Oct 7, 2010

#BDS: Is boycotting Israel anti-Semitic?

Sherry Wolf, a member of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, responds to claims from supporters of Zionism that criticism of Israel--and in particular, the movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions against it--is "anti-Semitic."
ISRAEL'S SUPPORTERS wield the accusation that Palestine solidarity activists who support a boycott of Israel are guilty of anti-Semitism.
Because this charge is so repugnant to progressives, as Zionists are all too aware, it can have the effect of shutting down any debate about Israel's crimes. In particular, the charge is leveled at the global movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel, which seeks a campaign until Israel "meets its obligation to recognize the Palestinian people's inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with international law," as stated in the BDS call to action.
The outlandish charges by Israel's defenders against pro-Palestine activists reach the heights of hysteria on Web sites like BoycottIsrael.org.uk, which falsely poses as "The official boycott Israel site" and is headlined, "The real Palestine story is just anti-Semitism re-branded--instigated and supported by the storm troopers of our time."
There you have it. According to them, support for a boycott of Israel, which acts in open defiance of international laws and any unbiased person's moral code, is nouveau-Nazism.

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