In 1968, the UN General Assembly proposed ending all cultural, economic and sporting connections with South Africa's apartheid government, but because of South Africa's strategic importance to the west given the fact that South Africa had the world's largest resources of uranium, a key ingredient in the manufacture of nuclear weapons, and it was the height of the Cold War, economic sanctions against South Africa were not implemented until the late 1980s - there's a long list of western companies who put profit before morals and continued to trade with the ostracised regime.
South Africa's state sanctioned policy of separate development aka apartheid is no different to Israel's modern day treatment of the Palestinians. The ritual humiliations meted out to the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories is on par with the debasement experienced by black/coloured South Africans under apartheid. The Occupied Territories are the modern day equivalent of the Bantustans. The apartheid South African government was dismissive of international condemnation of its policies just as Israel is dismissive of any international criticism concerning the collective punishment of the citizens of Gaza - what Israel is subjecting the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to is reminiscent of the treatment meted out to Jews in Europe during World War II.
If South Africa's apartheid government warranted a cultural, economic and sporting boycott, isn't today's Israel deserving of one too?
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