Israel should not be preserved as a Jewish state, the Amnesty International US Director Paul O’Brien said on Wednesday, according to US-based outlet The Jewish Insider.
Speaking on Wednesday to a Women’s National Democratic Club audience, O’Brien reportedly said that “the right of the people to self-determination” should be protected, but that the international human rights organization opposes the idea “that Israel should be preserved as a state for in which one race is legally entitled to oppress another”.
The American executive director’s remarks follow a recent AI report that accused Israel of apartheid towards Palestinians.
The authors of the report, heavily criticized by both Israeli and US officials, said that “Israel must dismantle this cruel system and the international community must pressure it to do so.”
Commenting on the document, O’Brien said that its main purpose was to “collectively change the conversation” on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In his opinion, what is needed is a “safe Jewish space” rather than a “Jewish state.”
