Now that your government has made any calls for boycott illegal, I urge you to comply with the new law rather than risk financial penalties and even imprisonment. After all, Israel is a democracy, and every citizen should respect the outcome of the democratic process.
But I do not suggest you sit idly and abandon your strongly-held conviction that your country must be pressured to end the Occupation and grant freedom and equality to Palestinians. Instead I propose you modify your calls from the prohibited tactic of boycott to measures deemed acceptable by your government
To start, you could demand that foreign military forces seal off Israel completely and reduce the amount of food that enters the country to the minimum deemed necessary to keep the population alive. Anything in excess, including clothing, children’s toys and notebooks, should be excluded as “luxury items.” Of course, Israel’s domestic food production might help to alleviate shortages, so chicken farms and flour mills should be destroyed. Construction materials must be strictly prohibited, because Israelis have been known to use them for shelters to guard against attack, a known military purpose. Israelis also should be allowed enough water to survive, but any surplus should be diverted to provide Palestinians with lush lawns, swimming pools and relaxing baths.
A system of hundreds of military checkpoints could be installed throughout the country to severely curtail domestic travel. Pregnant women should be urged to take up residence in close proximity to hospitals, because it is difficult and time-consuming for those manning the checkpoints to distinguish between genuine pregnancies and cleverly disguised suicide belts. As for international travel, no Israelis should be allowed out of the country for any reason, save the most dire emergencies, and even then, who knows?
To counter the problem of Israeli belligerence against others, foreign militaries should adopt a program of targeted assassinations. Any Israeli who is suspected of having provided any assistance at all for a past attack or to be planning for a future one should be summarily executed without warning, preferably by air strike. If an Israeli soldier is deemed to have fired any weapon offensively, his/her home town or neighborhood should be identified and flattened.
Such measures may seem harsh, cruel and even sadistic, but should not run afoul of the new law. In fact, I believe you can find legal justifications for their implementation in pronouncements of high government officials and spokespersons. And don’t lose heart. There may be unanticipated casualties among the supposedly innocent Israeli civilian population, but they have been known to willingly sacrifice their sons and daughters for the PR value. Unfortunately these people do not respond to anything but force. Think of it as tough love. And do not fear that the international community would never tolerate these measures, especially over a prolonged period of time. There is abundant evidence to the contrary.
Nicely done, D.S.! :-)
Israel loses every way.
Thank you David for enlisting the spirit of Jonathan Swift in the ongoing struggle, a deployment thankfully still legal under the Knesset’s new law.
don’t forget about target practice in civilan neighborhoods! it was just yesterday i read about an idf “stray bullet” colliding with a woman in gaza.
Sounds fair. I suggest we supply Hamas with the necessary weaponry, subject to the condition that they prevent rocket fire into southern Israel and impose this far more humane and legal policy instead.
Excellent
“Israelis also should be allowed enough water to survive, but any surplus should be diverted to provide Palestinians with lush lawns, swimming pools and relaxing baths.”
My oldest daughter just sent me this link. She is a teacher in Boulder. Look how many folks have looked at this. Of course most of them do not want to hear about Palestinians problems or how their taxes pay for illegal settlements…they have problems at their Whole Foods parking lots
Going home with my 6 items for 80 dollars
Whole Foods Parking Lot – Music Video [HD]
Got to get to get to my hot yoga class, my biking, my Buddhist knitting class, take care of my aura…you know the drill
link to youtube.com
RE: “An open letter to Israeli boycott activists”, by David Samel
MY COMMENT: Wow, that is some primo snark!!!
So, like I’ve always said, it’s not that you care about international law. It’s that you care about one side in a land conflict.
hophmi, are you a lawyer? How many times does the thief get to keep stolen goods? If you’re beaten and robbed, should the thief get to keep your wallet for his efforts to enrich himself? This is about violent thieves and their victims, more than being a “land conflict”.
>> hophmi, are you a lawyer?
It’s hard to say, but he sure does seem to be a student of RW’s “peace, not ‘justice’” school of Zio-supremacist “common sense”.
“it’s not that you care about international law. It’s that you care about one side in a land conflict.”
How does that follow from David’s post?
Thanks, Donald, I was wondering the same thing. I don’t have the slightest idea.
David, this was wonderfully sarcastic, I liked it a lot.
I think, he is suggesting that as a lawyer, you should realize that “law & order” are and will remain on Israel’s side.
The passage below comes to mind. I am not convinced about the religious wars scenario. Religious wars here Europe always were about hegemony first. But I like Richard Sale’s article nevertheless, it’s well written: Land …
Meanwhile Israel tortures children and you wholeheartedly approve.
oh my hophmi…. you actually think we want the illegal inhumane policies of israel to be used on israelis? it is called sarcasm, and we would never support such actions on either side. ….but it is an interesting thought experiment to turn israeli “logic” on israelis. (but you know hophmi, those arabs and muslims are a different breed or something, right…? but wait…. irgun, stern gang, gaza massacre, lebanon 2x, hmmmmm, now my head is dizzy as link to btselem.org body counts pop into my reeling brain)
Yes, hophmi, your posts on Mondoweiss, on the other hand, have always demonstrated your respect for “international law.”
“Yes, hophmi, your posts on Mondoweiss, on the other hand, have always demonstrated your respect for “international law.””
You are thinking of “eee” who is “an expert in international law”. Hophmi is just someone who has “learned from history”.
On the contrary, I’ve told you time and again that international law is a politically-comprised concept precisely because of the way it is applied to this conflict. You guys are the ones who insist on relying on it (when it suits your purposes.)
“chicken farms and flour mills should be destroyed”
But if the farms are destroyed, what will happen to the poor Jewish chickens? They will be homeless, and stand around in disconsolate, picturesque, groups, singing “Va, pensiero” from Nabucco.
Do you want that on your conscience?
>> But if the farms are destroyed, what will happen to the poor Jewish chickens?
Hmmm…a dichotomy. On the one hand, “I cannot consistently say that ‘the mass slaughter of poor Jewish chickens is never necessary’.” On the other, I don’t think the world should ever have to “Remember the [Poultry] Holocaust!”
This smacks of nuance, of air and chocolate. A crack in the egg in the basket of self-(self-)determination. Very complex stuff. What I wouldn’t give for a handful of peppers and a couple of fresh cucumbers… :-)