The problem begins with us, within us, so the solution also begins with us. The anti-BDS struggle is no different.
Dr. Mordechai Kedar..
Israelnationalnews.com..
17 January '17..
Link: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/20061
For the last decade Israel has had to deal with the BDS (Boycott, Divest, Sanction) Movement, whose sanctions included the pulling out of investments from the Jewish state. The movement calls for academic, cultural and economic bodies to cut off relations with Israel.
The supposed goal of the BDS Movement is to force Israel to leave the "Palestinian territories" and to establish a Palestinian state, but the basic real motivation behind the movement's activities is hatred of Israel and of Jews, and the openly expressed desire to rid the Middle East of Israel.
For years the movement seemed relegated to the sidelines and had little influence . However during the last two years, mainly after Operation Protective Edge in Gaza and the negative publicity it engendered, the movement increased its activities, its donations grew significantly and so did the number of its volunteers. The organization's success on North American, Canadian and European academic campuses was especially pronounced, due to the large number of Muslims and Arabs enrolled on campus and the current fashion of putting everything in the context of human rights (as long as we are not talking about Jews, that is), in addition to traditional anti-Semitism and the presenting of Israel as an illegitimate state, scofflaw and a danger to world peace.
The state of Israel, Jews and pro-Israel people the world over realized what the real goal of BDS is and decided to fight it. Israel's government even established official frameworks and allocated funds for this struggle. The anti-BDS activities are on different levels and in various arenas, and Israel has garnered significant successes fighting them. For example: Fifteen states in the USA have passed laws against firms that boycott Israel, in Canada similar laws were passed and in Europe there have been not a few successes in this regard. The question is who will make sure these laws are kept and how will it be done?
Despite the growing activity of the BDS Movement and its various successes, many artists refused to cancel their appearances in Israel because they felt it was wrong to connect art and politics or art and nationalist issues. Most of the economic forces who feel investing in Israel is good for their balance sheet from a purely business point of view, do not end their relationship with Israel, because what counts to them is making a profit and they ignore issues that have nothing to do with their economic activities.
The movement is still strong on campus, but has a good many problems there as well, arising - among other factors - from differences of opinion between activists and the PA about how to work and define goals. One example is what happened in Boston last November at the annual conference of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA), an international academic organization with thousands of members who do research on the Middle East. As time passed, this organization adopted an anti-American political agenda as well as an anti-Zionist one - with some anti-Semitic overtones. As a result, a good many researchers left the organization a few years ago and founded the much less political and much more balanced Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA),
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