Israel is not an apartheid state. That this charge is even being leveled in the just-released Amnesty International report feels like we've crossed into an Orwellian universe. Israeli Arabs (comprising 21% of the population) attend the most elite local colleges and universities, have complete freedom of press, equal access to the courts, freely participate in elections, and have multiple Arab members of Knesset — including a cabinet minister in the current ruling government coalition.

Indeed, the report — which makes no distinction between Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank — hearkens back to the odious "Zionism is racism" ideology and is at its core an attack on Israel's fundamental right to exist as a Jewish state.

We live in surreal times, when Israel has begun to gain legitimacy in parts of the Arab world that once seemed completely out of reach, while at the same time being delegitimized and demonized by Amnesty International under the guise of human rights violations. Even more surreal, the human rights argument is being weaponized by Amnesty International to undermine the very values it purports to hold dear, the same values that are fully embraced by Israel — pluralism, religious tolerance, sexual equality, and anti-authoritarianism.

Israel is hardly perfect; no democracy is. Many within the Jewish community, both in Israel and outside, have fervently protested certain governmental practices, including policies in the West Bank. Criticism of government is completely acceptable with regard to Israel, as it is for other countries, including our own.

But the Amnesty International report is well beyond the pale.

Yesterday, in our role as community convener and educator, UJA hosted an online conversation with over 500 participants, featuring two experts from organizations that have materially differing perspectives on aspects of Israeli government policy. And while these experts may have some fundamental disagreements, they emphatically agreed on the importance of denouncing this report. It’s a critical lesson for all of us in coming days. With the stakes as high as they are, we can’t afford to shout over one another or level accusations at those within our own communities who may not share our position on this or that policy. Taking a page from Israel’s current government coalition, we need to come together across difference and unite to combat a far more pernicious threat.

And the threat is very real, as it’s widely understood that the report is not the endgame. Rather, it’s part of broader, very deliberate strategy to put pressure on Israel first in the court of public opinion, then with the upcoming open-ended UN Commission of Inquiry and at the International Criminal Court.

Thankfully, the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany have all come forward to repudiate the findings of the Amnesty International report. It’s critically important that the leadership of the United Nations hear our collective outrage and do the same.

As a simple first step, I ask you to join us in signing this letter addressed to the UN Secretary-General demanding that the United Nations stop holding Israel to a different standard and make clear that the Amnesty International report should not be used by the UN or its bodies to further attack the only Jewish state.

This report represents a dramatic escalation in normalizing the demonization of Israel and its basic right to exist. Whatever one’s opinion about the right way forward in Israel, our community must come together across difference in addressing this dangerous challenge.

Shabbat shalom