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More on Israel’s combating BDS

By Miko Peled | American Herald Tribune | March 5, 2016

It is strange to see a newspaper in a country that considers itself a democracy, commit itself to silencing freedom of speech and the call for freedom from oppression. But here we see that Israel’s daily Yediot Aharonot and Ynet are persistent in their attempts to fight BDS. One would think that a newspaper would want to ensure that freedom of speech and opposition to oppression are protected and that members of society can make up their own minds about any given issue. But not this newspaper. Yediot Aharonot is dedicated to fighting BDS and has published a series of reports and articles under the headline “Fighting the Boycott.” They feature interviews with, the “people on the front line in the fight against the boycott movement” as Ynet describes them.

It is worth to take a minute and think about the use of the term “front line.” It is interesting to note that there are people who are considered as being on the “front line,” a term which suggests there is a war going on and certain people are sent to the front, and are in real danger. This terminology is no doubt part of the effort to paint BDS as violent movement. Israel, a society not unlike Sparta, which only understands war, is trying to paint BDS as a threat that it can kill. But even they admit that BDS is a campaign “without knives or missiles.”  So who are the people in the “front line?” the answer, at least in part, is in this piece on Ynet.

“De-legitimization of Israel must be fought, and you are on the front lines.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this to attendees, in a letter read aloud at a BDS emergency summit organized by Sheldon Adelson in Las Vegas.” A conference at one of Adleson’s Las Vegas casinos, “Front line” indeed.  The same story continues to tell us that “One hundred million Israeli Shekels are planned to be allocated to the Strategic Affairs and Information Minister Gilad Erdan, whose office’s purview includes fighting BDS.” That’s about twenty-five million dollars, “Erdan’s office will also receive ten new positions for employees who will deal solely with the boycott and de-legitimization activities against Israel […] Erdan estimated that the budget can double or triple to NIS 300 million with the help of Jewish and pro-Israel organizations.” Perhaps they can triple their money but to what purpose?

Nowhere in the articles and reports published by Ynet is there any real substantial argument to oppose BDS. Surely, I thought to myself, there must be some content with which Ynet and Adelson and all the others mean to utilize in this fight. If there is any content I couldn’t find it. In a piece in Hebrew, titled, “The Snakes Head – the Academic Boycott,” Tsahi Gavrieli writes that if Israel wants to discover how it ended up in the midst of a debate questioning its own legitimacy, the answer is to be found on US campuses. That would not be the first place I would look.  Had I been charged with discovering the reasons behind the emergence and the growth of BDS as a movement and as an idea, I would visit Palestinian refugee camps. I would see the camps in Lebanon and Syria, Jordan and of course all over Palestine. I would look into the conditions in which thousands of Palestinian political prisoners are held by Israel. I would examine what takes place when Israeli jets attack Palestinian targets, I would look at the countless cases where thousands of unarmed Palestinian civilians were killed, maimed and made homeless by Israel. I would look at the Israeli Knesset which regularly spits out new laws that make the oppression and dispossession of Palestinians “legal.” I would look to the total disregard that Israeli society has toward the lives of Palestinians.

The most common question asked by those who want to “combat” BDS, is “Why Israel?” and there are several answers to that. First of all, why not? Then they ask, why not boycott all the other racist and brutal regimes around the world that are even worse than Israel. And the reply is – no reason we can’t do both. In fact, sanctions and boycotts have been used against many regimes and many states. Using BDS, or in other words,  imposing boycotts, divesting and imposing sanctions is very common. It was used against Iraq, Iran, it was used against South Africa during apartheid, the Indian resistance under Gandhi used boycott as a tool, and now the US is leading sanctions against Russia and the list goes on.

Besides the obvious facts that point to Israel as a state and as a society that for seven decades continue to commit the crimes of ethnic cleansing, apartheid and genocide, and therefore deserve to be punished, there is one other answer. Palestinian civil society has told the world that this is how to best support the Palestinian cause. They have given the rest of the world a road map for supporting the Palestinian struggle. They have asked the world, and by doing so gave the world a gift, by guiding people of conscience as to how best they can support the people of Palestine in their struggle for freedom. That road map is BDS.

Another piece by Ynet uses the only image Israel understands, the military metaphor: “Those involved in this fight warn that these are critical moments in the war on BDS.” Actually there is no war. There is a legitimate, unarmed struggle to free Palestine from the Spartan regime Israel has imposed upon it. They go on to say that “A worldwide call to arms must be issued, as the battle will be conducted at all levels […] It is the hope that this conference will be the first shot in the war against the BDS movement, a war where there is no other option but to win.” Ynet clearly understands that BDS is posing a serious threat. It also seems to understand that Israel is unprepared and unequipped to deal with this threat, in fact Israel is doing everything to strengthen the struggle and garner more support for BDS. It seems to be the case that violent, racist regimes are also incredibly stupid, and that is quite often their downfall. Blinded by their own racism they are incapable of understanding their shortcomings. There is every reason to expect that Zionism in Palestine will fall for these same reasons.

Miko Peled is an Israeli writer and activist living in the US. He was born and raised in Jerusalem. His father was the late Israeli General Matti Peled. Driven by a personal family tragedy to explore Palestine, its people and their narrative. He has written a book about his journey from the sphere of the privileged Israeli to that of the oppressed Palestinians. His book is titled “The General’s Son, Journey of an Israeli in Palestine.” Peled speaks nationally and internationally on the issue of Palestine. Peled supports the creation of a single democratic state in all of Palestine, he is also a firm supporter of BDS.

March 5, 2016 - Posted by aletho | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Mainstream Media, Warmongering | BDS, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel, Palestine, Sheldon Adelson, United States, Zionism