Gary Ackerman, the top Democrat on the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, has issued a statement attacking an effort by New York University students and faculty to divest from TIAA-CREF over its investments in companies benefiting from the Israeli occupation. An open letter to TIAA-CREF CEO and President Roger W. Ferguson from NYU faculty and staff has already received over 130 signatures. Ackerman's statement reads in part:
“I strongly condemn the ill-conceived and dangerous effort by some of the professors and staff at NYU to instigate divestment from American and Israeli companies by TIAA-CREF. While they have managed to assemble a pastiche of smears and falsehoods against Israel, they have not actually come up with anything resembling a sound rationale for divestment.
The faculty and staff who signed the open letter to TIAA-CREF claim the companies they list are profiting from the so-called ‘occupation of Palestinian territories.’ What they actually seem to be most upset about is that these companies and the goods they produce, enable Israel, the only true liberal democracy in the Middle East and a staunch American ally, to defend itself, protect its citizens and fight back against relentless terrorist assault targeting Israeli civilians . . .Moreover, blinded by their ill-informed and self-righteous rage, these want-to-be divesters also blithely overlook the obvious moral failure inherent in punishing American companies because of the way Israel allegedly used their products. Perhaps Ford, GM and Chrysler should be held accountable if their cars are used for drive-by shootings, or bank heists? Maybe Dell and Apple should be punished too for their products use in activities with which the professors disapprove?
It would take a great deal of education to rationalize such utter nonsense. But somehow, I feel sure this bunch at NYU will manage it.”
NYU students and professors have been quick to respond. The NYU chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine has sent out a press release with responses from students and faculty as well as a point-by-point rebuttal to Ackerman's claims. Here are two responses:
Representative Ackerman's apparent denial that Israel is occupying Palestinian territories and systematically violating basic Palestinian rights is simply shocking. This kind of moral blindness has long been an impediment to peace-making between Israelis and Palestinians. It's one of the reasons why so many people of conscience have decided to hold corporations to account which profit from the Israeli occupation--we do not trust U.S. politicians to support and defend Palestinian rights.
- Jeff Goodwin, Professor of Sociology, New York University
The U.S. general public remains one of the most uninformed in the world regarding the brutality of Israel's occupation of the Palestinians. Rep. Ackerman, in his attempt to deface a just and democratic cause, could not have more perfectly exemplified why.
- Alaa Yousef, SJP NYU organizer
And here's the rebuttal:
House Representative Gary Ackerman (D-NY), ranking Democrat on the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, recently issued a statement attacking the actions of over one hundred New York University (NYU) professors.
The professors have signed an Open Letter to TIAA-CREF, drafted by Students for Justice in Palestine at NYU (SJP @ NYU), calling for divestment from five corporations – Motorola Systems, Caterpillar, Northrop Grumman, Elbit, and Veolia – whose equipment facilitates the oppression of Palestinians and the continued illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories.
The position taken by these faculty members, and their willingness to speak out, deserve praise, not condemnation.
Rep. Ackerman's comments are saturated with misunderstandings and misrepresentations, of both the campaign these professors are supporting and the plight of the Palestinian people. Additionally, the references to the campaign as “dangerous” and a form of “warfare on Israel” are chilling in tone.
His comments suggest a desire to preserve the brutal status quo and protect corporate interests, rather than genuine interest in promoting justice and international law in the region.
FACTUAL INACCURACIES – THE CONFLICT
Rep. Ackerman writes that “many thousands of Israelis … have been murdered or maimed by rockets falling on their homes, bombs going off on their buses or by suicide bombers slipping into restaurants and religious celebrations.”
According to the respected human rights organization B'Tselem, exactly 753 Israeli civilians and 342 military personnel were been killed by Palestinians between September 2000 and September 2011. During that same period, the Israeli army killed6,487 Palestinians, at least half of whom were civilians. During Operation Cast Lead – Israel's most recent illegal assault on the people of Gaza – the Israeli military killed 1,397 Palestinians, mostly civilians. Three Israeli civilians were killed in the operation.
Clearly this is not a war between two equal parties. This is a vicious occupation against an oppressed and impoverished people, carried out by a powerful, nuclear armed state (Israel), and backed by the world's strongest military power (the U.S.). Despite the overwhelming evidence, Rep. Ackerman – unlike President Obama, the United Nations, the International Court of Justice, all major human rights organizations, and the international community at large – refuses even to acknowledge that the occupation exists.
Rep. Ackerman questions whether the NYU faculty signers have international law on their side. But to name one of countless examples, the July 9, 2004 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) declared that “all States are under an obligation not to recognize the illegal situation resulting from the construction of the wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory … [and] to see to it that any impediment, resulting from the construction of the wall, to the exercise by the Palestinian people of its right to self-determination is brought to an end.”
The ICJ's advisory opinion is consistent with repeated United Nations resolutions recognizing that the Palestinian territories are under occupation, and calling for that occupation to end. The NYU faculty signers have therefore not called for anything beyond the implementation of international law.
FACTUAL INACCURACIES – THE CAMPAIGN
First, concerning the Open Letter to TIAA-CREF, Rep. Ackerman writes that 72 NYU Professors and staff “have managed to assemble a pastiche of smears and falsehoods against Israel.” In fact, SJP @ NYU created the letter, which 132 professors and staff have signed thus far.
Rep. Ackerman fails to point out a single inaccuracy in the letter.
Second, Rep. Ackerman describes the campaign as “unjustified economic warfare on Israel.” The opposite is true: the campaign is a non-violent means of opposing Israel's warfare on the Palestinian people.
Third, Rep. Ackerman writes that NYU faculty members are unfairly “punishing American companies because of the way Israel allegedly uses their products.” These are not “allegations” but readily demonstrable facts. And surely Rep. Ackerman does not believe that Caterpillar, for example, is unaware of how Israel weaponizes its bulldozers and uses them to demolish Palestinian homes. We wonder if Rep. Ackerman would publicly support the sale of Caterpillar bulldozers to Palestinians to be used for the unlawful demolition of Israeli homes.
Finally, Rep. Ackerman asks rhetorically whether “Ford, GM and Chrysler should be held accountable if their cars are used for drive-by shootings, or bank heists.” Such an analogy is nonsensical. These are not anonymous sales to random individuals who happen to commit a crime. They are massive contracts that provide Israel with the equipment necessary to perpetuate an occupation that is illegal under international law.
CONSCIENTIOUS FACULTY DESERVING OUR RESPECT
Four million Palestinians suffer daily under the occupation Rep. Ackerman defends. The occupation is an infringement on the most basic rights of the Palestinian people, such as freedom of movement and self-determination. The occupation systematically impoverishes them and denies millions access to adequate healthcare, education, water, and sanitation. In addition, occupied Palestinians are routinely arrested, assaulted, or killed; non-violent demonstrators have been among those targeted.
The reason that 132 NYU faculty and staff have signed the Open Letter to TIAA-CREF is not that they are “blinded by their ill-informed and self-righteous rage,” but because they stand in opposition to these violations of international law. This position is at odds with that of the U.S. government and congresspersons like Rep. Ackerman who prefer to defend Israel’s crimes.
SJP @ NYU reiterates its strong support for the conscientious faculty members who have signed the Open Letter to TIAA-CREF. These professors have taken an important and courageous public stance, openly demanding that their retirement savings not be used to oppress the Palestinian people. For this they deserve our respect.
wow, thanks adam. great post
I agree, Adam.
A couple of years, some NYU students, I think philosophy majors, took over their cafeteria and demanded an “in depth investigation of all investments in war and genocide profiteers, as well as companies profiting from the occupation of Palestinian territories” and “that annual scholarships be provided for thirteen Palestinian students.”
link to huffingtonpost.com
I’m pretty sure that these students were kicked out and certain that no one cared. Wonder where they are now?
link to takebacknyu.com
Gary Ackerman is obviously a self-hating Jew. Only a self-hating Jew or an anti-Semite would act as an enabler of what is clearly self-destructive behavior on the part of Israel.
P.S. MEET MY NEW “¡MUY MACHO!” ICON/AVATAR. Are those “Bette Davis eyes” (VIDEO-03:38), or are they the cold, calculating eyes of a sociopath (or perhaps even a psychopath)?
Fulgencio Batista – link to en.wikipedia.org
P.P.S My homage to Fulgencio Batista is dedicated to his most renowned protégé, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R- FL). She and her mentor are truly the very best friends that the downtrodden have ever had!
AN EXAMPLE OF ILEANA’S RECENT HANDIWORK: House Foreign Affairs Committee Votes To Defund UNICEF – link to thinkprogress.org
P.P.P.S. Anyone who says that there is something wrong with Ros-Lehtinen’s being a stooge for AIPAC is either an anti-Semite or a self-hating Jew.
Agreed. Gary Ackerman through his words and actions increases the amount of anti-Semites in the world.
It’s great to get all this kneejerk support for Israel out in the open. Congress is as bad in terms of corruption as the late Roman republic
The problem is that the MSM will highlight Ackerman’s statement and ignore the rebuttal.
Indeed. By words and actions he (and most of the USA Congress) increases anti-USA feeling and anti-Israeli feeling (and, by the uninformed, anti-Jewish feeling) in the world.
But don’t blame him too much. He is merely obeying his marching orders. He doesn’t think, has no purpose, sees no consequences — beyond the corrupt benefits to himself of remaining in good standing with AIPAC. Corruption is, of course bad, but the AIPAC-style of corruption of Congress is no worse than big-Pharma’s, big-Oil’s, big-Bank’s. It’s all dreadful, and the pro-AIPAC corruption may injure fewer people than, say, the pro-fossil-fuel corruption which leads us all inexorably to the worst horrors of global warming.
Ackerman is no worse than the others, though hs is, to be sure, absolutely awful.
I beg to disagree, pabelmont. Ackerman is not among those members of Congress following AIPAC’s orders out of fear of retaliation or because he relies on The Lobby for his campaign funding. He is a full fledged Israel-Firster in all its ugly colors and is one of those who if not frog-marched into the Potomac, should be dragged to the DOJ’s Foreign Agent registry and forced to sign in as an Israeli agent.
AIPAC is qualitatively different than every other interest group because it is the only one that has a long history of punishing any member of Congress who dares to criticize Israel or speak on behalf of the Palestinians where as the other special interests simply don’t have that clout when it comes to their congressional critics of which all of those you mention have many.
As for the number of its victims, when one adds them up, beyond the price the Palestinians have paid and continue to pay with their lives and their land, you can put on its charge sheet the deaths and devastation that has taken place in Iraq and in Israel’s wars on Lebanon over the years, all of which have been pushed and backed to the bloody hilt by the Israel Lobby.
When the day of reckoning comes, as it surely will, Ackerman will be in the front of the line and not just because his name begins with an A.
Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between those members of Congress who are True Believers and those who succumb to AIPAC’s power despite knowing better. I agree with you, Jeffrey, that Ackerman is the former, though I’m not sure what difference it all makes.
RE: “AIPAC is qualitatively different than every
other interest group because it is the only one that has a long history of punishing any member of Congress who dares to criticize Israel…” ~ Blankfort
MY ADDITION: And AIPAC has been known to mete out the (political) death penalty for any deviation at all from its agenda, totally irrespective of any redeeming qualities on the part of its victims (Chuck Percy, for instance).
Ergo, Chuck Percy was once a Republican Senator from Illinois. AIPAC targeted him for defeat because he supported Reagan’s sale of AWACS to Saudi Arabia over AIPAC’S objections.
Now the tremendously inferior Mark Kirk (a shameless stooge for Israel) is a Republican Senator from Illinois. Needless to say, the U.S. suffers considerably as a consequence of this “dumbing down” of our elected officials.
When the day of reckoning comes, as it surely will
How far off do you think it is? Decades, or years?
Perhaps Ford, GM and Chrysler should be held accountable if their cars are used for drive-by shootings, or bank heists? Maybe Dell and Apple should be punished too for their products use in activities with which the professors disapprove?
This sort of studied ignorance deliberately misses the point. Ford, GM and Chrysler were named as defendants in the South African Apartheid Litigation and volumes have been written about “Ford, General Motors, and Forced Labor in Germany during the Second World War”. See the filings in the Apartheid Litigation case at the the Hague Justice Portal and Reinhold Billstein, Karola Fings, and Anita Kugler, “Working For The Enemy, Berghahn Books, 2000.
It’s pretty obvious Dell and Apple Computer aren’t located in nearby Armonk, New York. Ackerman doesn’t mention IBM, but it has been the target of a number of class action lawsuits filed on behalf of Jewish and Gypsy Holocaust survivors, e.g. link to business-humanrights.org
I totally agree… Gary Ackerman “outgoing chairman of the International Council of Jewish Parliamentarians which is sponsored by the World Jewish Congress” — has hard-core Israel-Firster 24/7 written all over him, which is why I’m rather confused when M Jay Rosenberg had this to say about the man on his Twitter account recently:
Damn right bizarre! And MJ’s spun this angle more than once?
– With September looming, unity can’t wait
By Gary Ackerman
link to worldjewishcongress.org
It is a common trick that I’ve encountered in my political life for your opponent in a political argument to pretend he or she is more on your side than you think as a way of disarming you and neutralizing your criticism and I suspect this was the case when Rosenberg spoke with Ackerman.
Over the years we keep hearing and reading stories about how Jewish leaders say one thing in private and quite another in public. In the endm I’ve concluded it is simply a clever way to cover their butts.
Ackerman is not bashful at all about the fact he serves Israel and primilary the interest of some US Jews. If you ask him why he would earmark over 11 million in medical grants for Israel at a time when Americans were standing in line at free medical clinics donated by private physicans without any government help, he will tell you he is servicing the wishes of his majority Jewish constitutents in his district.
I made 6 or 7 calls to his office and a few others when I saw this earmark trying to find out if it indeed was approved and got the run around from every office and no answer.
This really got to me…..using earmarks for more foreign aid to Israel.
link to house.gov
Congressman Ackerman Announces FY 2010 Project Requests
(Washington, DC) – In compliance with House rules and the Democratic Majority’s pledge to increase the transparency of the appropriations process, Congressman Ackerman announces the following project requests that he has received for consideration and submission in the FY 2010 appropriations process
#American Friends of Ashdod Emergency Medical Center (Brooklyn, NY) – Medical Facility in Ashdod, Israel – $10,000,000 – Funding would be used to construct a medical center in Israel’s fifth largest city.
# American Committee for Shaare Zedek (New York, NY) – Pediatric Nephrology Unit (located in Jerusalem) – $1,500,000 – Funding would be used to enhance the Pediatric Nephrology Unit which treats children suffering from kidney failure by supporting renovation and acquiring new equipment for the expansion of services.
Anti-Semites are rare-er than Unicorns in my limited decades of experience, but perhaps the National Geographic Society should be contacted or NPR.
There have always been rumors of small groups of “Anti-Semites” huddling around campfires in the mountains of Idaho, along with the Yetis and Abominable Snowmens who are known to live there.
Perhaps Gary could mount an expedition to actually capture one? Stuff it and display it at the Smithsonian, If not there, I’m sure the NYS museum in Albany would display it.
Hej!
Dickerson, that’s the revelation of the day.
As the boycott campaign employs such imprecise criteria, it amounts to collective punishment, in the name of opposing collective punishment.
I guess RW that you had similar view to example SA apartheid also ?
I don’t think you understand the concept of collective punishment. You just bandy about the phrase as if the two things were equivalent, which they clearly are not. But clear, concise English is not your strong point. And you talk of imprecision!!
Sometimes countries paint themselves into corners.
Israel has has enough opportunities to reform. It always puts YESHA first.
That means settlers come before Israeli kids. That is no way to run a society.
Sanctions will break the cycle of nihilism.
So you support Ackerman’s position then?
As the boycott campaign employs such imprecise criteria, it amounts to collective punishment, in the name of opposing collective punishment.
Not at all. The campaign employs common law criteria that holds Israel and all third parties responsible for the consequences of their voluntary actions no matter how unintended or unforeseen. The principle dates back to the Torah and there is a quaint old Jewish tradition of treating the law as the law.
A famous Jewish jurist, Roslyn Cohen Higgins, advised that “A binding determination made by a competent organ of the United Nations to the effect that a situation is illegal cannot remain without consequence.” She said “That an illegal situation is not to be recognized or assisted by third parties is self-evident . . . Although in the present case it is the Court, rather than a United Nations organ . . . that has found the illegality; and although it is found in the context of an advisory opinion rather than in a contentious case, the Court’s position as the principal judicial organ of the United Nations suggests that the legal consequence for a finding that an act or situation is illegal is the same [for third party enablers like Motorola Systems, Caterpillar, Northrop Grumman, Elbit, and Veolia]. — See Her Opinion in Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory link to icj-cij.org
Apples to oranges, Witty. The boycott ‘collective punishment’ is the equivalent of civilian casualties at time of war. Collateral damage.
The boycott is supposed to affect Israel’s economy. That ‘collective punishment’ is the price that has to be made to justify the cause. Israel’s collective punishment is meant to justify their criminal occupation.
firstly, this campaign and most i know of in the USA are VERY specific, and focus on goods from the OPT, arms, and corporations that aid and/or profit off of the OCCUPATION. palestinians and others advocate broader BDS, but for many, the divestment is quite focused.
it is actually more about raising awareness of israeli crimes- for both the international community and ideally for israelis. it will take a long time before the actual economic impact is more than something minimal, and largely symbolic. and BTW, israel can stop it *any* time by simply respecting international law.
but while we are considering your wide and loose definition of “collective punishment”, i assume you must at least be happy BDS poses nonviolent and relatively light costs, for the near term. sadly it seems you are suggesting some equivalency between the (essentially nonexistent) impact of BDS on israeli civilians and the impact of siege, occupation, and colonization on the palestinians… there is no equivalency whatsoever, even if you incorrectly think the same term, “collective punishment”, applies.
you really cannot get over that victimization complex.
Donald,
I don’t know if I support Ackerman’s position, but I do oppose BDS. I oppose it much much less when its goals are stated conditionally and clearly.
My attitude towards it shifts from something that Israel MUST defend against, to something that has some merit and some dangers.
Oh, and how many children is Israel going to kill this time, in its “defense?”
RW-II I oppose it much much less when its goals are stated conditionally and clearly.
or your first remark:
RW-I As the boycott campaign employs such imprecise criteria,
We all know your basic position against BDS generally. But here you respond to a very specific one. So it should be easy for you to point out to us what exactly are
a) imprecise criteria?
b) what about the goals is not stated clarly?
There was NO statement of criteria for boycott versus not, nor any basis of targeting the specific companies targeted, nor any basis for targeting TIAA-CREF as a whole.
You saw some clear statement of criteria, Leander? Show me.
It’s goals have alwasy remained the same and been stated the same way, so eitehr you’re stil perpetuating your lie that the goals weer changed in 2005 (whcih you have refused to provide evidence of) or you never bothered to find out what the goals were.
Richard, did you know my cat went missing and came back?
Prescription ran out?
Prescription ran out? Think about refilling what ever it was, when you were commenting on Stephen Walt’s blog lately! It seemed to be working!
Hej!
“these want-to-be divesters also blithely overlook the obvious moral failure inherent in punishing American companies because of the way Israel allegedly used their products”…Ackerman
Ha, DBS has Ackerman scared. He doesn’t want those poor innocent American companies wondering if they are damaging themselves by supplying Israel.
DBS must be working better than we think.
“these want-to-be divesters also blithely overlook the obvious moral failure inherent in punishing American companies because of the way Israel allegedly used their products”…Ackerman
Yet Ackerman voted NO on “a bill that would prohibit liability lawsuits from being brought against gun manufacturers and dealers based on the criminal misuse of firearms.”
link to ontheissues.org
Quite apart from his inconsistency, Ackerman clearly is not intimidated by the “gun lobby.” .
Well, you can love dogs and hate cats and still call yourself an animal lover.
The point about the “value’ of Liberals in congress is if they are “liberal Israel firsters” their liberalism on domestic issues isn’t worth it in the big picture.
It’s about time idiots like Ackerman were brought to book. He, like the rest, appears to think they can repeat all of their carefully supplied AIPAC talking points without anybody pointing out the smearing, lying, dishonest nature of them. Well, just because he personally benefits from them, and thus the occupation, it is time laughably called ‘representatives’ were brought to account, and started doing some ‘representing’ of America and its citizens.
It’s unfortunate that it falls on us(me) to have to do this?
What a great post, thank you! Amazing and disgusting to see just how deliberately misinformed Rep. Ackerman insists on being.
Here’s an excellent flashmob performance by members of Jewish Voice for Peace. Retirement fund giant TIAA-CREF can run, but it can’t hide from Jewish Voice for Peace! “We Divest From Israel’s Occupation” performs a flashmob in Times Square:
link to youtube.com
wonderful!
When it comes to Palestine, U.S. politicians follow in the mold of George Wallace. Actually, there isn’t much evidence they care about human rights anywhere.
Well, after chuckling at Witty’s contribution, I couldn’t help but ponder about how quick these whores like Ackerman are paid off.
Can they simply call AIPAC and say “I need funds for yadayadayada and what can I do for you today?”.
Would that really suprise anyone? That IS what is going on, even if not so blatant, immediate, simple, or cavalier. It is a quid pro quo dynamic, irrefutably.
What is so amazing about it is the ease with which they unabashedly formulate lies to feed to the American public.
Its important to remember that AIPAC and its myriad of tentacles represents but just one area of special interest. If these self-serving pukes like Ackerman so readily sell themselves out to the Israeli special interest groups, who else are they turning tricks for??? The nuclear industry? BP? The Saudis???? Chemical weapons manufacturers? The land mine industry?
These people, these whores in DC, are enriching themselves on the backs of you and me, our children, and our grandchildren. To read the blatant LIES that Ackerman enclosed in his letter provides you a DIRECT WINDOW into his character. And he is the RULE, not the exception. Unless we can rid our government of these traitorous vermin that have infected our nation’s capital, we as a people are doomed to fascist governance designed to enrich a very elite and privileged minority of global opportunists.
I’m not optimistic that there is still time to turn it around.
The metropolitan area with the highest per capita income in the US is Washington DC. Lobbyists, bloated like ticks on the money of special interest groups, funneling bribes into the corrupt pockets of congress.
I’d like to see a tsunami come roaring up the Potomac and wash it all away, like the Alpheus and Peneus washed out the Augean stables.
I wish more Americans were aware of the real facts so that these lawmakers would only be embarrassing themselves when they say such nonsense. I wonder if there is any truth that congressman lobbied by AIPAC need to sign a form stating they will unconditionally support Israel? Because why else would they even bring bother bringing it up? When politicians campaign people argue over the issues, most of which have nothing to do with running a country. Israel should not be an issue but it is and a major one and that’s freaking sad.
That was quite a diatribe by Gary. Why is he so hostile towards American students over their right to protest Israel’s rotten policies that have gone on for decades? Did he forget he was in the US?
Only in the US, can a putz like this get away with this. I can’t wait for things to change. Faster on the progress, please…
“Israel, … a staunch American ally”
When they say this, does anyone notable in America ever stand up and ask “What has Israel ever done for U.S.?”
From what I remember, Israel knocked down USS Liberty ship.
Does it count?
Ackerman sounds exactly like eee, Hophmi and co. Simple minded, sloganieering, anti intellectual and woefully ignorant. It must come as a shock to him for someone to call him out on his BS.
eee, Hophmi and co. are true believers. Ackerman is just another used car salesman, playing them.
Stooges like Ackerman are all too common in politics and the mass media. People like Ackerman have a for sale sign hanging around their neck. Buy them, and they will say anything you want them to.
Here’s a recent talk Ilan Pappe on the whys, whos, and hows of BDS. About halfway through he discusses the issue of the academic portion of the boycott.
link to youtube.com
Also at the same conference Rafeef Ziadah shows links between BDS, the Arab Spring, and the other occupy (fill in the blank) movements.
link to youtube.com
Thanks for that link Rich.
My impression is that Pappe asks the right questions, but with a prejudicial answer. He early acknoweldged that his emotional urge for BDS did not necessarily correspond with a successful answer to the three questions that he asked.
Those are the same questions that I’ve asked here ad nauseum, only to be castigated for asking them.
Is the BDS campaign just?
I say partially, but when presented accompanied by anger and in a poltical solidarity formula (“which side are you on?” in a state of verbal war), that the “cure” is a second wrong.
Is the BDS campaign effective?
In making change on the ground, no, not yet, ever who knows?
Does the BDS campaign have the prospect of achieving its goals?
As the goals of proponents of BDS are so divided its a question that is impossible to answer, and in some ways the answer then is inevitably “no”. Some proponents of BDS desire that Israel dissolve into Israstine – with maximalist right of return, making the current majority of Israel governed by an alien imported majority, as a repetition of what Zionism is accused of. Others adopt BDS in an effort to expedite the clarification of viable borders and equal civil rights.
Clear and effective, or vague and punitive?
“Clear and effective, or vague and punitive?”
Don’t worry, Richard, BDS won’t start until you make your final determinations on it’s efficiency and worthiness. I’m sure they know a disinterested, impartial and informed judge when they see one.
The entire movement is even now poised on the ball of it’s foot, awaiting your lightest word.
Why in the world would this American give a XXXX? Not our problem! We have our own problems, bigger every day. Leave us out of it!
Hej!
What an unbelievably stupid comment! What’s anger got to to with justice? NOTHING. Only a chold would insist that the measure of justice is based on the impartiality or lack of sentiment on the part of the jury.
It has Israel very worried so yes it is effective.
Ilan Pappe argues that one purpose of BDS is the moral delegitimization of Israel. This is accomplished through shining a light on Israel and then allowing her to delegitimize herself. The assumption is BDS doesn’t work because Israel as a state, a military, and as an economy are strong. This blinds Israel and her defenders to her moral weakness due to their pride.
This is not unlike what happened in the ancient Greek play, Antigone. The play is two hours long yet the “action” takes only 5-10 minutes. The reason is the prideful self-defense and long soliloquies of Lord Creon. For Lord Creon the state was everything and his decree that Antigone’s brother was not to be buried since he was a traitor to the state was inviolable. If he relented he argued then the authority of the state would be gone, and Thebes would be no more. Antigone’s disobedience motivated by her faith and love for her brother could not be countenanced. Not only did Antigone but Creon’s son and an augerer tried to get Creon to change his mind. For everyone who tried to get Creon change his mind all were falsely accused of not having integrity and being bribed, all without evidence. The play ends with Creon’s son dead and his wife committing suicide along with her accusation that he murdered his son. The final chorus said the ultimate tragedy was Creon acquired wisdom only through suffering.
Israel and her self-appointed defenders are like Lord Creon with their endless longwinded self-defenses and false accusations. (If brevity is the soul of wit then Witty has no soul.) It appears that they can only gain wisdom through suffering. Hopefully the mild suffering of BDS will be sufficient for Israel to come to her senses — where she ceases Zionism’s false religion of the state — rather than falling into the ultimate tragedy pointed to by Sophecles.
I was attempting to dialog with you.
Why the dismissal?
Pappe’s questions are good ones, no? Answered?
really good comment richb
speaking of castigating richard, you do a fine job of it.
I was attempting to dialog with you.
Why the dismissal?
Pappe’s questions are good ones, no? Answered?
I only dialog with those who are capable of it. For example, you say, “As the goals of proponents of BDS are so divided its a question that is impossible to answer…” Pappe sees the different problems and issues of the BDS movement in different countries as a point of understanding, listening, and dialog. In fact, Pappe is even able to have a dialog with himself!
My son is autistic. He can go on and on about rock music but he cannot see what it takes to have real dialog because of the way his brain is wired. So, he has a legitimate excuse. What’s yours? I try to inculcate listening, empathy, and understanding in my son and he takes a social skills class in high school that seeks to do the same. That’s what makes for dialog rather than parallel speeches as Sophocles so brilliantly portrayed.
The reason why you are berated here is not the questions you ask. Rather, it’s the failure to listen to and empathize with the answers by others followed by Creonian soliloquies.
I go to a church on Saturday evenings with my son to accommodate his attention span. The sermon was on Ecclesiastes 5. If you cannot listen to Sophocles maybe you will listen to Solomon. Here’s some of the verses we heard last night:
I don’t know, Witty, how many photos like these do you have to see to answer that question for you?
what about all those other patsys of aipac that are in the government seeking to get the approval from aipac, how shameless an official – politician whom is supposed to representing THIS usa and its voters whom placed them in office seeking approval outside the country ! Is it me or is this really the usa or is it israel…I do not hear the Arabic call to prayer so it must be the usa