The attempt to harm Israel through boycotts is nothing new. Commenting on the BDS (Boycotts, Divestment,and Sanctions) movement against Israel Shira Sorko-Ram writes
Although the Arab nations have not been able to destroy Israel militarily, they now believe they are finally on their way to success. By pouring billions of dollars yearly into public relations with governments, the media, universities and churches throughout the world, Palestinians feel certain they are winning the war by turning world opinion against the legitimacy of the nation of Israel.
The Palestinian public relations war is bearing much fruit, especially in the West. One of their tools is launching campaigns to boycott all Israeli products and apply sanctions against international companies that do business with Israel.
To highlight a recent specific attack on an Israeli company and possibly ‘coming to a shopping near you’ observe this video from Australia in ‘flash mob’ style.
[Link to Video]
The spurious mantra repeated in the video:
Standing on the side of freedom, justice
Tear down the apartheid wall
They’ve got blood on their hands
It’s not too late
To end support for the apartheid state
We will boycott Israel
One blaring hypocritical note is that a key component of the technology to produce that video is from Israel (i.e. Intel Pentium chip).
The action taken in Australia is modeled after an apparent ‘success’ from Ireland and Scotland where two malls removed kiosks representing an Israeli cosmetics company. As one activist gloated,
The products being sold on these stalls help to fund Israel’s war economy and their brutal and illegal military occupation of Palestine. It is also highly likely that these goods come from illegal settlements on Palestinian land, although it is routinely mislabelled as coming from within Israel’s borders.
These are typical statements made by young people at these proceedings, but can be demonstrated to be inaccurate and false. The statement quoted above is simply ones perspective not fact.
Have you ever thought of the scope of products that have originated from Jews and Israel? In exposing the misguided intentions of these actions, David Brumer writes, in order for the BDS crowd to be honest with themselves, this action
would include most computers, since Israel helped to develop the Intel Pentium chip, Windows MP, XP and Vista as well as Microsoft Office. They’d have to boycott Google and cell phones developed in Israel by Motorola, as well as voice mail and camera phones. Thousands of products that were developed through technological innovations in Israel, in agriculture, aerospace, energy, pharmaceuticals, and bio-medicine would also be off limits. But naturally, the self-righteous boycotters and their legions of supporters aren’t interested in such banalities.
I do not think anyone is giving up their computers or cell phones? Anyone giving up their polio vaccine? This conversation is sad if it were not so absurd. The world is again falling into the trap of lies and misinformation. So has the church as Sorko-Ram continues from the opening article,
In the last couple of years, many liberal churches have initiated anti-Israel campaigns – that is, they have resolved to withdraw investments from companies owned by Israelis, or that even do business with Israeli companies, and these churches suggest that all of their members do the same.
How has these actions effected Israel’s economy? Commenting on the passing of a new law directed against the attacks of boycotts, Hanoch Daum states in a Ynet Opinion page,
After all, what’s really happening in Israel at this time? The unemployment rate is at a 20-year low, last month the number of tourists who arrived in Israel was the highest in more than a decade, and the personal security situation is the best we have seen here in the past 30 years or so.
Generally speaking, people no longer fear terrorism as they did in the past and they also do not feel that they are about to lose their jobs.Meanwhile, immense reforms are being undertaken in the transportation and education systems, and in the communication market as well.
For now it appears the BDS movement has had a real economic impact on Israel. It is enjoying a sound economy and for that we are thankful. However we need to be aware of the broader goal of these actions in making modern Israel an illegal, illegitimate nation. This is the spiritual backdrop of the boycott Israel campaign.
For a resource on dealing with the BDS campaign visit http://www.stopbds.com/
John Paul is is an Associate Editor for Voice of Revolution, overseeing Jewish Issues.
© John Paul for Voice of Revolution, 2011. | Permalink