The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories (B’Tselem) has labeled, for the first time, Israel as an “apartheid regime”, saying that Israeli policies, laws, and practices have been meant to promote Jewish supremacy.

“The distinction obfuscates the fact that the entire area between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River is organized under a single principle: advancing and cementing the supremacy of one group – Jews – over another – Palestinians,” B’Tselem said.

“A regime that uses laws, practices and organized violence to cement the supremacy of one group over another is an apartheid regime,” it added.

Moreover, it underscored that “these accumulated measures, their pervasiveness in legislation and political practice, and the public and judicial support they receive – all form the basis for our conclusion that the bar for labeling the Israeli regime as apartheid has been met.”

“The continued description of Israel as a democratic state that temporarily occupies millions of people on the other side is a description that has nothing to do with reality.”