If you want evidence that the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement is working, see this speech by Lawrence Summers at a Columbia forum on academic freedom last week. [Text here]. The stakes are high:
I believe that the general failure of American academic leaders to aggressively take on the challenge posed by the Boycott, Divestment, Sanction (BDS) movement represents a consequential abdication of moral responsibility.
Despite his own efforts to stop the divestment movement in 2002 when he was president of Harvard and said that divestment from companies doing business in the occupation was anti-Semitic “in effect if not intent,” Summers says that boycott “pressures have grown sharply in recent years.”
The matter is a moral question because Summers contends that it is anti-Semitic to challenge the “legitimacy of Israel as a state.” He calls the BDS movement a form of anti-Jewish persecution:
American academic community is being implicated in uniquely persecuting the world’s only Jewish state for sins that even on the least sympathetic reading are small compared to those of many other nations.
The mood of the speech is dire; Summers genuinely seems to regard BDS as the second coming of the Nazis.
For several years, at least in Cambridge Massachusetts and perhaps beyond, the divestiture movement was wholly quiescent. I may have persuaded a few people though I doubt very many. More did not want to go near anything where they could be seen as anti-Semitic….
It is my impression that there are more grounds for concern today than at any point since the Second World War. It is a sad irony that Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism, hoped that the establishment of the state of Israel would bring an end to “anti-Semitism.” On college campuses in the United States vilification of Israel has never been so great.
Throughout his speech, Summers merges vilification of Israel with vilification of Jews. In the following passage, a list of news items, he merges the SodaStream boycott at Harvard with Nazi anti-Semitism.
Harvard’s dining service — in a decision that was apparently not reviewed at any senior level — bowed to pressure from a small group of students to stop purchasing soda dispensers that had been manufactured in occupied parts of the West Bank.
Anecdotal reports suggest that swastika graffiti, comparisons between Israel and the Nazis and intimidation of Jewish students has never been so great…
But Summers frames his speech as a criticism of abdications of moral responsibility; and there is not a word about the slaughter in Gaza last summer, not a word about Palestinian conditions under occupation, nothing about the statelessness of 350,000 Palestinians who have the misfortune to live in East Jerusalem, and just a glancing criticism of Israeli “intransigence” on settlements. You would never know that Israel’s actions are causing its crisis in legitimacy, and fueling the BDS movement. How can it be anti-Semitic to focus on Israel when we see Jewish writers (Henry Siegman, Noam Sheizaf, Eva Illouz) saying that Palestinians have no rights in the occupied territories or are living in a form of slavery. A friend writes:
Summers fails to offer his own moral or political statement one way or another, or any way, on the Occupation, Gaza, discriminatory laws in Israel proper, and the anti-democratic laws and bills. He does not deal at all with the subject at hand. Logically, having avoided the issue, he’s just engaged in name calling.
As BDS becomes more effective, this charge, that it is anti-Semitic, is going to become the rallying cry among Israel defenders. Roger Cohen says as much in his new book. Richard Cohen says so in the Washington Post. Richard Cohen takes it a step further into Islamophobia, saying that Arab Muslims are blaming the Jews for “their own helplessness” and unemployment.
Anti-Semitism is the most durable and pliable of all conspiracy theories…
Anti-Zionism may be legitimate, but it too often seems like a way of expressing anti-Semitism. Israel’s occupation of the West Bank has always troubled me, but it is governed benevolently compared with the way China oppresses Tibet — and where are those demonstrations?
But anti-Zionism is clearly a legitimate belief. It rests on mainstream evidentiary/philosophical grounds: that Zionism has patently failed to produce a fair system after many decades of application, that societies should not legally privilege one ethnic group over another and seek to segregate and ethnically-cleanse the second-class group, that the Jewish Question should not be resolved by taking other people’s lands. Let’s have the debate without the name-calling.
Update: More on the use of the “new face of anti-Semitism” charge. The foreign ministries of Canada and Israel have signed a memorandum of understanding, in Jerusalem, to work together on public diplomacy. The memo calls for a two-state solution and says the two ministries are:
Deeply concerned by efforts to single out the State of Israel for criticism and isolate the State of Israel internationally including calls for a boycott of the State of Israel, for the divestment of investments, and for sanctions to be imposed on Israel,
Recognizing that the selective targeting of Israel reflects the new face of anti‑Semitism,
speaking of “consequential abdication of moral responsibility” wasn’t larry summers in epstien’s little black book? or didn’t he take some plane rides. hmm. moving right along.
More did not want to go near anything where they could be seen as anti-Semitic….
yes that seems to be israel’s numero uno line of defense and fall back position, the accusation. but, like calling wolf, it gets old after awhile. i don’t think this a a good defense to rely on for everything all the time because people are going to wise up after awhile. there’s a really big difference between fearing being “seen” as anti semitic and actually being anti semitic. sometimes, for the greater good, one just has to endure the slings and arrows of accusations to do what’s right. i’m just not afraid of being accused of anti semitism. in fact i find myself in some very decent company these days since it appears that almost everyone sincerely advocating for palestinian rights is also accused.
maybe israel supporters should spend their energy trying to change israeli policy rather than just going after the critics. boring i know, but it just might be effective!
@Phil
You mean name-calling like: ethnic bigot, segregationists, ethnic cleanser and best of all “other people’s lands”. That kind of name calling? You want to have the debate without name calling you have to stop name calling and just discuss the policies from an objective standard. The doctrine that Jews should be forever disenfranchised from national rights because a century ago they missed the starting gun is bogus. “Other people’s lands” is the fundamental name calling in that it argues that Jews are permanently illegitimate forever the bastards of humanity.
I never understood the attraction of Larry Summers, the claims that he was brilliant, the excuse that he was just a bit impolitic. The claim he made that in understanding the under-representation of women in science we should look at genetic differences was just plain stupid. It was a complete misreading of behavioral genetic research methods, one that he likely got from his bud, Stephen Pinker. Elizabeth Warren’s account of Summers’ political insider tactical advice likely provides the best insight into Summers’ climb to the top. I wonder who Obama was caving to when he wanted him to lead the Fed.
A German Judge thinks anti-Zionism equals, or is code for, Antisemitism when sentencing an activist recently
During the hearing, Can claimed he was not an anti-Semite and had nothing against the Jewish people but only against the Zionist state. In response, Judge Sastry is quoted by Die Welt saying, “‘Zionist’ is the language of anti-Semites, the code for ‘Jew.’”
Sastry’s judgment, which does not form a binding precedent in German law, essentially semantically equates antisemitism and anti-Zionism.
Can was sentenced to three months’ probation and a fine of 200 euros. He has until Friday to appeal.
On his Facebook page this week, Can reiterated he that he is not against Jews and stated his intention of appealing to both the district and federal courts. http://www.timesofisrael.com/german-judge-rules-anti-zionism-is-code-for-anti-semitism/
>> The matter is a moral question because Summers contends that it is anti-Semitic to challenge the “legitimacy of Israel as a state.”
Summers – a Zio-supremacist – knows that BDS isn’t challenging the “legitimacy of Israel as a state”. It’s challenging Israel’s illegitimate behaviour as a colonialist and expansionist state that refuses to honour its obligations under international law.
>> He calls the BDS movement a form of anti-Jewish persecution:
Of course he does – that’s what Zio-supremacists do.
>> “American academic community is being implicated in uniquely persecuting the world’s only Jewish state for sins that even on the least sympathetic reading are small compared to those of many other nations.”
Typical Zio-supremacist weaselling:
– shift the discussion from Israel to “Jewish State” in order to make sweeping accusations of anti-Semitism seem more valid [FAIL];
– employ the “murderers exist, so it’s OK to be a rapist” argument to defend against the “Jewish State’s” illegitimate actions (“sins”) [FAIL].