People are talking excitedly about a big new paper on the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign, coming out of the "Global Forum on Anti-Semitism,"a conference organized by the Israeli government. The paper is evidently authored by Israel lobbyists Mitchell Bard and Gil Troy, here it is:
I say excitedly because the authors admit they can’t defend their position in the west– settlement and occupation are indefensible. Well for now, anyway! Maybe not after the next big war?
In the current climate, Israel advocates are always going to lose a fight over settlements and occupation, or at best get mired in stalemate. BDS shifts the terrain, making the battle one over Israel’s right to exist, over the legitimacy of Zionism, over the anti-Semitic tropes shaping the anti-Israel movement, and the rank anti-Semitism behind the disproportionate, obsessive focus on Israel.
So they need to smear the messenger with wild mischaracterizations of BDS: that it is connected to Islamists, and that the campaign is well funded, and that it is linked to 9/11. Why not Saddam Hussein?
BDS is also part of the broader Islamist strategy to undermine the West. Especially in North America, activists need to understand how positions they are taking are aiding the same people who support shooting up Fort Hood, trying to down commercial jets on Christmas, and succeeded in killing nearly three thousand people on September 11, 2001.
These people are in total denial that the boycott movement is a growing grassroots effort in response to Israeli intransigence and international compliance with same.
