Shared Future Lab Follow the work

A source-linked walkthrough · Shared Future Lab

Criticizing the
Government of Israel

Serious criticism should help people live better. It should identify the abuse, establish responsibility, and work toward a remedy.

Israelis are already investigating abuses, challenging their government, and organizing for change. The question for outside solidarity is whether it strengthens that work—and whether the same human-rights standard applies everywhere.

01 The critic’s record

A human-rights accusation.
Then the speaker’s own record.

Scroll through the criticism, then the people harmed under the speaker’s government. The record tells us about the speaker’s credibility; evidence must still determine whether the accusation is true.

UN General Assembly · September 2009

“How can it be possible that inhuman policies in Palestine…”

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, then president of Iran.

UN speech transcript ↗

Meanwhile, in Iran

4,000+ arrested

After the disputed June 2009 election, Iranian authorities arrested at least 4,000 people. Amnesty’s December report documented torture, rape and unfair trials in the crackdown on dissent.

Ahmadinejad’s human-rights accusation came as his own government suppressed people demanding political change.

Amnesty · December 2009 crackdown report ↗

Inauguration speech · July 2014

“…in Gaza through Israeli terrorism…”

Bashar al-Assad, then president of Syria.

Published transcript reproduction ↗

Assad’s detention system

112,414 still missing

SNHR reported this number of people still forcibly disappeared by the Assad regime in December 2024, after detention centers opened. Its August database had listed 136,614 detained or disappeared.

The UN inquiry documented extermination, murder, torture, rape and enforced disappearance.

SNHR · December 2024 ↗UN Commission of Inquiry ↗

Kremlin meeting · October 2023

“There is no justification for the terrible events taking place in Gaza now…”

Vladimir Putin, president of Russia.

Kremlin transcript ↗

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

3.7 million

People internally displaced in Ukraine, in UNHCR’s February 2026 account. Close to 5.9 million more were refugees abroad.

The UN inquiry found that torture committed by Russian authorities constituted crimes against humanity.

UNHCR · February 2026 ↗UN torture findings · 2024 ↗
02 Israeli voices and agency

Israelis are already doing the work of criticism and change.

Jewish and Arab citizens, former soldiers, and peace movements investigate abuses, challenge policy, and organize for a better future. Outside solidarity should strengthen the people doing that work.

Jewish–Arab organizing

Standing Together

A grassroots movement of Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel working for peace, equality and social justice, including an end to occupation and independence for both peoples.

Their mission and work ↗

Policy and settlements

Peace Now

Campaigns for a negotiated two-state agreement and documents settlement expansion through Settlement Watch.

Their mission and work ↗

Soldiers’ testimony

Breaking the Silence

Former soldiers bring testimony about military service in the occupied territories into Israeli public debate.

Their statement ↗

Listen to what these movements are trying to build. Support investigations, protection, accountability and political change that improve life for Palestinians and Israelis.

03 Settler violence

Settler violence: deaths and displacement.

Start with the specific harm attributed to settler attacks and related restrictions. Read the death and displacement figures separately, with their dates and attribution.

West Bank · attacks and access restrictions

5,800+

Palestinians displaced by settler attacks and related access restrictions, January 2023–20 April 2026.

OCHA · April 2026 ↗

West Bank · deaths during settler attacks

38 killed

January 2023–June 2025: 17 killed by settlers, 14 by Israeli forces, and 7 where attribution to forces or settlers was uncertain.

OCHA · June 2025 breakdown ↗

Communal violence · deaths

Chad

1,230+ killed

Farmer–herder conflict, 2021–mid-2024; more than 2,200 also injured. Crisis Group’s account offers a comparison for large-scale communal violence.

Crisis Group · August 2024 ↗

What the comparison asks

The documented settler-attributed death count is much smaller than this toll. That difference informs scale. It leaves the obligation to stop attacks, protect communities and prosecute perpetrators intact.

These are totals across stated periods, not annual rates.

Communal violence · displacement

Nigeria · farmer–herder violence

≈300,000 displaced

Farmer–herder violence displaced about 300,000 people from September 2017 through June 2018, according to Crisis Group. The report describes attacks on communities and people fleeing to relatives or displacement camps.

Crisis Group · July 2018 report ↗Read the full report ↗

West Bank · settler attacks and restrictions

5,800+ displaced

Palestinians displaced by settler attacks and related access restrictions, January 2023–20 April 2026. Nigeria’s reported total is far larger, over a shorter reporting period.

OCHA · April 2026 ↗

Both deaths and displacement from settler violence deserve serious attention. The communal-violence comparisons above show much larger documented harm elsewhere on both measures. Protection, return and restitution, and accountability remain the practical demands.

04 State-directed harm

If the claim is state sanction,
the comparison changes.

Violence by settlers, state assistance or protection for that violence, and a direct military operation involve different forms of responsibility. Evidence of state complicity belongs in the assessment. A claim about government policy must also be compared with other government campaigns.

Government action and armed campaigns · displacement

Pakistan → Afghanistan

1,080,312+

Afghans forcibly returned from Pakistan, October 2023–20 June 2025, according to Amnesty. This figure concerns forced returns; the broader UNHCR return series includes additional forms of return.

Amnesty · June 2025 ↗

Myanmar · Rohingya

740,000+

Rohingya fled the 2017 military clearance operations, according to the UN fact-finding mission’s 2019 account. It also reported thousands killed and a continuing threat of genocide.

UN fact-finding mission · 2019 ↗

Ukraine · Russia’s invasion

3.7 million

Internally displaced in Ukraine, February 2026. Close to 5.9 million were refugees abroad. These are separate population categories, after four years of full-scale war.

UNHCR · February 2026 ↗

State repression · killing protesters

State repression · detention and family separation

Xinjiang

≈1 million

Estimated Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims detained in political education camps, in Human Rights Watch’s 2018 report. This is a detention estimate, not a displacement count.

The UN’s 2022 assessment found serious violations and said arbitrary detention may constitute crimes against humanity.

HRW · 2018 estimate ↗OHCHR · 2022 assessment ↗

Tibet

≈1 million children

UN experts reported in February 2023 that around one million Tibetan children were affected by separation from families and assimilation through the residential school system.

This measures children affected by an assimilation policy, separately from detention and displacement.

UN experts · February 2023 ↗

Pakistan, Myanmar and Ukraine illustrate the scale of displacement caused by government policies and armed campaigns. Xinjiang and Tibet document detention and separation of children from their families. These are distinct harms, with distinct evidence of state responsibility.

05 The claim and the proposed remedy

Human rights cannot do the argumentative work for elimination.

Documenting an abuse establishes a demand for a remedy. A demand to end Israel’s sovereignty requires a separate argument. The same distinction should apply to Pakistan, Myanmar, China and Russia.

The global displacement context

117.8 million

People living in forced displacement worldwide at the end of 2025, according to UNHCR. This global total includes people displaced within their countries, refugees and other people needing international protection, and asylum-seekers. It records the worldwide population living in displacement, across conflicts and years.

UNHCR · Global Trends 2025 ↗

Displacement is a global human problem. Evaluate the cause, conduct and scale of each case, and pursue remedies that protect people and enable a future.

Syria · the scale of war and the country’s future

Whole-war death toll

≈656,000 killed

SOHR reported 656,493 deaths across the Syrian war, March 2011–March 2025. This total includes civilians and combatants, across parties to the conflict.

SOHR · March 2025 toll ↗

Estimated civilian deaths

306,887

The UN estimated civilians killed directly by the conflict, March 2011–March 2021. This is a separate estimate with a shorter reporting period.

OHCHR · June 2022 assessment ↗

Syria’s catastrophic toll makes the distinction concrete: demanding an end to a murderous regime and accountability for atrocities does not require ending Syria’s existence. Apply that same distinction when asking what should follow from Israeli government abuses.

  1. The defensible claim

    “Stop the abuse. Protect Palestinian rights.”

    An evidence-based demand for protection and change.

  2. The stronger proposition

    “Israel should cease to exist.”

    A different political endpoint, with consequences for millions of people.

  3. The retreat when challenged

    “I’m only asking for human rights.”

    If the elimination demand remains, this reply leaves it undefended.

This illustrates a motte-and-bailey: moving between a defensible claim and a stronger claim while treating them as interchangeable. The pattern requires evidence of that shift; a human-rights slogan alone does not establish it.

When far larger abuses elsewhere lead to demands for accountability rather than a country’s disappearance, why should criticism of Israel require a different endpoint?

06 Progressive Jewish voices worldwide

Criticism, solidarity and a future for both peoples.

These organizations pair criticism of Israeli policy with commitments to Israel’s future, Palestinian rights and peace. Read their statements in their own words.

United States

J Street

“We can and must distinguish between criticizing the policies of the government of Israel”

Its principles distinguish policy criticism from questioning Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish homeland, and support a democratic national home for Palestinians.

Mission and principles ↗

United Kingdom

Yachad

“only through a political resolution will Israel thrive and prosper – alongside a viable and independent Palestinian state.”

Yachad advocates ending occupation through a political resolution and mobilizes British Jews toward that goal.

Their statement ↗

Continental Europe

JCall

“Instead of them, no; alongside them, yes.”

On whether diaspora Jews can speak for Israelis, JCall argues for solidarity alongside them. It supports Israeli and Palestinian self-determination and challenges occupation.

Their questions and answers ↗

Australia

New Israel Fund Australia

“Israel as both the Jewish homeland and a democracy for all its citizens.”

NIF Australia supports Israeli civil society working for equality, democracy and inclusion.

Their statement and history ↗
07 The purpose of disagreement

Disagreement in pursuit of a better human future.

We stand with the people working for accountability, Palestinian freedom and Israeli self-determination. Our criticism should help them build institutions that protect life, dignity and a future for both peoples.

מַחֲלֹקֶת לְשֵׁם שָׁמַיִם

Machloket l’shem shamayim

Literally: “An argument for the sake of heaven.”

We argue to understand more clearly, reduce suffering, and improve how we live together. We seek progress in human life: greater dignity, freedom and safety, through changes that make people’s lives better.

The tradition of disagreement · Pirkei Avot 5:17 ↗