PSintend0 said:
Its the direction thats most important. Saudi Arabia just gave women the right to drive cars, of course there are countles other things that they should also change, but at least they are changing for the better not for worse, which seems to be the case with Israel. Also Israel is often kind of paired with western countries and with that, one might expect more from Israel than from for example Iran. Turkey has now been also heavily critiqued for its actions that have taken it to the wrong direction, same goes for Poland and Russia. The fact that many seem to blindly defend Israel seemingly just because its the holy Jewish nation that god promised to jews or something, makes the opposition more aggrevated. |
This pretty much demonstrates the point. Saudi Arabia is without a doubt an apartheid state. If you are not a muslim, or rather not the right kind of muslim, your rights are severely restricted, you are typically unable to participate in in politics, if you are Jewish you cannot even enter the country, etc. The fact that they have made one concession to human rights does not change this fact.
Calling Israel the new face of apartheid is laughable when you compare the rights of Arabs in Israel (who face some discrimination but enjoy most of the benefits of citizenship) to non-muslims in the Middle East (in most countries they have practically no rights). In terms of human rights violations, Israel represents a very small part of the problem. A part worth noting, but a small part. They somehow draw the majority of international condemnation.
