Haaretz..
10 February '14..
“Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me,” is an old children’s rhyme whose message is not to take insulting words too seriously. But there is one word that when applied to a potential victim may not itself break any bones but may well be a prelude to stones and to broken bones, broken skulls, shots in the head, gas chambers and extermination. That word is delegitimization. It is something that Jews throughout the ages have learned only too well and that their enemies have learned to use with lethal effect. It is a declaration of open season against the delegitimized victim.
For centuries Jews have been delegitimized as the killers of Jesus, and therefore deserving of punishment for the crime of deicide. As such they were not entitled to the protection the law provided for others. Such delegitimization brought about expulsions and pogroms. The first step taken by Hitler’s Germany in its campaign against the Jews of Germany was to delegitimize them, by disenfranchising them, discharging them from state and academic positions and prohibiting them from practicing their professions. After that came seizure of property, boycotts and other economic sanctions, expulsions, ghettos, mass executions and gas chambers.
The Boycott, Disinvestment, Sanctions campaign against Israel is a blatant attempt to delegitimize the Jewish state. The word delegitimization is sanctimoniously omitted from the initials of BDS, but it is undeniably the foundation and the ultimate aim of this campaign. Does that mean that all those who lend their support to this campaign to delegitimize the State of Israel are anti-Semites? The leaders and many of its promoters are, and they are joined by those that Lenin called the “useful idiots,” who believe they are only lending their support to a protest against certain policies of the Israeli government, to the “Israeli occupation” of Judea and Samaria.
Is it likely that if Israel were to withdraw from Judea and Samaria they would all become avid supporters of the Jewish state? Or would they continue to support BDS, to protest the way Bedouin are treated in Israel or the status of Israel’s Arab citizens, or any other policies of the Israeli government that do not suit their taste? They are not short of complaints against Israel that in their view should be enforced by boycott, disinvestment and sanctions.
It is hard not to come to the conclusion that they simply object to the existence of a Jewish state in the Middle East. They are part of an ongoing campaign against the Jewish state based on what Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has aptly called the three Ds – Demonization, Delegitimization and Double Standard, a campaign which does not stop at the 1949 armistice lines. If this isn’t anti-Semitism, then what is?
In the first attempt to crush Israel by force, the armies of the neighboring states were aided by expeditionary forces from other Arab states. The Palestinian terror campaign aimed at fragmenting Israeli society that followed the Yom Kippur War was aided by international terrorist gangs such as Baader-Meinhof and the Japanese Red Army. The BDS campaign is the third wave of assault that has been launched against Israel since it came into existence in May 1948. The Palestinians leading this campaign have succeeded in mobilizing anti-Semites from around the world and a collection of hangers-on. Their ambition to starve Israel into surrender through boycotts and sanctions is not likely to succeed. The Israeli economy is far too strong and too attractive to foreign investors to be subdued by such attempts to punish it economically. The banks, pension funds and academic institutions that lend their hand to this campaign will soon find that it is they who will be hurt economically.
Link: http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.573266
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With all due respect to Mr. Ahrens whom I had the pleasure of meeting once in a cafe, I think the way to fight this and other such challenges to our country is to forge a process of education and public relations through our foreign policy establishment, one that is well funded with a multi-year program, impervious to the vicissitudes of party politics. To be able to develop and implement such a program we need to enable the Executive (the PMO) to carry out his duties by being able to have a cabinet that is first and foremost responsive to him, i.e. he must have the statutory authority to choose ministers based on their qualifications rather than on party loyalty. I recommend the following: 1. PM to be elected by popular vote. 2. PM to nominate with the advise and consent of the Knneset his ministers of choice. 3. The Knneset to be required to have a supra-majority vote of at least 100 members on order to change this rule and/or to be able to topple the government and force new elections.
ReplyDeleteBelow are the aims of BDS in the movement's own words (http://www.bdsmovement.net/bdsintro).
ReplyDelete"The campaign for boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) is shaped by a rights-based approach and highlights the three broad sections of the Palestinian people: the refugees, those under military occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and Palestinians in Israel. The call urges various forms of boycott against Israel until it meets its obligations under international law by:
" - Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands occupied in June 1967 and dismantling the Wall;
" - Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and
" - Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN Resolution 194."
For it's one, two, three strikes and Israel's out....