LOS ANGELES — “This beach is for the use of white person’s only” read a notice near Cape Town, South Africa in 1974, a painful relic of the once-apartheid state. Today, the BDS Movement accuses the State of Israel of the same segregation and minority oppression as apartheid South Africa. In PragerU’s newest video, “Does Israel Discriminate Against Arabs?” PragerU contributor Olga Meshoe, founder of DEISI (Defend, Embrace, Invest, Support Israel), refutes these claims as well as Israel’s alleged “racist” policies.

The BDS movement is a global effort to boycott, divest and sanction Israel until the nation ends its alleged “racist” policies. By comparing Israel to South Africa apartheid, the BDS Movement has convinced their supporters Israel is racist and oppressive, but according to Meshoe, the comparison is unfounded.

Meshoe speaks from personal experience. She grew up in South Africa and both of her parents and grandparents experienced separation “from whites at every level, from education to drinking fountains.” Meshoe recounts one story of her grandfather being publicly humiliated by a young white boy, only able to respond with, “Please stop little boss.” Overt racism, as Meshoe knows firsthand, was the reality of apartheid-era South Africa.

In Israel, by contrast, the laws are color blind. Both Arabs and Israeli Jews have the same rights. “They ride the same buses, study in the same schools, and are treated in the same hospitals,” says Meshoe. “Arabs are elected to Israel’s parliament, serve as judges, and fight in the Israeli military.” In short, Israeli citizens who happen to be Arab, experience freedom in a way blacks in South Africans never did.

Even still, the BDS movement continues to grow. According to Meshoe, leaders of BDS use lies as ammunition against Israel,  preying on the ignorance of their audiences, particularly college students. Meshoe contends that many good people are being tricked into unintentionally opposing the only country in the entire Middle East that treats minorities with equality.

Omar Barghouti, founder of The BDS Movement, is on record stating, “We oppose a Jewish state in any part of Palestine….Ending the occupation doesn’t mean anything if it doesn’t mean upending the Jewish state itself.” This statement is a direct contradiction to their stated goal of Palestinians and Israelis living peacefully side by side.

Ironically, Barghouti is a PhD student at Israel’s Tel Aviv University, where he enjoys the same rights as every Israeli citizen.

“Is Israel a perfect country? No. There are as many perfect countries as there are perfect people,” concludes Meshoe. “But to call it an apartheid state is not only an insult to the only democracy in the Middle East and the only country with equal rights for all its minorities. It’s also an insult to the actual victims of apartheid, like my parents and all those who suffered under it.”

MEDIA NOTE: PragerU contributor, Olga Meshoe, is available for interview as is PragerU’s Founder, Dennis Prager and CEO, Marissa Streit. Contact: MediaInquiries@theKcompany.co

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PragerU, founded by Dennis Prager in 2011, is a not-for-profit organization that helps millions understand the values that shaped America and provides millions of Americans and people around the world with the intellectual ammunition they need to advocate for limited government, individual responsibility and economic freedom. In 2016 alone, PragerU’s videos received over 250 million views, a figure that will eclipse 350 million in 2017. PragerU is a resource for all who value liberty. It is a threat to all those who do not. 

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