Benjamin Pogrund, a former South African journalist who was jailed for his writings on apartheid, condemned labeling Israel as "the new Apartheid" in the first event sponsored by the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies Wednesday afternoon. Around 65 students and members of the public attended the event, "Is Israel the New Apartheid State?" held in Golding 110.

Pogrund, the founding director of the Yakar Center for Social Concern in Jerusalem, emphasized the difference between his experience growing up in Apartheid South Africa, the system of government-sponsored racial segregation, and the experience of Arabs and Palestinians under Israeli control. While minorities in Israel are oppressed, he said, the system under which they live doesn't resemble Apartheid and any comparison between the two is offensive.

"Anyone who knows South Africa would laugh if you said Israel is an Apartheid state," Pogrund said.

The motive for making this comparison, he said, is to delegitimize Israel.

While Pogrund criticized Israel for its control in the West Bank and its discriminatory policies toward Arab citizens, ultimately, he said the two societies are incompatible.

"The vote is there. The vote means power and they have the ability to apply it," he said of Arabs in Israel. During Apartheid South Africa, Pogrund said blacks weren't citizens and couldn't vote.

While it has evolved over time, the definition of Apartheid, always denotes white supremacy and racial segregation, he said. In Israel, Jews and Arabs both range in skin color and the comparison is misunderstood, he said.

"To compare Israel to pre-1994 South Africa is simply not valid," Pogrund said. "Apartheid relates to the color of your skin, a means of separating race by a physical contrast. End of story."

The United Nations convened an anti-racism conference in 2001, adopting a resolution denouncing Israel as an Apartheid state and calling on nations to adopt an international policy of isolation toward Israel. Pogrund criticized the United Nations for cheapening the experience of Apartheid by applying it erroneously.

"It's just not a valid comparison," he said. "Not remotely."

Reflecting on a personal health scare four years ago, Pogrund, who has lived in Israel since 1997, said his time staying in a Mount Scopus hospital encapsulates the difference between Israeli society and South African Apartheid.

"When I first came to the hospital, I noticed that my doctor was an Arab, the nurse was a Jew, the secretary was an Asian; basically, every person of status was of a different race. And that my friends, is not Apartheid," Pogrund said.

Between the West Bank and Israel proper, he made it clear that checkpoints serve as a security measure rather than a means solely to discriminate against Arabs.

"The occupation is brutalizing and corrupting both Palestinians and Israelis," he said, but it's up to the majority to decide how it will treat the minority. Israel isn't unique in this case, he said.

Following the lecture, Prof. Ilan Troen (NEJS), the director of the Israel Studies Center, opened the floor for questions.

Lisa Hanania '11, who identified herself as a Palestinian who lives in Israel, said she experienced discrimination when she was unfairly detained by Israeli police officers when her identification card used to say "Arab." She challenged Pogrund's assertion that Israel's security measures are warranted and that the state's treatment of minorities is improving.

Pogrund resonded, saying, "It's wrong. It's changing." Pointing to improvements in the field of health, he cited Arab infant mortality rates and life expectancy as examples of ways the Israeli government has increased Arabs' standard of living.

As a journalist for the Rand Daily Mail in Johannesburg, Pogrund wrote about the experience of black South Africa. After being imprisoned for his writing, Pogrund left South Africa for London where he worked for several papers.

Pogrund is working on a book that argues against likening Israel to an Apartheid state.