Israel calls on Amnesty not to release apartheid report

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel has called on Amnesty International not to publish an upcoming report accusing it of apartheid. The Foreign Ministry says the conclusions of the London-based international human rights group are “false, biased and antisemitic.” Amnesty is expected to join the New York-based Human Rights Watch and the Israeli rights group B’Tselem in accusing Israel of the international crime of apartheid based on its nearly 55-year military occupation of lands the Palestinians want for a future state and because of its treatment of its own Arab minority. Foreign Minister Yair Lapid has said Israel expects intensified efforts this year to brand it as an apartheid state in international bodies and hopes to head them off.