Supplied — TakverOn Monday, Feb. 22 the Student Society of McGill University (SSMU) voted in favour of a motion supporting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement which advocates an explicit campaign of sabotage against the Israeli economy. The motion was nullified in a subsequent online vote. The purpose of the BDS movement is to pressure the Israeli government to dismantle the security barrier in the West Bank, accept the Palestinian right of return, and discourage settlement in Arab-majority territory. To the everyday social justice conscript these are well-known grievances worth fighting for, but the BDS operation is far more insidious than its leaders would have you believe.
In promoting the cause(s) of the BDS movement, the SSMU is undertaking a commitment to delegitimize the State of Israel, to exacerbate the hardships faced by those living in Gaza and the West Bank, and to provide camouflage for a brand of cynical antisemitism. The language of the campaign devises a situation wherein the State of Israel is behaving like apartheid-era South Africa, a proposition whose absurdity is outpaced perhaps only by its stridency.
Israel is a pluralist democracy and neither the West Bank nor Gaza constitute territory within its sovereign boundaries. Unlike apartheid South Africa, the disadvantaged community administers its own jurisdiction, enjoys equal civil rights under the law, and occupies a position in the political arena. Arab-Israelis vote in elections, sit in the Knesset, on the Supreme Court and in cabinet. The security provisions taken by the Israeli State are for the protection of all citizens irrespective of national origin. Objectives of the BDS movement are not limited to scaling back the illegal colonization of Arab territory, and increasing the ease with which Palestinians can enter and exit the territories. No, the flavour of the pamphleteer rhetoric is one of total delegitimization.
What is especially damning about the activities of those who call for BDS against Israel is the apparent myopia of the whole mission. Undermining the Israeli economy hurts Palestinians the most. Who keeps the lights on in Gaza? Who keeps the water running? Shrinking the profits of Israeli companies diminishes the flow of corporate tax revenue into the Israeli government’s coffers, and in turn impairs the ability of the state to provide essential utilities and services to the Palestinian territories. Let’s not forget that tens of thousands of Palestinians are employed by Israeli companies, and therefor the relative success of the BDS movement can be directly correlated to increasing unemployment and poverty. Such an attempt at economic destabilization has the inverse effect of worsening conditions for the supposed beneficiaries of the initial activism.
The most unsettling prong of the BDS offensive against Israel is the covert antisemitism it normalizes. There is a conspicuous attitude of dislike for Israel’s existence as a Jewish state. And while it’s obviously problematic for a country to hyper-homogenize its identity, we know that all too often criticism of Israel is spiced with plain distaste for Jewry. Singling out Israel for its human rights trespasses against the backdrop of the Middle East is delusional. To be sure, we need to criticize the discriminatory aspects of Israeli society and the occasional incursions into the Gaza Strip, but compared to its neighbours Israel appears an oasis of liberal democracy in a forsaken desert of despotism and misery.
Some sound advice to the students at McGill would entail refining the scope of their efforts to target the real problem. We need to be incisive in our criticism of Israel’s misadventures outside the ‘67 borders. We need to hold Israel accountable for its treatment of the Palestinians during times of war. We need to support democratic, and secular efforts by Palestinians to secure their right to self-determination. But it is silly and ineffective to subvert the economy of one our country’s allies because they make their domestic security a priority.
My thoughts:
1) the SSMU is undertaking a commitment to ‘delegitimize” the State of Israel, to “exacerbate” the hardships faced by those living in Gaza and the West Bank, and to provide camouflage for a brand of cynical “antisemitism.”
A) Delegitimize: what would be the point of any movement of it did not TRY to delegitimize the very thing that is perpetrating what the movement is trying to end. In the case of the BDS, it is delegitimizing the ACTIONS of the Israeli government, and within that the state itself for the mistreatment of Palestinians. It’s actually pretty scary how you are comparing the apartheid of Palestine with that of South Africa. I mean these two are completely different situations, however, both are still forms of apartheid. By comparing the two, you are trying to make the Palestine situation sound something that is nothing to worry about.
B) Exacerbate: you’re right. The BDS could potentially be harmful for the Palestinians. But just like how Israel financially supports the Palestinian territories, Israel also causes a huge financial strain on everyday Palestinians due to the restrictions they face (the barrier) and through other means like bulldozing their homes and taking over their land.
C) Antisemitism: Just stop. This is the most typical response by someone who is against pro-Palestinian movements because it’s the most convenient thing to do. I have zero respect for the Israeli government. I am pro-Palestinian (yes, I am playing the divide game). And I support the BDS movement. But to have the audacity to accuse me, and others like me, to have a “plain distaste for Jewry” is fucking outrageous. How dare you? That’s just like saying someone who hates America, hates all americans/white people or I hate the Syrian government must mean that I hate all Syrians. It’s just not logical. I also don’t blame you though, since we grew up in a society that taught us to be so culturally sensitive that we become afraid to realize the real injustice in fear of “hurting someone’s feelings” or just simply offending someone. Also, the word Semitism comes from the word Semitics, which refers to people who speak Hebrew, Arabic, and Aramatic. So to say the BDS movement is anti-Semitic just doesn’t make sense in this context.
2) And finally, you say that McGill needs to “entail refining the scope of their efforts to target the real problem.” Ok well some sound advice to you, Mr. Cole Forster, what do you expect us to do? Petition our governments? Pressure the U.N.? Donate money? Protest? Petition? Tell me, what? All of that has already been done, and nothing has changed. The Palestinians continue to face discrimination, torture, wrongful imprisonment, unfair trails, and murder, and countless other human right violations. And the U.N. and other state actors continue to say that Israel has the right to defend itself. Well that just leaves us, the people, to do something about it. And that’s why I support the BDS movement 100% because it is one of the best ways to call attention towards the injustices the Palestinians face everyday. Don’t be too shocked if you see a push for the BDS movement at UAlberta one day.