Article content A tempest in a small teapot this week, as Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused Israel of âapartheid.â That echoed the judgment of the Israeli human rights group BâTselem, which said in January the current Israeli government is an âapartheid regime.â But the official response was different. The Israeli government ignored BâTselem, but its Washington embassy gave HRW the standard response to foreign criticism: âWe strongly reject the false accusations that [fill in the blank] is spreading about Israel. This is an organization known to have a long-standing anti-Israel agenda.â Then the caravan moved on. We apologize, but this video has failed to load.