Israel of apartheid policies in a new report which was presented for international media on Tuesday. The report has been widely criticized by Jewish organizations across the line whereas Israel’s enemies have welcomed the report.

In a short statement on Wednesday, ECI Founding Director Tomas Sandell said: “Less than one week after the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Amnesty International has the audacity to brand the only true democracy in the Middle East and the only Jewish state in the world a racist state. Make no mistake, this is a well-coordinated effort among the sworn enemies of Israel and the Jewish people to try to weaken and demonize the Jewish state.”

“The report is being issued just a few days ahead of an important vote in the African Union where Israel’s observer status will be put into question. The African nations, led by South Africa, who are opposing Israel´s observer status are trying to prove that Israel is a rogue state which does not qualify for membership in the AU. The Amnesty report is a timely and well-coordinated effort to try to substantiate those slanderous accusations. This is nothing new. There is a direct link between the old Soviet time lie from 1975 that ‘Zionism is racism’ and the accusations which were recycled in the UN World Conference Against Racism in Durban in 2001 where Amnesty International played a key role in the international campaign to demonize and isolate Israel. Twenty years later they want to reintroduce these same old lies. They will not succeed. Just as the 20th anniversary of the Durban conference last September was boycotted by close to forty nations due to its antisemitic nature also this slanderous report needs to be dismissed for the same reasons,” Sandell concluded.