According to The New York Times, The Guardian, and even the Forward, California governor Gavin Newsom “likened Israel to an apartheid state”. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency story, run by TOI, simply said that Newsom “agreed with claims that Israel is an ‘apartheid state’.” Well, no, he didn’t.

Here’s what Newsom said: “Bibi…is trying to stay out of jail. He’s got an election coming up. He’s potentially on the ropes. He’s got folks, the hardline, that want to annex the West Bank. I mean, Friedman and others are talking about it appropriate [sic] as sort of an apartheid state.” You can listen here.

Newsom is referring to Thomas Friedman’s New York Times column on February 17, where Friedman wrote:

I believe that this messianically driven endeavor [to ethnically cleanse parts of the West Bank controlled by Israel] will make today’s Israel permanently indistinguishable from........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)