It was certainly a courageous decision by De Klerk [20 years ago], but it’s important to remember that it was not some epiphany about the immorality of apartheid that changed his mind. By 1989, with the Cold War essentially over, Pretoria had gotten the message that it could no longer count on U.S. support to head off sanctions and other international pressure in the name of anticommunist solidarity. Financial sanctions were beginning to bite and the price of maintaining the status quo was beginning to appear prohibitive. De Klerk, to his credit, realized that his people had more to gain from negotiating from a position of relative strength. And the political unrest in the black townships, combined with the expanding sanctions and growing isolation, helped him make the case to his own electorate.
Drip drip drip. Note that MJ Rosenberg also hinted support for BDS at Media Matters/Huffpo a couple weeks back:
[Without freedom] What would happen is that the Palestinians would go to the United Nations, to the European Union, and even to the United States to seek those consequences. And these would most likely come in the demand for sanctions. There is already a burgeoning BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement that is seeking to bring down the occupation the way a similar movement brought down apartheid.
Is this what Israelis want? Do they really want those concerned about the occupation to be forced to turn to an option this extreme?
I know that the last thing I want is a successful international movement that would boycott and sanction Israel as if it was apartheid South Africa. But it’s probably inevitable unless Israelis come to their senses and begin the process of ending the occupation while the decision is still theirs to make.
And now t00 there’s the fact that US foreign aid to Israel, the regional economic powerhouse, remains (no strings attached) at 6 billion (half direct, half indirect) per year even as the US Great Recession slides slowly into its second dip:
link to counterpunch.org
There is a very substantial indirect source of American foreign aid to Israel: the American political establishment’s (both parties) permission or acquiescence to Israeli economic espionage, the plundering of the (classified and/or proprietary) fruit of the huge national investment we have made in high technology research and development.
from Alleged Israeli Spy: ‘I Thought I Was Working for You Already’
But Nozette seems to refer to his extensive prior work for the Israeli firm when he was asked by the FBI agent to work for the Mossad. “I thought I was working for you already,” he is quoted as saying to the undercover FBI agent when the two met for lunch in a Washington hotel on Sept. 3. “I mean that’s what I always thought, [the foreign company] was just a front.”
***
Spy Trade: How Israel’s Lobby Undermines America’s Economy
You can find out how much your state and county (and soon city and Congressional district) contributes in military aid to Israel at a new website: link to
and see what the budgetary tradeoff of that aid is in terms of public services. Very handy.
MJ Rosenberg suggests that Palestinians’ demand for equal rights can coexist with their demand for a state. (Certainly they can demand whatever they want, but in terms of the reaction of leftist Zionists,) I disagree. They need to put aside their demands for independence and then demand to be tried by regular Israeli courts rather than by military courts.
I have an idea. Let’s put the Israelis on a “diet”. I already boycott goods made in Israel.
I forgot to mention that Tony Karon rocks. I’ve been following the Rootless Cosmopolitan for longer than this blog has been extant.
Me too. And I do my best to avoid companies that support Israel.
link to inminds.co.uk
Rosenberg described BDS as “extreme”.
I agree. And, I agree that Israel’s policies are driving towards a wall.
But bombing the Gazans and using white phosphorous and setting up Jews-only roads and sending American money to ethnically cleansed colonial settlements? Not extreme at all, huh.
Just so long as you understand that you are one of the people on that bus that’s headed toward the wall, Witty.
“Rosenberg described BDS as “extreme”.”
Don’t worry Witty, you could always get the UN to receive goods on behalf of Israel, rather than just open borders right?
“I know that the last thing I want is a successful international movement that would boycott and sanction Israel as if it was apartheid South Africa.”
Why does he say “as if it was” apartheid SA? Of course, just as nothing new can be “the Holocaust”, so too no state (not even Israel) can “be” “apartheid South Africa”. But, that said, it can be worse and many think Israel is worse. South Africans say so, and they should know.
And, anyhow, what is wrong with sanctions? What else can catch Israel’s attention but a change in its real-world circumstances? Israelis have said for years that it doesn’t matter what other people SAY, it only matters what Israelis DO. But, in fact, it would also matter what other people DO, if only they would DO it.
What’s wrong is not sanctions (or talk of sanctions) but INACTIVITY. The USA has refused to DO anything, and doesn’t even talk much.
Imagine if the USA would mention that the settlers and wall are present illegally on occupied territory and should be removed. Just mention it (the way they mention that Iran is drifting toward military dictatorship). Even such TALK would be better than the pap the USA manages to dish up.
neither Robin Wright nor Barbara Slavin has yet summoned the courage of Tony Karon to call Israel what it is, an apartheid state, and to advocate for the “diplomatic” approach of BDS (sanctions, anyone?) to, er, assist Israelis is changing their behavior, if not their regime link to raceforiran.com
Both Wright and Slavin act as megaphones for the Israel lobby; both have appeared on C-Span and used that free microphone to conflate Iran with apartheid South Africa in urging that sanctions are legitimate tools (not, as I argue, morally bankrupt means of killing people slowly) and effective.
Here’s Slavin: www dot c-spanvideo dot org/program/id/217427
and Wright: www dot c-spanvideo dot org/program/292069-4
What is pernicious about these two worthies is that they are perceived to be objective and fair — you know Daniel Pipes and Danielle Pletka are ideologues and insane; you expect intellectual integrity from Slavin and Wright. They disappoint.
Should Israel and the US remain on their current trajectory, expect a civil war to break out in historical Palestine, not among Jews, but between oppressed Palestinians and oppressive Jews.
Israel currently refuses to move toward a viable two state solution. As a result, the one state solution has become inevitable. But, Israel isn’t going to grant anyone equal rights overnight. In fact, Israel will double its oppressive and brutal treatment of Palestinians, especially in the occupied territories. A few years down the road, when the Palestinian population reaches a breaking point, Israel will feel the so-called blowback. It will be like a pressure relief valve exploding, no longer able to contain the pressure.
Then, of course, the Israeli establishment will claim, “see, we told you, these Palestinians don’t want to live with us in peace”.
Hopefully by then, the world community will be more educated on this issue that it is now.