Charles Freeman is opposed to the Israeli settlements and has argued that Israel's alleged "occupation" of lands taken in the 1967 war is "inherently violent" and has "corrupted" Israel's values. He also criticizes Israeli policy with regard to its Arab population, accusing Israel of discrimination against Israeli Arabs and denying them full rights of citizenship.  He has alleged that Israel has committed "intermittent massacres" of civilians in Lebanon and Gaza.  He said that Israel "excels at war" but shows "no talent for peace."  Freeman does, however, describe Israel as a democracy and recognizes that Israel's security concerns are valid.

In His Own Words:

"I also, frankly, have a lot of respect for Israel.  And I'm sorry to see it so badly corrupted by the occupation, and to see its values so badly damaged by the settlement process in the occupied territories." -- March 15, 2009, CNN

"Israel's democracy denies full rights of citizenship to one-fifth of its inhabitants and any rights at all to the millions it rules in the occupied territories, but it is still perhaps the world's most robust democracy, with a level of public discourse on policy matters that is or should be an inspiration to other countries, including our own." -- February 11, 2008, "American Interests, Policies and Results in the Middle East," MIT

"Nor will the Arabs accept the legitimacy of a Jewish state in their midst if Israel rules its captive Arab population under the cruelties of martial law while highhandedly expanding its borders at Arab expense….  Arab leaders now publicly acknowledge Israel's existence and express willingness to accept it, providing Israel ends its oppression of the Palestinians and halts its dispossession of them from their homes." -- June 25, 2007, "American Foreign Policy and the Arab World," World Affairs Council, Washington, D.C.

"We continue to provide military support and political cover for Israeli operations entailing intermittent massacres of civilian populations in Lebanon and Gaza." -- February 9, 2007
"Diplomacy and Empire," DACOR, Washington, D.C.

"Demonstrably, Israel excels at war; sadly, it has shown no talent for peace… Instead, with each decade, Israel's behavior has deviated farther from the humane ideals of its founders and the high ethical standards of the region that most of its inhabitants profess." -- October 31, 2006, U.S.-Arab Policymakers Conference, Washington, D.C.

 "Without some tough love from Americans…[Israel] will persist in the belief, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that it can gain safety through the officially sanctioned assassination of potential opponents, the terrorization of Arab civilians, and the cluster bombing of neighbors rather than negotiation with them." -- October 31, 2006, U.S.-Arab Policymaker's Conference, Washington, D.C.

"As long as the United States continues unconditionally to provide the subsidies and political protection that make the Israeli occupation and the high-handed and self-defeating policies it engenders possible, there is little, if any, reason to hope that anything resembling the former peace process can be resurrected. Israeli occupation and settlement of Arab lands is inherently violent." -- September 12, 2005, National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations