Israel accused of apartheid by Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch has accused the Israeli government of committing crimes of apartheid and persecution against Palestinians in a new report Tuesday, eliciting an angry response from Israeli officials.

In its 213-page report, the United States-based advocacy group says the term apartheid has generally been used in a "descriptive or comparative" sense in relation to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, and as a warning of what might happen if current trajectories with regard to Palestinians continue. However, after decades of warnings, the report says, that "threshold" into a crime against humanity, has already been crossed. "The Israeli government has demonstrated an intent to maintain the domination of Jewish Israelis over Palestinians across Israel and the occupied Palestinians territory," reads the report. "That intent has been coupled with systematic oppression of Palestinians and inhumane acts committed against them. When these three elements occur together, they amount to the crime of apartheid," it concludes.