21 jan 2019
The Israeli-US war declared on the Palestinian boycott movement is coming to a head, culminating in a well-orchestrated effort aimed at suffocating any form of tangible protest of the ongoing Israeli colonization of Palestine.
But an Israeli ‘victory’, even with blind US government support, is still too elusive if at all guaranteed. Killing unarmed protesters at the fence separating besieged Gaza from Israel is often whitewashed as Israel ‘defending itself’. However, legislating unconstitutional laws against the rights of ordinary people to boycott a state that practices war crimes might not be an easy endeavor.
The fact that 26 US states have already passed legislation or some form of condemnation of the civil act of boycott, as championed in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) should, in fact, raise more awareness of the iniquitous Israeli influence on the United States, rather than actually thwarting BDS.
The US Senate first bill of 2019 (S.B.1) titled: “Strengthening America’s Security in the Middle East Act of 2019” called on state and local governments to withhold contracts from any individual or business entity that boycotts Israel.
The bill was defeated, which is a promising sign. However, it must be noted as profound, if not altogether outrageous, that a country that is subsisting in a government shutdown and political crisis would find it both compelling and necessary to push for such a law in defense of a foreign country.
The bill will reappear again, of course. Alas, Americans should now get used to the idea that Israel’s priorities, however skewed and irrational in defense of its illegal military occupation of Palestine, will become the main rally cry for the US government for years to come.
While such a notion has proved true in the past, never before did ordinary Americans find themselves the main target in the political agenda of the far-right government of Benjamin Netanyahu.
Even the mere protest of this agenda is being shunned. Iconic US civil rights activist, Angela Davis, 74, deservingly celebrated for her contribution to American society for decades, was denied an award by the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute because of her defense of Palestinians and support of BDS.
This witch-hunt, which has now reached the most admired intellectuals of American society is affecting ordinary citizens everywhere as well, which is an alarming development in Israel’s unchecked power in the United States.
But how did Israel and its supporters acquire such disproportionate influence over the US government and society as a whole?
In short, the Lobby.
Cheered on by American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and other pro-Israel lobbies, the US Congress is now leading the Israeli war on Palestinians and their supporters. In the process, they are attempting to demolish the very core of American democratic values.
The build-up to this particular battle, which will certainly be accentuated in 2019, began when AIPAC declared in its “2017 Lobbying Agenda” (PDF) that criminalizing the boycott of Israel is a top priority.
The US Congress, which has historically proven subservient to the Israeli government and its lobbies, enthusiastically embraced AIPAC’s efforts. This resulted in the Senate Bill S.720, also known as the “Anti-Israel Boycott Act”, which aimed to ban the boycott of Israel and its illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian West Bank.
The bill almost immediately gained the support of 48 Senators and 234 House members. Unsurprisingly, it was drafted mostly by AIPAC itself.
Punishment for those who violate the proposed law ranged from $250,000 to $1 million and 10 years imprisonment.
Anti-Palestinian measures in the US are nothing new. In fact, ardent support for Israel and the complete disregard for Palestinians is the only aspect which Democrats and Republicans have in common. It will remain to be seen if the inclusion of progressive and Muslim women in this current House lineup will change or at least challenge that reality.
For now, the sad truth is that the very individuals who were meant to guard the Constitution are the ones openly violating it. The First Amendment to the US Constitution has been the pillar in defense of the people’s right to free speech, freedom of the press, “the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances”.
This right has, however, often been curtailed when it applies to Israel. The Center for Constitutional Rights refers to this fact as “The Palestine Exception“.
Dire as it may seem, there is something positive in this. For many years, it has been wrongly perceived that Israel’s solicitation of American support against Palestinians and Arabs is by no means a foreign country meddling or interfering in the US political system or undermining US democracy.
However, the “Israel Anti-Boycott Act” is the most egregious of such interventions, for it strikes down the First Amendment, the very foundation of American democracy, by using America’s own legislators as its executors.
But none of this will succeed because simply put, noble ideas cannot be defeated.
Moreover, for Israel, this is a new kind of battle, one which it is foolishly attempting to fight using the traditional tactics of threats and intimidation and backed by blind US support.
The more the lobby tries to defeat BDS the more it exposes itself and its stranglehold on the American government and media.
Israel is no student of history. It has learned nothing from the experience of the anti-Apartheid struggle in South Africa. It is no surprise that Israel remained the last supporter of the Apartheid regime in that country before it fell.
For true champions of human rights, regardless of their race, religion or citizenship, this is their moment as no meaningful change ever occurs without people being united in struggle and sacrifice.
– Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and editor of Palestine Chronicle. Baroud has a Ph.D. in Palestine Studies from the University of Exeter and is a Non-Resident Scholar at Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies, University of California Santa Barbara.
But an Israeli ‘victory’, even with blind US government support, is still too elusive if at all guaranteed. Killing unarmed protesters at the fence separating besieged Gaza from Israel is often whitewashed as Israel ‘defending itself’. However, legislating unconstitutional laws against the rights of ordinary people to boycott a state that practices war crimes might not be an easy endeavor.
The fact that 26 US states have already passed legislation or some form of condemnation of the civil act of boycott, as championed in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) should, in fact, raise more awareness of the iniquitous Israeli influence on the United States, rather than actually thwarting BDS.
The US Senate first bill of 2019 (S.B.1) titled: “Strengthening America’s Security in the Middle East Act of 2019” called on state and local governments to withhold contracts from any individual or business entity that boycotts Israel.
The bill was defeated, which is a promising sign. However, it must be noted as profound, if not altogether outrageous, that a country that is subsisting in a government shutdown and political crisis would find it both compelling and necessary to push for such a law in defense of a foreign country.
The bill will reappear again, of course. Alas, Americans should now get used to the idea that Israel’s priorities, however skewed and irrational in defense of its illegal military occupation of Palestine, will become the main rally cry for the US government for years to come.
While such a notion has proved true in the past, never before did ordinary Americans find themselves the main target in the political agenda of the far-right government of Benjamin Netanyahu.
Even the mere protest of this agenda is being shunned. Iconic US civil rights activist, Angela Davis, 74, deservingly celebrated for her contribution to American society for decades, was denied an award by the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute because of her defense of Palestinians and support of BDS.
This witch-hunt, which has now reached the most admired intellectuals of American society is affecting ordinary citizens everywhere as well, which is an alarming development in Israel’s unchecked power in the United States.
But how did Israel and its supporters acquire such disproportionate influence over the US government and society as a whole?
In short, the Lobby.
Cheered on by American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and other pro-Israel lobbies, the US Congress is now leading the Israeli war on Palestinians and their supporters. In the process, they are attempting to demolish the very core of American democratic values.
The build-up to this particular battle, which will certainly be accentuated in 2019, began when AIPAC declared in its “2017 Lobbying Agenda” (PDF) that criminalizing the boycott of Israel is a top priority.
The US Congress, which has historically proven subservient to the Israeli government and its lobbies, enthusiastically embraced AIPAC’s efforts. This resulted in the Senate Bill S.720, also known as the “Anti-Israel Boycott Act”, which aimed to ban the boycott of Israel and its illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian West Bank.
The bill almost immediately gained the support of 48 Senators and 234 House members. Unsurprisingly, it was drafted mostly by AIPAC itself.
Punishment for those who violate the proposed law ranged from $250,000 to $1 million and 10 years imprisonment.
Anti-Palestinian measures in the US are nothing new. In fact, ardent support for Israel and the complete disregard for Palestinians is the only aspect which Democrats and Republicans have in common. It will remain to be seen if the inclusion of progressive and Muslim women in this current House lineup will change or at least challenge that reality.
For now, the sad truth is that the very individuals who were meant to guard the Constitution are the ones openly violating it. The First Amendment to the US Constitution has been the pillar in defense of the people’s right to free speech, freedom of the press, “the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances”.
This right has, however, often been curtailed when it applies to Israel. The Center for Constitutional Rights refers to this fact as “The Palestine Exception“.
Dire as it may seem, there is something positive in this. For many years, it has been wrongly perceived that Israel’s solicitation of American support against Palestinians and Arabs is by no means a foreign country meddling or interfering in the US political system or undermining US democracy.
However, the “Israel Anti-Boycott Act” is the most egregious of such interventions, for it strikes down the First Amendment, the very foundation of American democracy, by using America’s own legislators as its executors.
But none of this will succeed because simply put, noble ideas cannot be defeated.
Moreover, for Israel, this is a new kind of battle, one which it is foolishly attempting to fight using the traditional tactics of threats and intimidation and backed by blind US support.
The more the lobby tries to defeat BDS the more it exposes itself and its stranglehold on the American government and media.
Israel is no student of history. It has learned nothing from the experience of the anti-Apartheid struggle in South Africa. It is no surprise that Israel remained the last supporter of the Apartheid regime in that country before it fell.
For true champions of human rights, regardless of their race, religion or citizenship, this is their moment as no meaningful change ever occurs without people being united in struggle and sacrifice.
– Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and editor of Palestine Chronicle. Baroud has a Ph.D. in Palestine Studies from the University of Exeter and is a Non-Resident Scholar at Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies, University of California Santa Barbara.
20 jan 2019
An old saying attributed to Gandhi goes: “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you and then you win.” This saying is, broadly speaking, the right way to understand Israel’s response to the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, since it was first founded by Palestinian civil society in 2005.
As of 2019, Israel is deep into the “fight you” phrase – with decidedly mixed results.
Back in 2005, when BDS was first getting off the ground, it was ignored. Later it was mocked. However now, Israel’s combative phrase has taken on all sorts of forms, from the millions of dollars poured into failing Israel lobby propaganda efforts and astroturf front groups, to the covert operations that Israeli spies are currently running across the world.
As I’ve extensively covered in my reporting – and as the mainstream media has gone to great lengths to ignore – Israeli spies are subverting the democratic process around the world, in order to influence election results in its favor. Israel is also attempting pass laws – in the US and in the UK, among other countries – which would have the effect of outlawing BDS.
Yet as the record shows, Israel is not quite as powerful and influential as it would like to portray itself to be. Its influence over the globally hegemonic imperial power – the USA – is, to a large degree, quite illusionary. US politicians’ support for Israel as a sort of imperial attack dog is by now a sort of article of faith. If the political will was there, however, this could be quite easily reversed.
More importantly, Israel’s popular legitimacy among the populations of the democratic western nations is at an all-time low – even in the US. As the less-shambolic Israeli propagandists privately admit, the BDS movement is on a historical vector which will lead to ultimate victory – freedom, equality and return for all Palestinians.
There was a veritable buffet of BDS victories in 2018, as my colleague at the Electronic Intifada, Nora Barrows-Friedman, recalled in an article last month. In fact, these days, there are so many successful BDS campaigns, it’s hard to keep up.
Certainly one of the most significant pieces of BDS news was the giant multi-national bank HSBC dropping its substantial investment in Elbit – an Israeli arms firm heavily involved in drones and other deadly materiel. Although there was little media focus on this huge news outside of Palestine solidarity movement press, HSBC’s divestment is actually a massive achievement.
It took less than two years to achieve this result. It was only in 2017 that HSBC became a major target for BDS campaigners, who organised protests in HSBC branches and shareholder meetings. It was not that HSBC suddenly grew a conscience. It is a thoroughly disreputable bank, for which the term “ethnically dubious” is a positive understatement. They simply did not want the trouble.
For all that Israeli propagandists like to boast about the supposed “miracle” of the “start-up nation” and the number of high-tech firms that have branches there, the reality is that Israel is actually small fry in terms of global capitalism. Many in the political establishment secretly see the state as, to use the term of the former French ambassador to London, “that shitty little country”.
So it’s actually very little water off the back of a rather large duck when HSBC divests from a single Israeli arms firm. If it saves them some negative headlines and a few local troubles with some protesters, then why not? Or so their thinking likely goes.
But from our point of view, it is yet another concrete, tangible victory. It means more bad publicity for the Israeli arms trade and less investment in the habitual murder of Palestinians in Gaza and elsewhere throughout occupied Palestine.
There were many other significant BDS victories throughout 2018, and it’s worth reading Nora’s article in full to get a good sense of them. Several high-profile pop stars cancelled gigs, for example, after BDS activists requested they did so. These included Lorde, Lana Del Rey and Shakira.
The momentum is all with BDS. Despite Israel’s attempts to sabotage, attack, ban, infiltrate, subvert and destroy it, the movement goes from strength to strength. This seems likely to continue in 2019.
- Asa Winstanley is an investigative journalist living in London who writes about Palestine and the Middle East. He has been visiting Palestine since 2004 and is originally from south Wales. He writes for the award-winning Palestinian news site The Electronic Intifada where he is an associate editor and also a weekly column for the Middle East Monitor where this article was published.
As of 2019, Israel is deep into the “fight you” phrase – with decidedly mixed results.
Back in 2005, when BDS was first getting off the ground, it was ignored. Later it was mocked. However now, Israel’s combative phrase has taken on all sorts of forms, from the millions of dollars poured into failing Israel lobby propaganda efforts and astroturf front groups, to the covert operations that Israeli spies are currently running across the world.
As I’ve extensively covered in my reporting – and as the mainstream media has gone to great lengths to ignore – Israeli spies are subverting the democratic process around the world, in order to influence election results in its favor. Israel is also attempting pass laws – in the US and in the UK, among other countries – which would have the effect of outlawing BDS.
Yet as the record shows, Israel is not quite as powerful and influential as it would like to portray itself to be. Its influence over the globally hegemonic imperial power – the USA – is, to a large degree, quite illusionary. US politicians’ support for Israel as a sort of imperial attack dog is by now a sort of article of faith. If the political will was there, however, this could be quite easily reversed.
More importantly, Israel’s popular legitimacy among the populations of the democratic western nations is at an all-time low – even in the US. As the less-shambolic Israeli propagandists privately admit, the BDS movement is on a historical vector which will lead to ultimate victory – freedom, equality and return for all Palestinians.
There was a veritable buffet of BDS victories in 2018, as my colleague at the Electronic Intifada, Nora Barrows-Friedman, recalled in an article last month. In fact, these days, there are so many successful BDS campaigns, it’s hard to keep up.
Certainly one of the most significant pieces of BDS news was the giant multi-national bank HSBC dropping its substantial investment in Elbit – an Israeli arms firm heavily involved in drones and other deadly materiel. Although there was little media focus on this huge news outside of Palestine solidarity movement press, HSBC’s divestment is actually a massive achievement.
It took less than two years to achieve this result. It was only in 2017 that HSBC became a major target for BDS campaigners, who organised protests in HSBC branches and shareholder meetings. It was not that HSBC suddenly grew a conscience. It is a thoroughly disreputable bank, for which the term “ethnically dubious” is a positive understatement. They simply did not want the trouble.
For all that Israeli propagandists like to boast about the supposed “miracle” of the “start-up nation” and the number of high-tech firms that have branches there, the reality is that Israel is actually small fry in terms of global capitalism. Many in the political establishment secretly see the state as, to use the term of the former French ambassador to London, “that shitty little country”.
So it’s actually very little water off the back of a rather large duck when HSBC divests from a single Israeli arms firm. If it saves them some negative headlines and a few local troubles with some protesters, then why not? Or so their thinking likely goes.
But from our point of view, it is yet another concrete, tangible victory. It means more bad publicity for the Israeli arms trade and less investment in the habitual murder of Palestinians in Gaza and elsewhere throughout occupied Palestine.
There were many other significant BDS victories throughout 2018, and it’s worth reading Nora’s article in full to get a good sense of them. Several high-profile pop stars cancelled gigs, for example, after BDS activists requested they did so. These included Lorde, Lana Del Rey and Shakira.
The momentum is all with BDS. Despite Israel’s attempts to sabotage, attack, ban, infiltrate, subvert and destroy it, the movement goes from strength to strength. This seems likely to continue in 2019.
- Asa Winstanley is an investigative journalist living in London who writes about Palestine and the Middle East. He has been visiting Palestine since 2004 and is originally from south Wales. He writes for the award-winning Palestinian news site The Electronic Intifada where he is an associate editor and also a weekly column for the Middle East Monitor where this article was published.
16 jan 2019
A battle over efforts to suppress the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign has become headlines news in the United States, in the context of an ongoing federal government shutdown.
Last Thursday, the Senate failed for a second time to advance a bill that includes "The Combating BDS Act" legislation giving cover to states that penalize businesses and individuals who participate in boycotts against Israel and Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.
The main obstacles
While the Democrats have refused to back any legislation before the federal shutdown is resolved, a third attempt to advance the anti-BDS legislation is expected. Democrat Senator Bob Menendez has said that the bill “will come back and it will have very strong bipartisan support”.
Despite opposition, the anti-BDS bill may, ultimately, become law. But those pro-Israel advocacy groups, such as AIPAC, pushing such initiatives have faced – and will continue to face – three significant obstacles in their efforts to make an exception of Palestine and Palestinian human rights.
First is the cultural and constitutional commitment to freedom of speech in the United States. Such is the strength of this commitment that even some passionate opponents of BDS are vocally opposed to the criminalization of the boycott campaign.
A significant element of the opposition to the bill has come via the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), with the veteran organisation denouncing what it has called “a measure intended to suppress protected political expression”.
While the ACLU has repeatedly stated that it takes “no position on Israel boycotts, the BDS movement or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”, the organisation has maintained that “states should not be sanctioning businesses on the basis of First Amendment-protected expression and association”.
Palestinian activism
When bill sponsor, Senator Marco Rubio, defended the initiative by rejecting claims it was about free speech, this merely invited a public dressing down on his understanding of the constitution. A second obstacle for those seeking to criminalize BDS is the fact that boycott has a long tradition and history in the US as a form of popular protest and civil society mobilization.
As the ACLU wrote: “Political boycotts, including boycotts of foreign countries, have played a pivotal role in this nation’s history – from the boycotts of British goods during the American Revolution to the Montgomery Bus Boycott to the campaign to divest from apartheid South Africa."
Amjad Iraqi, writing in London Review of Books last July, cited an even wider tradition that includes “the Swadeshi movement’s boycott of British goods in India”, “the economic boycott of Nazi Germany” by European and American Jewish organisations in the 1930s, and the Delano Grape Strike in California in the 1960s”.
Iraqi correctly noted how “Israel insists that the Palestinian cause can’t be included in the venerable history of boycotts”. This means that Israel and pro-Israel advocacy groups have to argue that BDS is "different" – a task made harder by a third obstacle to the anti-BDS crackdown: Palestinian activism.
In targeting BDS, pro-Israel groups have to make the case that Palestinians are not worthy of the same human rights as other peoples, and in parallel, that Israel should not be held to the same standards that other countries are, including those subjected to sanctions by Congress.
Dehumanising Palestinians used to be easier - and it is still all too common – but decades of deeply rooted, civil society activism by Palestinian Americans and their allies is bearing fruit, with support for Palestinians increasingly expressed in the mainstream spaces of media, culture and politics.
Shifting terrain
As I describe in my book, Cracks in the Wall: Beyond Apartheid in Palestine/Israel, one manifestation of these changes is the polarization between Republican and Democrat voters over Israel and the Palestinians, with liberals and progressives being increasingly alienated from Israel.
These changes are no longer restricted to the grassroots. As The New York Times reported ahead of the Congressional mid-terms, newly elected representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib have all “dared to breach what has been an almost inviolable orthodoxy in both political parties”, namely “strong support for Israel”.
“Running on platforms that emphasize opposing discrimination against marginalized groups," the paper added, “candidates have introduced the Palestinian issue as what they call a larger commitment to social justice."
Writing in Israeli newspaper Haaretz last week, correspondent Amir Tibon highlighted a “challenge” facing “Israeli diplomats and groups like AIPAC” in “the current political environment” – “the growing ‘progressive wing’ within the Democratic Party which is very critical of Israel, and now includes two members of the House of Representatives who openly endorse BDS”.
This is not to deny the very considerable energies being put into fighting the BDS movement at both state and federal level – not to mention the repression and censorship experienced by students and faculty at universities. And, to reiterate, this latest legislative effort may even ultimately be passed.
But the obstacles faced by those leading the legislative fight against BDS in the US are evidence that for Israel, long used to getting its own way, the terrain is shifting unfavorably.
- Ben White is the author of Israeli Apartheid: A Beginner's Guide and Palestinians in Israel: Segregation, Discrimination and Democracy. He is a writer for Middle East Monitor and his articles have been published by Al Jazeera, al-Araby, Huffington Post, the Electronic Intifada, the Guardian's Comment is Free and more.
Last Thursday, the Senate failed for a second time to advance a bill that includes "The Combating BDS Act" legislation giving cover to states that penalize businesses and individuals who participate in boycotts against Israel and Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.
The main obstacles
While the Democrats have refused to back any legislation before the federal shutdown is resolved, a third attempt to advance the anti-BDS legislation is expected. Democrat Senator Bob Menendez has said that the bill “will come back and it will have very strong bipartisan support”.
Despite opposition, the anti-BDS bill may, ultimately, become law. But those pro-Israel advocacy groups, such as AIPAC, pushing such initiatives have faced – and will continue to face – three significant obstacles in their efforts to make an exception of Palestine and Palestinian human rights.
First is the cultural and constitutional commitment to freedom of speech in the United States. Such is the strength of this commitment that even some passionate opponents of BDS are vocally opposed to the criminalization of the boycott campaign.
A significant element of the opposition to the bill has come via the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), with the veteran organisation denouncing what it has called “a measure intended to suppress protected political expression”.
While the ACLU has repeatedly stated that it takes “no position on Israel boycotts, the BDS movement or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”, the organisation has maintained that “states should not be sanctioning businesses on the basis of First Amendment-protected expression and association”.
Palestinian activism
When bill sponsor, Senator Marco Rubio, defended the initiative by rejecting claims it was about free speech, this merely invited a public dressing down on his understanding of the constitution. A second obstacle for those seeking to criminalize BDS is the fact that boycott has a long tradition and history in the US as a form of popular protest and civil society mobilization.
As the ACLU wrote: “Political boycotts, including boycotts of foreign countries, have played a pivotal role in this nation’s history – from the boycotts of British goods during the American Revolution to the Montgomery Bus Boycott to the campaign to divest from apartheid South Africa."
Amjad Iraqi, writing in London Review of Books last July, cited an even wider tradition that includes “the Swadeshi movement’s boycott of British goods in India”, “the economic boycott of Nazi Germany” by European and American Jewish organisations in the 1930s, and the Delano Grape Strike in California in the 1960s”.
Iraqi correctly noted how “Israel insists that the Palestinian cause can’t be included in the venerable history of boycotts”. This means that Israel and pro-Israel advocacy groups have to argue that BDS is "different" – a task made harder by a third obstacle to the anti-BDS crackdown: Palestinian activism.
In targeting BDS, pro-Israel groups have to make the case that Palestinians are not worthy of the same human rights as other peoples, and in parallel, that Israel should not be held to the same standards that other countries are, including those subjected to sanctions by Congress.
Dehumanising Palestinians used to be easier - and it is still all too common – but decades of deeply rooted, civil society activism by Palestinian Americans and their allies is bearing fruit, with support for Palestinians increasingly expressed in the mainstream spaces of media, culture and politics.
Shifting terrain
As I describe in my book, Cracks in the Wall: Beyond Apartheid in Palestine/Israel, one manifestation of these changes is the polarization between Republican and Democrat voters over Israel and the Palestinians, with liberals and progressives being increasingly alienated from Israel.
These changes are no longer restricted to the grassroots. As The New York Times reported ahead of the Congressional mid-terms, newly elected representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib have all “dared to breach what has been an almost inviolable orthodoxy in both political parties”, namely “strong support for Israel”.
“Running on platforms that emphasize opposing discrimination against marginalized groups," the paper added, “candidates have introduced the Palestinian issue as what they call a larger commitment to social justice."
Writing in Israeli newspaper Haaretz last week, correspondent Amir Tibon highlighted a “challenge” facing “Israeli diplomats and groups like AIPAC” in “the current political environment” – “the growing ‘progressive wing’ within the Democratic Party which is very critical of Israel, and now includes two members of the House of Representatives who openly endorse BDS”.
This is not to deny the very considerable energies being put into fighting the BDS movement at both state and federal level – not to mention the repression and censorship experienced by students and faculty at universities. And, to reiterate, this latest legislative effort may even ultimately be passed.
But the obstacles faced by those leading the legislative fight against BDS in the US are evidence that for Israel, long used to getting its own way, the terrain is shifting unfavorably.
- Ben White is the author of Israeli Apartheid: A Beginner's Guide and Palestinians in Israel: Segregation, Discrimination and Democracy. He is a writer for Middle East Monitor and his articles have been published by Al Jazeera, al-Araby, Huffington Post, the Electronic Intifada, the Guardian's Comment is Free and more.
11 jan 2019
Malaysia has reiterated that it will not permit Israeli athletes hoping to compete in the 2019 World Para Swimming Championships in Kuching, Borneo, to enter the country.
The event runs from July 29 to Aug. 4, and is one of the qualifying events for the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo.
“We will not allow them (to enter). If they come, then it is an offense,” Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad told reporters on Thursday.
He explained that since Malaysia, a staunch supporter of Palestinian independence, has no diplomatic relations with Israel and does not recognize it as a state, it would be against the law to issue visas to the Israeli squad.
The 93-year old prime minister’s statement is in keeping with the country’s long-held policy toward Israel. In the past, Israeli squads have been refused entry to compete in international sailing competitions and tennis tournaments in Malaysia.
Despite mounting pressure from the International Paralympic Committee and the Israeli Olympic Committee, Malaysia is holding firm in its stance. “If they want to withdraw the championship hosting rights from Malaysia, then they can try to do so,” Mahathir said.
Muslim Imran, president of the Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia and a Kuala Lumpur-based Palestinian, said he sees the ban as a reaction to charges that Israel undermined Malaysia’s national security through Mossad’s involvement in the murder of Fadi Mohammad al-Batsh, a Palestinian academic and member of Hamas who was killed in the Malaysian capital last year.
Imran also pointed out that Malaysia’s decision was consistent with its long-standing opposition to the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
“Malaysia is serious about its political support for the Palestinian struggle. More pressure has to be piled on Israel to end its apartheid policies,” he told Arab News.
Malaysia has been one of the most vocal critics of the decades-long occupation.
The event runs from July 29 to Aug. 4, and is one of the qualifying events for the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo.
“We will not allow them (to enter). If they come, then it is an offense,” Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad told reporters on Thursday.
He explained that since Malaysia, a staunch supporter of Palestinian independence, has no diplomatic relations with Israel and does not recognize it as a state, it would be against the law to issue visas to the Israeli squad.
The 93-year old prime minister’s statement is in keeping with the country’s long-held policy toward Israel. In the past, Israeli squads have been refused entry to compete in international sailing competitions and tennis tournaments in Malaysia.
Despite mounting pressure from the International Paralympic Committee and the Israeli Olympic Committee, Malaysia is holding firm in its stance. “If they want to withdraw the championship hosting rights from Malaysia, then they can try to do so,” Mahathir said.
Muslim Imran, president of the Palestinian Cultural Organization Malaysia and a Kuala Lumpur-based Palestinian, said he sees the ban as a reaction to charges that Israel undermined Malaysia’s national security through Mossad’s involvement in the murder of Fadi Mohammad al-Batsh, a Palestinian academic and member of Hamas who was killed in the Malaysian capital last year.
Imran also pointed out that Malaysia’s decision was consistent with its long-standing opposition to the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
“Malaysia is serious about its political support for the Palestinian struggle. More pressure has to be piled on Israel to end its apartheid policies,” he told Arab News.
Malaysia has been one of the most vocal critics of the decades-long occupation.
January 10, 2019 / By Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) / United StatesThe Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), a founding member of the BDS movement for Palestinian rights, salutes Angela Davis for her lifelong struggle for justice and expresses its full solidarity with her.
The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (BCRI)’s reversal of its decision to present Professor Davis with a human rights award was due to her “long-term support of justice for Palestine,” as she put it. It is a missed opportunity to honor an iconic figure who has for decades consistently embodied the values the award is meant to recognize.
Our deep disappointment with the BCRI’s decision is tempered not only by the huge outpouring of support Davis has received but also by her resolve to instead attend an alternative event that will emphasize the organic link between the struggle for justice locally and globally.
It is increasingly clear that the Israel lobby, including its fanatic Christian Zionist wing, is nourishing a new McCarthyism in the US and elsewhere, with loyalty to Israel’s far-right regime made into a litmus test. Suppression of freedom of expression and undermining intersectional solidarity are key features of this heightened repression.
Continuing to champion the “indivisibility of justice,” as Davis has done for so long, must be our response to the brutality of injustice. We, therefore, call on BCRI not to submit to Israeli lobby pressures and to uphold its values as an institution struggling for human rights by honoring Angela Davis, as she was meant to be honored.
Related: 01/09/19 Birmingham Honors Angela Davis after Israel Lobby Sabotages Award
The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (BCRI)’s reversal of its decision to present Professor Davis with a human rights award was due to her “long-term support of justice for Palestine,” as she put it. It is a missed opportunity to honor an iconic figure who has for decades consistently embodied the values the award is meant to recognize.
Our deep disappointment with the BCRI’s decision is tempered not only by the huge outpouring of support Davis has received but also by her resolve to instead attend an alternative event that will emphasize the organic link between the struggle for justice locally and globally.
It is increasingly clear that the Israel lobby, including its fanatic Christian Zionist wing, is nourishing a new McCarthyism in the US and elsewhere, with loyalty to Israel’s far-right regime made into a litmus test. Suppression of freedom of expression and undermining intersectional solidarity are key features of this heightened repression.
Continuing to champion the “indivisibility of justice,” as Davis has done for so long, must be our response to the brutality of injustice. We, therefore, call on BCRI not to submit to Israeli lobby pressures and to uphold its values as an institution struggling for human rights by honoring Angela Davis, as she was meant to be honored.
Related: 01/09/19 Birmingham Honors Angela Davis after Israel Lobby Sabotages Award
