Israel is an apartheid state

I try to avoid calling Israel an apartheid state because you get these smart people who love to point out that the beneficiaries of Israel's racist laws are the majority whereas in South Africa, where the expression "apartheid" was first coined, the victims were the majority. Still, see this from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency:

The Arab affairs editor for the Israeli newsaper Ha'aretz, Danny Rubenstein, told participants at a United Nations conference in Brussels Thursday that Israel is an apartheid state.

"Today Israel is an apartheid state with different status for different communities," Rubenstein said, according to observers at the event, which is being held at the Euroepan Parlaiment. Observers also quoted Rubenstein, a prominent columnist and member of the newsaper's editorial board, as saying: "Hamas won the election of the international community and Israel cannot ignore that."

Rubenstein was one of the few Israelis speaking among a sea of Palestinean activists at a United Nations conference entitled "International conference of Civil Society in support of Israeli-Palestine conflict."

The conference, say some attendees and Israel advocacy groups, is merely a smokescreen for anti-Israel rhetoric by the United Nations committee for Palestinean rights, which has a long history of attacking Israel and blaming all Palestinean woes on Israelis.

I don't understand why attendees would be quoting Rubenstein if he was there. And I don't understand the whingeing by Israel advocacy groups if they were they were there. Hmm.