The Boycott of Israel is Gaining Speed
Posted on 08. Sep, 2010 by Raja Mujtaba in Gaza Today
An Analysis By Professor Lawrence Davidson
On September 5, 2010 the Israel newspaper Haaretz published an article the headline of which read “Anti-Israel Economic Boycotts are Gaining Speed.” The subtitle went on to state that “the sums involved are not large, but their international significance is huge.” Actually, what seems to have triggered the piece was not international. Rather, it was the decision of a “few dozen theater people” to boycott “a new cultural center in Ariel,” an illegally settled town in the Occupied Territories. This action drew public support from 150 academics in Israel. The response from the Israeli right, which presently controls the government and much of Israel’s information environment, was loud and hateful.
Though this affair was domestic, it provided a jumping off point for Haaretz to go on and examine the larger international boycott of Israel which is indeed “gaining speed.” It noted that Chile had recently pledged to boycott products from the Israeli settlements and Norway’s state pension plan had divested itself of companies involved in construction in the Occupied Territories. The Haaretz article pointed out that these incidents (and there are others that can be named in such countries as Ireland and Venezuela) are signs that the boycott movement –so long the province civil society– is now finding resonance at the level of national governments. The Israeli paper declared that “the world is changing before our eyes. Five years ago the anti-Israel movement may have been marginal. Now it is growing into an economic problem.”
The article puts forth two explanations for this turn of events one of which is problematic, and the other incomplete. Let’s take a look at them.
1. “Until now boycott organizers had been on the far left. [Now] they have a new ally: Islamic organizations….The red side has a name for championing human rights, while the green side [the Islamic side] has money.” I have some personal knowledge of the boycott movement and I find some of these particulars to be, at best, exaggerations. The term “far left” must be based on some arbitrary Zionist definition of the political spectrum. Worldwide community support for the growing boycott movement has gone beyond political alignments. Today, it is a reflection of real united front seeking the promotion of Palestinian human rights (in this Haaretz is on the mark). As for the “green side” there is certainly an understandable affinity here. Muslims too are concerned about the human rights of Palestinians (including the Christians ones). However, the claim of any significant flow of cash is, as far as I know, another exaggeration. The Haaretz piece cites the example of the aid flotilla to Gaza, with its link to Turkey. But this is just one case in a worldwide movement. And, there was nothing illegitimate (despite Israeli propaganda) about the involvement of Turkish charities. It might come as a surprise to the Israelis, but you can run a boycott movement without heavy outside funding–as was the case of the boycott against South Africa.
2. Haaretz continues, “but then came the occupation, which turned us into the evil Goliath, the cruel oppressor, a darkness on the nations.” The article suggests that this is such a contrast with the righteous stand that helped convince the West to support the original formation of Israel that many have turned away from Israel in disappointment. “And now we are paying the price of presenting ourselves as righteous and causing disappointment: boycott.” No doubt there is much disappointment. The horrors of Israeli expansionism and occupation are such that they draw worldwide attention. And rightly so. But, they are symptoms of some deeper cause. What might it be? The state of Israel was founded on an ideological program called Zionism. That program called for the establishment of a state designed to serve the exclusive interests of one religiously identified group. While the Zionists felt this aim was justified by the centuries of persecution suffered by European Jews, it actually carried within it the seeds of its own corruption. The simple truth is that you cannot successfully design a state for one group only unless you found it on some desert island. If you put it down in a place that is occupied by others who are not of your group, what is the most likely next step? You turn into racists, ethnic cleansers, or worse. The Zionist adherence to their ideology and its program is the cause of their turning into “cruel oppressors.” The means dictated by their end made it so.
The Haaretz article does not go beyond these points, but there is plenty more to say. Those who wonder whether they should support the boycott should certainly consider the horrors of the Israeli occupation and its ghettoizing of the people of Gaza. They might also consider the following:
1. The non-Jewish population of Israel proper, that is Israel within the 1967 borders (the “Green Line”) are subject to segregation and economic and social discrimination that is both de jure and de facto. Their overall standards of living are lower than the Israeli Jews, their educational facilities inferior and their economic prospects poorer. This is to be expected. If you are running your state based on a racist principle, by definition discrimination must infuse the home front. This fact does not appear to fit with the often heard claim that the Israelis are “just like us” Americans. However, in a rather anachronistic way they are “like us” – that is like the United States prior to our civil rights legislation. In other words, Israel is like, say, Georgia or Alabama circa the 1920s.
2. The second factor worthy of consideration is the negative international impact of Zionist ideology, for the harm Zionism is not confined to either Israel or its Occupied Territories. The fact is that Zionist influence spreads far beyond Israel’s area of dominion and now influences many of the policy making institutions of Western governments, and particularly those of the United States. This influence is corruptive if only because it distorts both official and popular notions of national interests in the Middle East. When you have a powerful and single-minded lobby that is able to manipulate your government in such a fashion that it pours its national treasure into a racist state, arms it and protects it to the point of becoming an accomplice to its crimes, and by doing so willfully alienates 22% of the world’s population, you know that
your notion of national interest has been seriously mangled. This harmful influence makes it imperative that Israel’s oppressive behavior be singled out as a high priority case from among the many other oppressive regimes that may be candidates for boycott.
So no one in Israel, the U.S. or anywhere else should be surprised that the boycott against Israel, in its many manifestations, is “gaining speed.” If you are not yet a supporter you should become one. To join the boycott is good the world’s future in general. It is certainly good for the Palestinians, and yes, it is good for the Jews too.
Lawrence Davidson is a Professor of Middle East History at West Chester University in West ChesterPennsylvania.He is
the author of America’s Palestine: Popular and Official Perceptions from Balfour to Israeli Statehood (University Press of Florida, 2001), Islamic Fundamentalism (Greenwood Press, 2003), and, co-author with Arthur Goldschmidt of the Concise History of the Middle East, 8th and 9th Editions (Westview Press, 2006 and 2009). His latest book is entitled Foreign Policy, Inc.: Privatizing American National Interest (University of Kentucky Press, 2009). Professor Davidson travels often and widely in the Middle East. He also has taken on the role of public intellectual in order to explain to American audiences the impact of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.
Davidson is a regular contributor to Opinion Maker.
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Dr. A.K.Tewari
08. Sep, 2010
Dr. Devidson ,what impact it will have on Israeli economy if all muslim country will boycott when the maket of America, India, and China will remain open for them .I think it would be a futile excersize better option would be to recognise the existence of Israel and sign a peace deal with them.
Helen
09. Sep, 2010
when does isrl recognize Palestine? after all isrl has never recognized the pals. but yet they are trying to force the pals to recognize them. ther eis nothing worse than a bully with big guns suffercating a weaker nation to take it for all tis worth. Palestinians did not want the europeans, but were forced to take them by the west. in other words the arabs are being punished for what the christian west did. i do not see any justice for the pals in this what so ever, but yet you are telling them to accept the occupiers who stole their land and the lives of their loved ones unconditionally. this is not going to happen, i believe the europeans should go back to europe and apply for citizenship in palestine like they would have to in any other country.
Rehmat
08. Sep, 2010
Dr. A.K.Tewari – how long you think it will take the public in the US, India and China to know the true evil face of the Zionist entity?
Don’t worry the Muslim nation-state leaders controlled by Jews via the US will never boycott the Zionist enity. However, the Israelis are already feeling the pinch on their bottom.
Can you accept a beast as a human, Doc??
http://rehmat1.wordpress.com/2010/02/14/report-israeli-hasbara-propaganda-is-failing/
http://rehmat1.wordpress.com/2010/05/08/2010-top-ten-truths-about-israel/
DrA.K.Tewari
09. Sep, 2010
Can any one wipe out Israel from the world Map .? Is it correct to continue a war more than 65 years without any fruitful result .? israel is the mother land of Jews,and no one can deny this fact .
Imperium
09. Sep, 2010
Isreal is a Rothchild creation(57%US Federal Reserve.City OF LONDON basnk.They have ruled the West since there victory over the world in 1845.The Zionists have gazine pschological,financial,and cultural control over the USA,and Europe.Theyb have paid off Christianity,and hold dominion over the ignorant masses.Isreal is an evil creation,of this power.Unles Rothchild and Jewish control over tge mass mind is broken.This planet is doomed to enfles wars,and privation,soJJWS CAN LIVE!SEE DAVIIDIRVINGACTIONREPORT.COM;BOOK IMPERIUM by Francis Parker Yockey
Dr.A.K.Tewari
09. Sep, 2010
If war is the only way then continue it and see the result .No humanitarian dealing could be possible with those who are born to fight and get eliminated .WWW World wide war is on against such people .
The Boycott of Israel is Gaining Speed | Philosophers stone
09. Sep, 2010
[...] [Original Source...] [...]
Rehmat
09. Sep, 2010
Dr.A.K.Tewari – your ignorance is an insult to your faked title “Dr.”
If you had read world history from objective sources – you would have learned that several civilizations and imperial/colonial powers have been “wiped off” from the map. USSR was 20 years ago and the US is on its way to become a minor player on the international scene. And once the Yankees are reduced to that level – who is going to feed the Israeli vultures to the tune of US$3,000 billion since 1970s?
Did you know that the Zionist entity was supposed to be a “Socialist state” under its first Russian communist Jew President Chaim Weisman? But since the USSR was unable to feed the vultures – they turned to the US hen which gives ‘golden eggs’ – and turned the Zionist state to a ‘Capitalist state’.
Every thing built on terrorism and wars – can only be dismatled by reversing the same process.
The Zionist vultures who benefitted from the previous two World Wars, would definitely benefiting from the coming war between the Zionist thugs and the Islamic Iran.
Lieberman: ‘Pentagon is ready to strike Iran’
http://rehmat1.wordpress.com/2010/07/26/lieberman-pentagon-is-ready-to-strike-iran-2/
Arthur
09. Sep, 2010
It’s now official – there’s no actual shortage of Holocaust Survivors :
quote from The Holocaust Industry by Norman G. Finkelstein of the City University of New York, published by Verso in the year 2000:
‘The Israeli Prime Minister’s office recently put the number of “living Holocaust survivors” at nearly a million.’ (page 83)
Arthur
09. Sep, 2010
I’ve checked out the six volumes of Churchill’s Second World War and the statement is quite correct – not a single mention of Nazi ‘gas chambers,’ a ‘genocide’ of the Jews, or of ‘six million’ Jewish victims of the war.
Eisenhower’s Crusade in Europe is a book of 559 pages; Churchill’s Second World War totals 4,448 pages; and De Gaulle’s three-volume Mémoires de guerre is 2,054 pages.
In this mass of writing, which altogether totals 7,061 pages (not including the introductory parts), published from 1948 to 1959, one will find no mention either of Nazi ‘gas chambers,’ a ‘genocide’ of the Jews, or of ‘six million’ Jewish victims of the war.
King Arthur
09. Sep, 2010
Interesting arithmetic – the incredible numbers
Let’s have a look at a typical account by one of the seemingly endless number of survivors: Olga Lengyel’s Five Chimneys: a woman survivor’s true story of Auschwitz (Granada/ Ziff-Davis, 1947, 1972).
According to Lengyel, ‘After June, 1943, the gas chamber was reserved exclusively for Jews and Gypsies.. Three hundred and sixty corpses every half-hour, which was all the time it took to reduce human flesh to ashes, made 720 per hour, or 17,280 corpses per twenty-four hour shift. And the ovens, with murderous efficiency, functioned day and night. However, one must also reckon the death pits, which could destroy another 8,000 cadavers a day. In round numbers, about 24,000 corpses were handled each day. An admirable production record, one that speaks well for German industry.’ (Paperback edition, pp80-81). [No trace of any remains of or in ‘death pits’ has been found.]
This implies almost 100,000 corpses per four working days, or a million in 40 days, or six million in 240 days (eight months). Notice the bald precision of the figures without any explanation, the utter confidence in the reader’s credulity.
The blurb on the cover of the book quotes the New York Herald-Tribune: “Passionate, tormenting”. Albert Einstein, the promoter of the US construction of the bombs used at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is quoted as offering “You have done a real service by letting the ones who are now silent and most forgotten speak.”
Could this claim be a misprint?
Kitty Hart, in spite of her name a Jewish survivor born in Poland, fully confirms these figures:
‘Working around the clock, the four units together could dispose of about 18,000 bodies every twenty-four hours, while the open pits coped with a further 8,000 in the same period.’ (p 118; Return to Auschwitz – paperback edition by Granada (1981, 1983).
According to the cover blurb, ‘The subject of the award-winning Yorkshire television documentary of the same name.’ ‘Both engaging and harrowing…an important addition to the growing holocaust literature, very little of which conveys so courageously both the daily torment and the will to survive’ – Martin Gilbert, The Times.
‘Sir’ Martin Gilbert, indefatigable Jewish campaigner on behalf of the ‘Holocaust’ and biographer of Winston Churchill, adds to the rich flavour and makes his own numerical claims, certainly not without chutzpah:
In his book Auschwitz and the Allies (1981) he states
‘The deliberate attempt to destroy systematically all of Europe’s Jews was unsuspected in the spring and early summer of 1942: the very period during which it was at its most intense, and during which hundreds of thousands of Jews were being gassed every day at Belzec, Chelmo, Sobibor and Treblinka.’ (p.26). [This statement, first noticed by Professor Robert Faurisson, was then deleted (not corrected) from the next edition - no simple typo, no simple error with omission or spelling or grammar, just a case of being caught red-handed in blatant chutzpah deluxe.]
If we assume a minimum figure of 200,000 per day, this amounts to say a million a five-day working week, or 6 million in six weeks, and this does not include the amazing claims for Auschwitz put forward by Hart and Lengyel with Gilbert’s blessing.
Elie Wiesel vs Encyclopaedia Britannica
Wiesel has been one of the most prominent spokesman for the very sizeable group of people known as Holocaust survivors. [According to Norman Finkelstein of the City University of New York in his book The Holocaust Industry published in the year 2000, ‘The Israeli Prime Minister’s office recently put the number of "living Holocaust survivors" at nearly a million’ (p.83)]. Wiesel has chaired the US Holocaust Memorial Council and has been the recipient of a Congressional Gold Medal and Nobel Peace Prize..
Time Magazine, March 18 1985:
‘How had he survived two of the most notorious killing fields [Auschwitz and Buchenwald] of the century? “I will never know” Wiesel says. “I was always weak. I never ate. The slightest wind would turn me over. In Buchenwald they sent 10,000 to their deaths every day. I was always in the last hundred near the gate. They stopped. Why?”
Compare this with Encyclopaedia Britannica (1993), under ‘Buchenwald’:
“In World War II it held about 20,000 prisoners.. Although there were no gas chambers, hundreds perished monthly through disease, malnutrition, exhaustion, beatings and executions.”
Jay C.
10. Sep, 2010
GOOD N!!! Bring down that zionist regime. http://www.INMINDs.com http://www.ZIONISMEXPLAINED.org
benyaminporth
27. Mar, 2011
Israel will eventually kill anyone/anything against her plan to dominate the world. You or your next generations will face it sooner or later. Zionism is not like a racism in your country which is only applied in domestic affair but it is a global racism against non-jews. Why? coz Israel is the only regime lead by gasters and mafia in the world.