by Dror Eydar
Here you have the rationale behind the BDS movement spelled out: The Palestinians "self-definition" is the annihilation of the State of Israel, once and for all. Not "occupation" or any of the other linguistic substitutes that the spokespeople of the Left among us like to deceive themselves with.
Orange International
CEO Stéphane Richard folding embarrassingly in an apologetic
conversation with Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom won't erase the
damage done by his statements. Neither will the hysteria about it here.
The issue of BDS must be addressed quietly, not with noise. We don't
need regular "emergency meetings" -- we need serious, ongoing action
against entities like these at home and abroad. This needs to come along
with activity aimed at the various world governments that fund groups
like these. The most important thing is to spread the dialogue about our
rights to the land, because that's exactly the subject the BDS
propaganda is aiming at.
In a one-sided
discussion on Channel 2's "Friday Studio" news magazine, journalists
Arad Nir and Amnon Abramovich repeated the Left's standard position,
which holds that the story is the "occupation" and the "settlements in
the territories." Abramovich went so far as to day that even if there
was a sliver of hatred for Israel in the BDS movement (only a sliver?),
"the main tier isn't about our existence, but about Israeli policy." In
the "territories," of course. For balance, there was Labor Party
Chairman MK Isaac Herzog. Yeah. ... In any case, their opinion isn't
supported by what the BDS leaders themselves say, which has the full
consensus of the Palestinians.
In an interview in 2010
(on tape and available online), Omar Barghouti, one of the founders of
the BDS movement, was asked: "If the occupation ends, will that put an
end to your call for a general boycott of Israel?" His reply: "No, it
wouldn't. Because the Palestinian people are not just suffering from
occupation. ... They are suffering from denial of their right to come
back home. The majority of Palestinians are refugees ... denied the
right to return to their lands ... simply because they're not Jews.
Israel, in its own system of apartheid, insists on having a Jewish
majority in this land ... after ethnically cleansing the majority of the
Palestinians in 1948." Barghouti added that the third segment of the
BDS movement was that Israel's Palestinian citizens "live under
conditions of apartheid." And also that "the right of Palestinian
refugees to return home," which could "not be negotiated away" and was
an "inalienable right ... that is part of our self-definition [as
Palestinians], and this is something we cannot compromise on."
Here you have the
rationale behind the BDS movement spelled out: The Palestinians
"self-definition" is the annihilation of the State of Israel, once and
for all. Not "occupation" or any of the other linguistic substitutes
that the spokespeople of the Left among us like to deceive themselves
with.
Two years after the
interview quoted above, the Jewish American historian Norman Finkelstein
-- one of Israel's biggest critics (haters?) and a fervent supporter of
the BDS movement -- said straight out (in a filmed interview, also
available online) that despite the BDS claims that it wants to apply
international law to Israel, Israel was correct in its claim that the
BDS wanted to destroy it: "They're talking about they want to destroy
Israel. ... I'm not going to lie."
Finkelstein added:
"They think they're being very clever. They call it their three tiers
... We want the end of the occupation, we want the right of return, and
we want equal rights for Arabs in Israel. And they think they are very
clever, because they know the result of implementing all three is what?
What's the result? You know and I know what's the result: There's no
Israel." He also told the interviewer: "It’s not an unwitting omission
that BDS does not mention Israel. You know that and I know that. ...
They won’t mention it because they know it will split the movement.
'Cause there’s a large segment of the movement that wants to eliminate
Israel."
The activity against
Orange this past weekend was an introduction on how to deal with the BDS
movement: by going on the attack, not on the defensive. We are the ones
who are right, not the pack of lies those who hate us are spreading.
The BDS movement is nothing new. Many companies boycotted Israel in its
first decades. We got through it, and even prompted U.S. legislation
[late] against them.
We can bring lobbies to
the various parliaments to push for counter-BDS legislation. Such
efforts are already underway, although limited in scope, but it's
definitely possible. Jews throughout the world are being called to the
colors and can certainly help, both through taking financial action
against BDS and by political lobbying. The international leftist
organizations that operate against us are a model for how we should
engage against their nations. We can do it.
Dror Eydar
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=12801
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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