Likewise, any time China is mentioned, a dozen people will chime in about freedom of speech, the Uyghurs, the great firewall, espionage, etc.
Mentioning that Israel is a brutal apartheid state is not any more off-topic. Mind you, the gp post goes a bit past mentioning that.
Arguing this isn't for HN. Attempting to call out a state using misleading labels isn't a sign of intellectual honesty. Its a state level version of an ad hominem, and demonstrates that the accuser has lost an argument badly.
Whether or not you like/dislike Israel is not the point under discussion. Whether or not you believe things you've heard about them from others doesn't matter.
What matters is that this little state, under constant and tremendous threat over its 70+ years of existence from terrorists, their fellow travelers, NGOs, and states alike, can still launch a cost effective privately funded moon mission.
[1] https://www.adl.org/resources/fact-sheets/response-to-common...
While true that the Israeli oppression of its Arab and Muslim minorities within its internationally recognised borders is not exactly the same as South African apartheid, the analogy credibly holds. The oppression of the Arab population under its occupation and the consistent collective punishment visited upon those captive populations outside its internationally recognized borders is a whole other kettle of fish. That Israel is an ethno-nationalist state that has many laws that privilege people of a given religion over another is fact [1]. Whether the level of state discrimination at this point constitutes apartheid is arguable. That one can make the argument is not antisemitic.
You can disagree about the extent, but it's stifling free speech to lump it under antisemitism and say you cannot bring it up. So credible, that a variety of Israeli leaders have warned against the very thing.[2]
And it is relevant. If you believe that South Africa during apartheid should be called out for its apartheid, then it IS relevant to bring it up. If the murder of Khashoggi by the Saudis tars their economic achievements, why shouldn't this?
Funnily enough, South Africa under apartheid was a plucky little country that withstood much indigenous aggression and had a world leading economy.
[1] https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/7771
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_and_the_apartheid_analo...
Also I don't think the term "apartheid state" is to be interpreted literally. Of course Israel doesn't have a South African style apartheid system. But it still treats Palestinians as second-class citizens.
The enemy of my enemy isn't my friend though; Israel is indeed under constant attack, and Palestine often used more a tool to try and damage Israel rather than help Palestinians, and while Palestinians don't really need enemies with friends such as Hamas etc. ("fun" fact, suicide bombings against civilians were first done by Palestinians)... criticism of Israel must never imply excusing any of that, and the other way around.
Many people seem to have problems with that, because if the "other side" does bad things and is therefore bad, they can't be bad, too. Which is really problematic when they factually are, and waste a lot of time, and deform many generations, because they consider the correct answer out of bounds. These things will not change. When you forgot Leibowitz for good, he will not cease to be correct, you will be doomed, that is all.
To make it so that one would have to be blind and pretend two wrongs make a right to be a friend, or otherwise be considered an enemy, a "fellow traveler with terrorists", is also not exactly intellectually honest, and only moves flyweights. As Schopenhauer said, ignorance starts to become really shameful when it is combined with wealth.
That it took a slob like Trump to recognize Jerusalem, something not even Bush did, or that the sponsor of this moon expedition also sponsored Trump, that's not "fellow travellership", at all. That's just coincidence, a broken clock being right twice a day, nothing to do with the spirit of it.