CFI volunteer from South Africa explains why Israel is not an apartheid state

Join Christian journalist Paul Calvert for a compelling interview with Andy Ure, a volunteer with Christian Friends of Israel (CFI) in Jerusalem, as he draws on his childhood under apartheid in South Africa to explain why he believes comparisons to modern-day Israel miss the mark.

Born in Scotland and raised largely in South Africa, Ure described a childhood shaped by rigid racial separation that he initially accepted as normal.

“Everything was separated… restaurants, whites only, pubs, whites only, cinemas, whites only,” he said, explaining how segregation governed every aspect of public and private life. As a young child, he never questioned the system. “Absolutely not. No. As a child, you kind of just… it seems to be the norm,” he recalled.

Apartheid, Ure said, even extended into religious life. “The church was completely separate. There were black churches and white churches. The two did not mix,” he said, underscoring how deeply the ideology permeated South African society.

He told Calvert that his perspective began to change when he attended a rare multiracial private college in the city of Cape Town. For the first time, he studied alongside students from different racial backgrounds and formed close friendships.

“These people who we were told were inferior to us, are just as smart as us,” he said. When he visited his friends in their homes, he was exposed to the moral inconsistencies of a system that deprived capable, successful people of the right to live freely.

The realization even brought tension within his own family, as he began openly criticizing apartheid.

Ure described apartheid as a wicked system, saying, “It was evil, and it was oppressing people.” He explained that it was eventually dismantled when political leaders, such as South Africa’s final state president, F.W. de Klerk, acknowledged it as incompatible with Christian faith.

Now living in Israel, Ure vigorously challenges claims that Israel is an apartheid state.

Drawing on his own experience, he compared South Africa’s legally enforced racial separation with Israel’s integrated society.

“The two communities were separated by law,” he said of South Africa. “And if they mixed, you would go to jail,” he continued, underscoring how apartheid criminalized everyday interaction.

“So in Israel there's no such thing,” he added, pointing to shared buses, mixed neighborhoods, Arab doctors, police officers, and soldiers serving alongside Jews and Christians.

Labeling Israel as an apartheid state, he told Calvert, is not only inaccurate but fundamentally wrong.

For Ure, this perspective carries particular weight for believers navigating emotionally charged debates about Israel. His story reframes the discussion away from slogans and toward reality, challenging believers to discern carefully and speak truthfully and with conviction.

Click below to listen to the full interview with Andy Ure.