Over the weekend, The New York Times ran a full-page “explainer” about the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign targeting Israel under the headline, “Is BDS Anti-Semitic? A Closer Look at the Boycott Israel Campaign.” We were surprised — and pleased — that the piece was as fair as it was.
The biggest problem with the article is the headline/framing. The Times would never run an article asking, “Is Zionism Racist?” — although there is plenty of evidence that Jewish nationalism is as inherently intolerant of non-Jews as white nationalism is of people of color.
But the article does include many paragraphs that are fair. Just look at this one. The Times acknowledges that the demand by the BDS campaign for “full equality” for Palestinian citizens of Israel is threatening to Zionists.
But many Israelis say the movement’s real goal is the elimination of Israel as a Jewish state. Full equality for Arab citizens of Israel would require overturning or amending Israeli laws that grant Jews automatic citizenship and define Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people.
Reasonable readers are sure to ask, If a state is premised on inequality, what kind of state is it? As the Times suggests, discrimination is embedded in Israel’s laws. The nation-state law is a “basic law,” said to be equivalent to a constitution. In Israel, Jews have more rights than the 20-25 percent of the population that is non-Jewish, and the millions of Palestinians under occupation are denied rights altogether.
No wonder Palestinians support BDS, something else the Times points out.
Within the West Bank and Gaza, sponsors include a broad coalition of unions and nongovernmental organizations. B.D.S. enjoys at least the tacit support of a large majority of Palestinians, according to Khalil Shikaki, a Ramallah-based pollster.
NYT reporters Michael Wines, David Halbfinger and Steven Erlanger are also fair to the campaign by showing that a lot of liberal Jews support BDS!
Elsewhere, it appeals to those, including a significant number of politically liberal Jews, who are frustrated by the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, and the blockade and frequent bloodshed in Gaza.
The reasonable reader is bound to wonder, If a large majority of Palestinians support it, as do many liberal Jews — why have 27 state legislatures in the United States and the House of Representative tried to crush BDS? Because the political problem is here, too.
BDS is not very “entrenched in the U.S.,” the Times says, but it sees “significant” support for the campaign:
[T]he idea has significant support, and may be gaining ground. A survey released in February suggested that one in five Americans approved of B.D.S. as a way of opposing Israeli policy toward Palestinians. A December 2018 University of Maryland poll of a much larger sample put support at 40 percent.
Forty percent! Yet the House voted last week 398-17 against BDS with leading Jewish organizations pushing for the measure. And btw, the article says that many Americans support BDS to pressure Israel to end the occupation.
There are many concerns with the article. It offers a partial quotation of Omar Barghouti’s opposition to a Jewish state, and fails to report Barghouti’s complete statement: he opposes a Jewish state in Palestine for the same reasons that he would object to a Christian or Muslim state. Barghouti has an op-ed in The Nation explaining that AIPAC circulated a redacted transcript of his remarks.
The Times article also states that there “is some overlap between support for B.D.S. and anti-Semitism,” along with a photo of desecrated Jewish graves, but never substantiates that claim.
Today, maybe the Times started to get cold feet, even though Hasbara Central has been remarkably quiet so far. The paper partly walked back its “explainer” by running an op-ed from Eric Alterman of The Nation attacking BDS as politically “insignificant.” Alterman’s piece includes one key comment that undermines his central argument.
Representative Brad Schneider, the Democratic co-sponsor of the House anti-B. D. S. bill, admits: “Am I worried about the overall B.D.S. movement worldwide as an economic matter? No. As an effort to delegitimize Israel, of course.”
That of course is why the Israelis are going haywire over BDS. They see it as enormously potent in raising consciousness about Israel and Zionism in just the way the NYT explainer article helped to raise consciousness. Reminder: Full equality for Palestinian citizens is a threat to “the Jewish state.”
A commenter on Alterman’s post, Merlot in Philadelphia, points out the effectiveness of BDS:
Tens of millions of dollars have been given by pro-Israel donors like [Haim] Saban and [Sheldon] Adelson to counter BDS.
If BDS is so ineffectual, why spend so much time, effort, and money countering the movement? The reality is that BDS has significantly shifted debates. It has placed Palestinian voices at the fore and it has brought forward Israeli abuses. All of that at a time when Israel is becoming more repressive.
Alterman cites two rightwing Republicans approvingly, on the same AIPAC talking point about Barghouti:
[Senator Mitch] McConnell and [Rep. Kevin] McCarthy are not wrong to remind us that “Omar Barghouti, one of the movement’s co-founders, proclaimed in 2013 that ‘no Palestinian — rational Palestinian, not a sell-out Palestinian — will ever accept a Jewish state in Palestine.’”
Alterman is a professor, called “Dr. Alterman” in the Times‘s description of him. As such, maybe he should have learned to go to the source of the quotation — Omar Barghouti himself — instead of relying on a couple of Republican political hacks. Here is Barghouti’s full statement:
A Jewish state in Palestine in any shape or form cannot but contravene the basic rights of the land’s indigenous Palestinian population and perpetuate a system of racial discrimination that ought to be opposed categorically. As we would oppose a Muslim state or a Christian state, or any kind of exclusionary state, definitely, most definitely we oppose a Jewish state in any part of Palestine. No Palestinian — rational Palestinian, not a sell-out Palestinian — would ever accept a Jewish state in Palestine.
This ought to be fairly obvious to anyone calling themselves liberal. We think almost all Americans would not accept a religious state in our own borders. So you must ask yourself: If no Palestinians will accept a “Jewish state” in Palestine — is there something wrong with the idea?
H/t Donald Johnson, Scott Roth, Phil Weiss.
Important article. This is where the discussion needs to evolve.
Israel has destroyed the 2SS, as the US and others have been warning against for years. Now it will be left arguing for supremacy over equality and that will not fly for long in today’s America/Congress. The fly in the ointment will be those arguing against accepting Israel’s existence at all and accepting violence toward that end. They can undermine the potential effectiveness of the campaign for equality over supremacy.
Being a supremacist is hard work: Every day you have to stand guard against – and be prepared to do “necessary evil” unto people who advocate – highly-offensive and even dangerous moral ideals like full equality (and justice, human rights and accountability). :-(
Canadian victory:
https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/.premium-canada-court-rules-israeli-wine-from-settlements-must-be-marked-as-such-1.7603403
“Israeli Wine From Settlements Must Be Labelled, Canada Court Rules” by Noa Landau, Haaretz, July 29/19
“Marking products of settlement as ‘made in Israel’ is misleading for people who wish to boycott them as a peaceful political expression, says court ruling.”
“A court in Canada ruled on Monday that Israeli wine from settlements must be marked, saying that labelling such products as ‘made in Israel’ is misleading to people who wish to boycott settlement products for political reasons.
“The petition was filed by activists against the authority in charge of regulating food imports into Canada. The court, acting as the court of first instance on the case, ruled that the office must find an alternative wording for the labelling of products from settlements.
“The verdict noted the sensitivity and complexity of the issue, but accepted the principled stance that ‘One peaceful way in which people can express their political views is through their purchasing decisions.’ Thus, they should be provided with ‘accurate information as to the source of the products in question.’
“In June, an advocate general of the European Court of Justice released a legal opinion that a 2018 decision by a French court not to require marking wine bottles produced in Jewish West Bank settlements is invalid.
“Should the ECJ follow the advocate general’s opinion it could boost enforcement across the European Union, which is now minimal.
“The advocate general noted that EU law requires that a product made on a territory captured by Israel since 1967 be marked as produced in the settlements.
“In 2018, a French court granted the Psagot winery’s request not to enforce the EU directive to mark products manufactured in the settlements but ruled that the ECJ should review the decision since France is subject to the EU law.
“According to the directive, consumers must be explicitly informed whether products were made in the West Bank.”
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Also:
CJPME Applauds Federal Court Decision on Settlement Wines
For Immediate Release
Montreal, July 29, 2019 — “Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) applauds the Federal Court of Canada’s ruling against “Product of Israel” labels on wines produced in Israeli colonies (aka “settlements”). This morning, the Federal Court rejected this practice, calling the mislabelling ‘false, misleading and deceptive.’ CJPME agrees with the Federal Court’s principled decision on this matter and renews its call for the Canadian government to distinguish between products originating from Israel and Israeli colonies in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).
“Since 2017, Winnipeg-resident Dr. David Kattenburg has lodged several formal complaints over the mislabelling of wines produced in Israel’s colonies in the OPT. In his persistent fight to hold the Canadian Food Inspection Agency accountable to its own standards, Kattenburg and his lawyer Dimitri Lascaris brought the case forward to the Federal Court of Canada. Early this morning, the Court released its decision, ruling that mislabelling wines from Israeli colonies as ‘products of Israel’ is both inaccurate and a violation of Canadian consumer protection laws. The Court’s decision is consistent with UN Security Council Resolution 2334 (December 2016), which condemned Israel’s colonies and urged the international community to properly distinguish between products from the state of Israel and the OPT.
“For the past two years, CJPME has closely followed this case, campaigning for the Canadian government ensure rigour, transparency, and compliance in regard to the labeling of wines coming from the Middle East, specifically the OPT. Responding to today’s decision, CJPME President Thomas Woodley stated, ‘This landmark ruling will have a significant impact for human rights advocates who wish to boycott wines originating from illegal Israeli colonies. What’s more, this could be the start of a larger movement to label – and even ban – products originating from Israeli colonies.’ CJPME notes that while the Trudeau government has repeatedly condemned human rights activists who boycott Israel and/or Israeli colonies, Federal Court Justice Mactavish remarked, ‘One peaceful way in which people can express their political views is through their purchasing decisions. To be able to express their views in this manner, however, consumers have to be provided with accurate information as to the source of the products in question.’
“Since 2015, the European Union has issued labeling guidelines for products imported from Israeli colonies based in the OPT. However, in accordance with international law, many Palestinians have called for a complete boycott of any business or institution participating ‘directly or indirectly’ in the Israeli military occupation of Palestinian territories. In wake of the Federal Court’s decision, CJPME recommends that Canada distinguish in its dealings with Israel and Israeli colonies and immediately suspend the import of products produced illegally by Israeli companies operating out of the West Bank.”
In a sense the Jewish/Israeli paranoia has a real basis. If there were equality between Palestinians and Jews then the power balance would have to change and Jews would have to relinquish their supremacy and entitlements. In the US we see the same dynamic regarding racism up close and personal and we see the viciousness of the reactionary fight to maintain white supremacy.
However, let me be very clear, this change in power relationships must occur if there is ever to be peace and human decency. Israel clearly lacks the latter.
I would add that any anti-semitism in the BDS movement is purely happenstance as some people will do anything to attach Jews and Israel. But it is very unfair, unreal and diversionary to focus on this few hangers on to the BDS movement and to ignore the core goals of the movement. Economic boycotts do work even if they take time. The grape boycott in California years ago on behalf of farmworkers and the Montgomery bus boycott were very successful in the US–both events in the living memory of many Americans. The S.African BDS was also successful altho it took several years to build the international support necessary for it to have the impact it needed. So don’t ever be taken in by any argument that BDS against Israel is useless, meaningless, etc. Israel is quite concerned about the bad publicity it is receiving. It is also reeling from lost income and reputation as cultural icons refuse to perform or academics refusing to work there. Cumulatively these are big losses for Israel. We need to keep up the work and pressure in the US particularly. It is a touch nut to crack.
The average American is bombarded via corporate news selling Israel as the only democracy in the Middle East, a small, brave state surrounded by Arab enemies, merely trying to survive. Most Americans care about lunch bucket issues, not foreign policy; when they do catch a bit of the news, they only get hasbara regarding Israel. If they knew the real situation regarding Israelis and Palestinians, and also how the Israel Lobby buys our elected politicians, support for Israel would vanish overnight.