Two BDS stories that we’ve been following lately seem to have legs. Amira Hass has an article in today’s Haaretz wondering why Norway stopped with divesting from only Israel’s Elbit systems when there are so many other candidates. Hass:
The question is not why Norway divested from the defense electronics giant Elbit Systems, but why only now, and why only from that company? The country that gave the name of its capital city to what the world thought of as a peace process is still invested in companies involved in construction and development in the West Bank settlements – the principal factor in destroying any chance for peace (at least any peace other than the belligerent demand that the Palestinians say "thank you" for what Israel is willing to give them).
She makes a good point that the Israeli Foreign Ministry and Ehud Barak have taken a hard line against the limited Norway action against of one corporation focused on Israel’s Separation Wall because of what it can lead to – "If building the barrier is in itself illegal, it follows that so are the settlements, roads and factories serving the occupation." It only seems like a matter of time before divestment targets will continue to expand to include all companies benefiting from the Israeli occupation.
Also, John Greyson’s decision to pull out of the Toronto International Film Festival in protest of the City to City program with Tel Aviv continues to spur on debate. Writing in the Toronto Star, Antonia Zerbisias points out that rather that cutting off discussion and debate, as often accused by boycott detractors, Greyson’s action has instead helped bring a debate that had been squelched out into the open. Zerbisias:
Greyson’s letter has been endorsed by hundreds of filmmakers, authors, artists and academics, many of them Jewish and some even from Israel. These latter signatories have been accused of selling out their people, and more.
They also stand charged with stifling debate, and of attacking freedom of expression.
Which is pretty Orwellian, considering that their speaking out has blown the debate wide open.
There’s a lot to discuss, starting with why Toronto is the reported test market area for the campaign to improve Israel’s "brand," one that has suffered horribly – especially since its invasion of Gaza last winter.
Here in Canada, where Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government has uncritically sided with Israel, and where tax-exempt dollars are sent overseas to resettle Russian Jews in Israel and were used to plant trees on the rubble of destroyed Arab towns, it’s fair game to debate all this without protests that Israel is being "singled out," complete with dark intimations of anti-Semitism.
Indeed, Canadians might want to ask why it is that the recently formed Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism has received no corporate media attention, despite hints in its official mandate that it will be examining criticism of Israel as evidence of anti-Semitism.
But the sands are shifting.
While on one side, there is a push to equate criticism of Israel with "delegitimizing" the Jewish state, there are now voices rising to push back.
It will be hard to silence them.
Greyson’s Covered has pulled the muffler off.
