> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.theologic.ca/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Where is the actual apartheid? - URL: https://www.theologic.ca/where-is-the-actual-apartheid/ - Published: 2026-11-05T16:07:09.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-05T16:08:24.000Z - Author: Andrew Love - Tags: apartheid, World Council of Churches There is a growing body of public statements from the mainline Christian world that attaches the label apartheid to the State of Israel. Apartheid was a legally enforced system of racial segregation, discrimination, and political domination established in South Africa by the white-minority National Party government in 1948 and dismantled through reforms culminating in the country's first fully democratic national elections in 1994\. Under this system, Black South Africans were excluded from voting and elections. Presumably, if Israel is an apartheid state, mainline Christians believe that some class of Israeli citizens (Arabs) must be denied the right to vote or, by some leap of logic, Arabs in the West Bank (who are not Israeli citizens) are being denied the right to vote by Israel. Once again, the basic facts get in the way of liberal Protestant bias. The election in Israel has happened. The results are in. Their system of proportional representation is complicated and the formation of a new government still very much in process. It may require another election. However, this stands in mark contrast to the “[postponement](https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-913534?ref=theologic.ca)”, again, of the election of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. Arab Israeli citizens turned out in record numbers and elected [19 representatives](https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog%5Fentry/central-elections-committee-publishes-final-election-results-knesset-to-be-sworn-in-nov-10/?ref=theologic.ca) from Arab-led parties to sit in the Knesset. At the time of writing this blog, Arab-led parties now hold the balance of power as no single political alliance achieved an outright majority. The 2026 Israeli Knesset election results demonstrate near-proportional representation for Arab-led parties to the population percentage of Arab Israeli citizens (*Knesset positions account for 15.83 percent of the legislature, aligning very closely with the 16.3 percent share of Israel's population held by Arab citizens*). Yet, Arabs (not Israeli citizens) living on the other side of the security wall can still only dream of the opportunity to decide on the future of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and its control of Area A including Ramallah, Hebron, Nablus, Jericho, Jenin and other cities. An Arab Christian living in Beit Sahour is denied the right to vote but his Christian brethren in Israel are voting en mass. The PA Basic Law states that elections are supposed to happen every four years but the last legislative election was in [January 2006](https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/palestinian-elections-and-need-political-change?ref=theologic.ca#main-content) following Israel's total withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005\. That led to a bloody civil war between Fatah (PA) and Hamas for control of the Gaza Strip. So the obvious question is what side of the security wall is closer to the actual definition of apartheid? And, why do the largest mainline Christian denominations still label Israel an apartheid state? Ironically, the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches [issued a Statement](https://www.oikoumene.org/resources/documents/statement-on-palestine-and-israel-a-call-to-end-apartheid-occupation-and-impunity-in-palestine-and-israel?ref=theologic.ca) in June 2025 from Johannesburg, South Africa including, “We recognize and denounce the system of apartheid imposed by Israel on the Palestinian people, in violation of international law and moral conscience.” This was preceeded by [endorsements](https://apartheid-free.org/churches/?ref=theologic.ca) from United Church of Canada, United Church of Christ, United Methodists for Kairos, and the Disciples of Christ endorsing the Apartheid Free Communities movement. Most of the attacks focus on Israeli government policies and practices in disputed Palestinian territory which are then used to justify the label of Israel as an apartheid state. Israel is often blamed by the PA as forcing the postponement of elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip because Israel is accused of interfering or launching wars and security crackdowns. Just to be clear, Israel did not start the most recent Gaza War nor did recent tensions in the West Bank make it impossible for the PA to hold elections. Yet, no major mainline Christian denomination seems to understand that, under the Oslo Accords, elections in the West Bank are the PA responsibility. Rather than attacking Israel, why don’t mainline Christians offer to send volunteers as election observers? The WCC continues to [send hundreds of volunteers ](https://www.oikoumene.org/what-we-do/eappi?ref=theologic.ca)every year to the West Bank to to scrutinize and report on bad things that Israel security does. Why not turn them into election helpers? Why don’t Arab Christian leaders in the West Bank demand more election accountability from the PA? At least be consistent. I remember being part of church-based efforts to dismantle South Africa’s Apartheid State. Why don’t mainline churches today undertake similar advocacy efforts to dismantle corruption and authoritarianism in the PA and the violence, murder and extremism of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah?