Israel to World: "Suck It."

BDS; not the text. Is contaminated.

I don't think that's accurate. I believe it advocates for a total boycott of Israel. I know a few people who "boycott" the settlements and do not affiliate with BDS. That said, the BDS movement has kept their motivations and intent diffuse enough (just try to pin someone down about what a fair resolution of the refugees of 1948 entails) that I'm not sure you can say they're definitely one thing or another. But afaik their call for boycott is for all Israeli products.

* except when using a different product would be inconvenient in any way

Consumer Boycott
Individual consumers can show their opposition to Israel’s violations by participating in a consumer boycott of Israeli companies, goods and services or of international companies involved in Israeli policies violating Palestinian human rights and international law. A consumer boycott works in two ways: firstly by generating public awareness about Israeli apartheid and occupation as well as international support for it and secondly by applying economic pressure for change.

It differs from country to country, but the most common Israeli exports include:

– fresh fruit and vegetables such as Jaffa citrus fruits and Israeli Medjoul Dates
– Ahava cosmetics
– SodaStream drinks machines
– Eden Springs bottled water
– Golan Heights Wineries and other Israeli wines

There are many international companies that are complicit in Israeli violations of international law. Examples include HP, Caterpillar, Volvo, Hyundai, among many others.

Trying to boycott the products of every single company that participates in Israeli apartheid is a daunting task that has a slim change of having a concrete impact.

It makes more sense to focus on optimal targets that are being targeted as part of national or international campaigns. Consumer boycotts are most effective when part of a broader campaign against a particular product or aiming to pressure a retailer to stop selling a particular Israeli product.

Get in contact with a BDS organisation in your area to find out what companies and products are being targeted and how to support local campaigns. If no such organization exists, start your own campaign, in coordination with well-recognized BDS organizations.

While boycott is an individual act, it becomes much more powerful if it is promoted collectively and finds strong support in organisations, movements and communities willing to promote the boycott and forces retailers to stop selling particular Israeli products.

Across the world, supporters of Palestinian rights are advocating a boycotts adopting a number of diverse actions: Pickets of retailers, letter-writing campaigns, pressure from civil society organisations such as NGOs, faith groups and trade unions. Popular pressure has forced retailers to stop selling Israeli produce and produce from illegal settlements in particular. The consumer boycott is beginning to bite, too: a fifth of Israeli exporters reported a drop in demand as a result of the boycott in the wake of the Gaza massacre.

- See more at: http://www.bdsmovement.net/activecamps/consumer-boycott#sthash.LpjBDfOJ.dpuf

yeah right up there in the first sentence: "Individual consumers can show their opposition to Israel’s violations by participating in a consumer boycott of Israeli companies, goods and services"

Yup. I was going to post the part about not boycotting all products, but reread and thought it more honest to post it all.

two things

1) i talked to my mom over thanksgiving. she said she supported BDS, but it turns out she didn't know what it was; thought it was just boycotting israeli settlers in the occupied west bank (and their products etc.). she didn't realize it was a full boycott of all things israeli. i wonder how many other liberal jews have the same misinformation.

2) i'm glad israel caught & convicted the murders of the palestinian boy. now i am bracing for the israeli far right to celebrate them as heroes the way they have other murderers (including the murderer of rabin). i'll defend israel against the stupid left-wing charge of "genocide" any time, but there is a small margin of israeli society that really does advocate something like genocide, and they are very scary.

the second part of the sentence clearly says "...involved in Israeli policies violating Palestinian human rights and international law." now i know Mordy truly believes that no such violations exist, but that's another topic.

No, that's about international companies. I misread it the same way first.

if these boycotts ever catch on and started having business impact on those companies, the American right wing will stage a counter boycott and Rush Limbaugh (etc.) will have every one of his fans in America buying a sodastream. idk if he can convince them to eat hummus.

I hope someone finds out how to solve this problem real soon.

Sodastream closed its factories in the occupied territories because of the bad publicity, didn't it?

i think there's some disagreement over exactly why they moved from the WB to the Negev - iirc they didn't cite the boycott as being related (or said it had only a minor impact) but boycotters claimed it was. it's hard to imagine that there's a large enough group of people who will buy products in israel but won't buy products in the settlements that it made financial sense to move an entire factory.

idk if he can convince them to eat hummus.

initially read that as "...eat humans," and was thinking, i wouldn't be surprised if rush limbaugh has been there already.

idk, it picked up a lot of press. The Israeli government's reaction to the EU labelling goods from illegal settlements indicated they think it'll have an economic impact.

xp

I disagree. I think that the Israeli government's reaction to the EU labelling goods is political not economic. They explicitly want East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights recognized as Israel, and large parts of the current governing coalition feel the same way about the WB (or at the very least Area C).

If you listen to some of the voices coming out of places like the Golan, or the WB settlements, you hear more outrage over the idea that they don't live in Israel than fear over economic deprivation. After all they do consider themselves to be living in the Holy Land, even if it might not be jurisdictionally the State of Israel. Which isn't to say there's no economic component at all but that I'm skeptical of its actual impact on the issue.

the second part of the sentence clearly says "...involved in Israeli policies violating Palestinian human rights and international law." now i know Mordy truly believes that no such violations exist, but that's another topic.

― ey mk II, Tuesday, December 1, 2015 5:18 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

If you read the descriptions of the other campaigns, it's pretty clear that virtually anything Israeli is interpreted to be "involved in Israeli policies..." -- e.g. all Israeli universities and cultural institutions.

ffs what is wrong with these ppl?

I've long wanted to write a rap couplet rhyming Rabinovitch with "all up in a bitch". Not being Jewish or even remotely skilled at rap rhyming however, I've accepted it's not my place. So here I am putting it out into the world, in hopes a Jewish rapper stumbles across this thread in search of source material. Shalom.

honestly the correct answer to that girl's question is probably, "do your own damn homework."

"and p.s. justice for palestine."

except:

Dr Levine, who completed her PhD at the University of Cambridge's Department of Archaeology before taking up research posts at Columbia University and Syracuse University in New York, told The Telegraph that if a school student from a different country had got in touch with her to ask about horses, she would have responded differently.

“Kids have questions, I usually answer their questions,” she said. “But I have agreed to BDS [the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel], and I do want to see justice for Palestine.

“In Israel the majority of Israelis support the policies of the government which abuses the rights of Palestinians, so the fact is I don’t want to help Israelis, and if you don't start with children where do you start?

"You have to ask yourself: what is there to gain from not talking to a 13-year-old girl? How does that solve anything?"

“And she is not that young anyway, her English is pretty good. If people don’t stand up for justice, the world is going to come to an end.”

ftr she's 13yo

i'm sure she only boycotts 13yo students who are involved in violating Palestinian human rights

that professor is way dumb but i do feel like you're kind of cherry-picking the most outrageous behavior by BDS'ers and characterizing at the norm.

first, this story was published today so it's serendipitous that it should occur while we're having this discussion, but second, it's really not hard to cherry pick occasions where BDS'ers act like idiots.

like u don't need to cherry pick. it's more like shooting fish in a barrel.

was the barrel made in israel?

eh

I guess what I fundamentally don't understand is why people who want to boycott Israel don't boycott the United States, which certainly tells the world to suck it more vigorously and consistently than Israel ever has.

bc if it's too inconvenient not to boycott a piece of website software...

http://forward.com/sisterhood/325637/for-the-womens-studies-association-the-bds-vote-was-over-before-it-began/

The voices of Jews and others whose positions are rooted in the right of Israel to exist as a state have been silenced. Following my remarks at the BDS round table, there was just one comment from the audience validating some of my points, but I received many private expressions of support and appreciation for my “courage.” Several people told me it would be damaging to their careers to openly express opposition to the resolution.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/sandler-rips-waters-bds-in-fck-filled-israel-defense/

high level stuff

With friends like these...

http://forward.com/news/327466/can-jews-back-black-lives-matter-and-be-pro-israel/

it makes me sad that #blacklivesmatter has so thoroughly [been coopted by/aligned itself with] the pro-palestinian movement bc i'd like to support things like criminal justice reform, better community-police relations, ending the war on drugs, etc. but if they've explicitly decided to foreground their movement w/ hostility towards israel/zionism i'm off-board. they can do w/out me i'm sure but why limit yr message unnecessarily by muddling two v different situations linked in only the most superficial ways.

maybe I'm not paying attention but I have never seen anything from BLM related to Israel

characterizing BLM as "explicitly foregrounding their movement w/hostility towards Israel/Zionism" seems like an overstatement to me, and nothing in that article really suggests otherwise

this just reads like classic left-wing circular firing-squad stuff, different groups with different agendas trying to make ONE BIG AGENDA, cast out apostates etc., albeit on a very small scale

i hope yr right, i don't think BLM has anything to gain from inviting the I/P advocacy shit show into their movement.

yeah do yourselves a favour and leave it alone guys

I feel like there are various "causes" floating around in leftist protest circles that inevitably try to attach themselves to whatever cause-du-jour is making waves and getting press and the anti-Israel contingent is one of those. Those Maoist/Marxist International Workers Party people are another.

or maybe I'm thinking of the International Socialist Organization, I can't keep my crackpot Stalinist apologists straight

I have definitely seen examples of blm x free Palestine, but I also don't know that is say it's "foregrounded." Would probably have to ask
someone who's a little closer to it though.

FFS, Bennett.

http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.694620

On Monday, Israeli lawyer Amir Ohana was sworn into the Knesset, replacing the recently resigned Likud politician Silvan Shalom. What made the event particularly noteworthy was that Ohana, the chair of Likud’s Pride Caucus, is the party’s first openly gay MK, a fact he emphasized in his inaugural speech to the parliament by referencing his partner and their children.

“I am here as the son of Meir and Esther Ohana, who immigrated from Morocco to build a country,” he opened. “I am here with my other half, Alon, my true love. I am here as the father of the children Ela and David. And like [the biblical] David who defeated Goliath in the Valley of Ela, I am here against all the odds. I am here with all of who I am and what I am, what I’ve chosen and what I haven’t, and am proud of it all: Jewish, Israeli, Mizrahi, gay, Likudnik, a security hawk, a liberal, and a man of the free market.”

x-post-I guess this is not a surprise coming from right-winger Bennett

Israeli writers and politicians roundly criticized the Education Ministry's decision to ban a novel that describes a love story between an Israeli woman and a Palestinian man from use by high schools around the country. Israeli author Sami Michael said that the decision constitutes "a dark day for Hebrew literature," while author Haim Be'er called the move "a dizzying and dangerous act."

Among the reasons stated for the disqualification of Dorit Rabinyan’s “Gader Haya” (literally “Hedgerow,” but known in English as “Borderlife”) is the need to maintain what was referred to as “the identity and the heritage of students in every sector,” and the belief that “intimate relations between Jews and non-Jews threatens the separate identity.” The Education Ministry also expressed concern that “young people of adolescent age don’t have the systemic view that includes considerations involving maintaining the national-ethnic identity of the people and the significance of miscegenation.”

"This is none of [Education Minister] Naftali Bennett's business," Be'er said. "Tomorrow he will disqualify 'Behind the Fence' because Bialik's hero falls in love with a Christian and he'll create a committee to monitor relationships in literature. This is a dizzying and dangerous act that he's doing in order to find support in his crowd after he praised the Shin Bet and his stock went down, that's clear."

A.B. Yehoshua, another Israeli novelist, said "The book 'Borderlife' is a great, deep book written in rich and emotional language that has already earned a wide audience and critical acclaim. The book also tells the tragedy of relationships between Israelis and Palestinians.

from wiki

On February 2012, Bennett published a plan for managing the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, called "The Israel Stability Initiative."[17][18] The plan is based in part on parts of earlier initiatives: "Peace on Earth" by Adi Mintz and the "Elon Peace Plan" by Binyamin Elon, and relies on the statements of the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Likud party ministers that spoke in favor of unilateral annexation of the West Bank. Bennett opposes the creation of a Palestinian state: "I will do everything in my power to make sure they never get a state."[26]

Once he annexes the west bank, what does he plan to do with all those Arabs who apparently threaten Jewish identity?

iirc his plan is just to annex area C which is 80% jewish.

Doesn't annexing area C just create a bunch of Palestinian islands? I don't really get that idea, even assuming it was ok.