Boycott Israel

[Sixties Fan]

Why the rant if BDS is losing?

Because BDS keeps people in Gaza and Judea and Samaria from having normal lives with no possibility for peace with Israel as long as they keep trying to Boycott Israel.

Neither Gaza nor the PA actually do Boycott anything from Israel.

And too many times, shutting down a factory in Judea or Samaria has only cost the Palestinians the good jobs they had with Jews in Israel, or Judea and Samaria.


The only losers because of BDS have always been and will continue to be the Palestinians who are poor or middle class and try to raise a family and live comfortably as their governments should have helped them, but never did.

 

[Sixties Fan]

Ben and Jerry's is suing its own parent company Unilever for selling rights to manufacture its products to an Israeli company.

When the Unilever announced the deal, Ben and Jerry's said that "We continue to believe it is inconsistent with Ben & Jerry's values for our ice cream to be sold in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. "

Here is a list of countries that Ben and Jerry's happily sells its products to up until last year:



I did a quick survey of the human rights records of some of these countries, based on NGO reports and the US State Department. Here are some results, and the list of human rights abuses is far from complete.

Even the countries universally considered the leaders in human rights - Finland, Sweden and Norway - have been accused of discriminating against the Sámi people in various ways, such as attacking their culture and limiting their land rights.



Not to mention Ben and Jerry's home country of the United States, which according to Amnesty has the death penalty, excessive police brutality, armed forces throughout the world that often kills civilians, and limited access to abortions in some states.



Is Ben and Jerry's OK selling to countries where homosexuality is illegal? Where abortions are illegal? Where the government security forces torture detainees, and violently break up public peaceful demonstrations? Where minorities are not protected and actively discriminated against? Where incarceration of minorities is way out of proportion to their population?



It sure sounds like this is not a problem for them.



No, the only country that Ben and Jerry's publicly says is so reprehensible that it won't sell there without it changing its own laws is Israel, where the crime that is so reprehensible to justify this singular treatment is that Jews build houses in their ancestral homeland, nearly all of it on land that no human being ever lived before.



Anyone can dissect any country's human rights record, in order to find excuses to be prejudiced against that country - while pretending that it is really a righteous position.



If people decided that they want to cancel, say, Trinidad and Tobago, they could find lots of human rights abuses to justify their decision. But the hate comes first, the justification comes later.



Which is exactly the case with Israel. The hate, which is by definition modern antisemitism, comes first; the justification comes later. This is why Israel is accused of such a huge variety of human rights abuses in so many areas - not because Israel is guilty of them, but because there is such an intense desire to demonize Israel that literally thousands of people are paid full time to scrutinize Israel from every angle to justify animosity towards the Jewish state. And when they run out of things to accuse Israel of, there is an academic cottage industry to create new ones.



The many real human rights abuses listed above do not get the publicity that the mostly imaginary abuses attributed to Israel get.



When you look hard enough, you can find a reason to justify hating any country. And when the bulk of that effort goes towards the only country that has a Jewish majority, it is pretty obvious that human rights is not the real reason for the scrutiny.

(full article online)

Ben and Jerry's sells to lots of countries that commit human rights abuses

Blogging about Israel and the Arab world since, oh, forever.

elderofziyon.blogspot.com

 

[P F Tinmore]

Ben and Jerry's is suing its own parent company Unilever for selling rights to manufacture its products to an Israeli company.

When the Unilever announced the deal, Ben and Jerry's said that "We continue to believe it is inconsistent with Ben & Jerry's values for our ice cream to be sold in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. "

Here is a list of countries that Ben and Jerry's happily sells its products to up until last year:



I did a quick survey of the human rights records of some of these countries, based on NGO reports and the US State Department. Here are some results, and the list of human rights abuses is far from complete.

Even the countries universally considered the leaders in human rights - Finland, Sweden and Norway - have been accused of discriminating against the Sámi people in various ways, such as attacking their culture and limiting their land rights.



Not to mention Ben and Jerry's home country of the United States, which according to Amnesty has the death penalty, excessive police brutality, armed forces throughout the world that often kills civilians, and limited access to abortions in some states.



Is Ben and Jerry's OK selling to countries where homosexuality is illegal? Where abortions are illegal? Where the government security forces torture detainees, and violently break up public peaceful demonstrations? Where minorities are not protected and actively discriminated against? Where incarceration of minorities is way out of proportion to their population?



It sure sounds like this is not a problem for them.



No, the only country that Ben and Jerry's publicly says is so reprehensible that it won't sell there without it changing its own laws is Israel, where the crime that is so reprehensible to justify this singular treatment is that Jews build houses in their ancestral homeland, nearly all of it on land that no human being ever lived before.



Anyone can dissect any country's human rights record, in order to find excuses to be prejudiced against that country - while pretending that it is really a righteous position.



If people decided that they want to cancel, say, Trinidad and Tobago, they could find lots of human rights abuses to justify their decision. But the hate comes first, the justification comes later.



Which is exactly the case with Israel. The hate, which is by definition modern antisemitism, comes first; the justification comes later. This is why Israel is accused of such a huge variety of human rights abuses in so many areas - not because Israel is guilty of them, but because there is such an intense desire to demonize Israel that literally thousands of people are paid full time to scrutinize Israel from every angle to justify animosity towards the Jewish state. And when they run out of things to accuse Israel of, there is an academic cottage industry to create new ones.



The many real human rights abuses listed above do not get the publicity that the mostly imaginary abuses attributed to Israel get.



When you look hard enough, you can find a reason to justify hating any country. And when the bulk of that effort goes towards the only country that has a Jewish majority, it is pretty obvious that human rights is not the real reason for the scrutiny.

(full article online)

Ben and Jerry's sells to lots of countries that commit human rights abuses

Blogging about Israel and the Arab world since, oh, forever.

elderofziyon.blogspot.com

Are any of those other places occupying powers?

 

[Sixties Fan]

Are any of those other places occupying powers?

Australia, New Zealand, North Cyprus, North, South and Central America, Ireland, Scotland, Wales..............

None are "occupied" by Jews, so it is ok.

 

[Hollie]

 

[Hollie]

Are any of those other places occupying powers?

You consistently fail to identify any sovereign Pally territory that is occupied by anyone.

Consistent failure is not a positive attribute.

 

[Sixties Fan]

The head of the city government in the Spanish capital Madrid is urging that the promotion of the boycott campaign against Israel be considered a hate crime, as part of a new initiative to combat antisemitism in the cities and regions of the European Union.

Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the president of Community of Madrid, told a visiting US Jewish delegation on Tuesday that she had presented three amendments to a comprehensive strategy to combat antisemitism drawn up by the EU and debated last week by its Committee on the Regions — a body that allows regions and cities a voice in the formation of European law and policy.

The Madrid delegation’s key demand was that support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which seeks to isolate Israel as a prelude to its replacement with a single Palestinian state, be prosecuted as a hate crime under European law. According to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism endorsed by the EU, “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor” — a position embraced by the BDS campaign — is an example of antisemitic rhetoric.

(full article online)

Prosecute BDS as a Hate Crime, Says Spanish Lawmaker | United with Israel

BDS should be prosecuted as a hate crime, president of city of Madrid tells visiting U.S. Jewish delegation.

unitedwithisrael.org

 

[P F Tinmore]

The head of the city government in the Spanish capital Madrid is urging that the promotion of the boycott campaign against Israel be considered a hate crime, as part of a new initiative to combat antisemitism in the cities and regions of the European Union.

Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the president of Community of Madrid, told a visiting US Jewish delegation on Tuesday that she had presented three amendments to a comprehensive strategy to combat antisemitism drawn up by the EU and debated last week by its Committee on the Regions — a body that allows regions and cities a voice in the formation of European law and policy.

The Madrid delegation’s key demand was that support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which seeks to isolate Israel as a prelude to its replacement with a single Palestinian state, be prosecuted as a hate crime under European law. According to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism endorsed by the EU, “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor” — a position embraced by the BDS campaign — is an example of antisemitic rhetoric.

(full article online)

Prosecute BDS as a Hate Crime, Says Spanish Lawmaker | United with Israel

BDS should be prosecuted as a hate crime, president of city of Madrid tells visiting U.S. Jewish delegation.

unitedwithisrael.org

The Madrid delegation’s key demand was that support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which seeks to isolate Israel as a prelude to its replacement with a single Palestinian state, be prosecuted as a hate crime under European law.

The EU court already ruled that BDS is protected speech.

 

[Sixties Fan]

The EU court already ruled that BDS is protected speech.

Speech is one thing. The violence against Israelis and Jews all over the world is not protected. It is a crime.

 

[P F Tinmore]

Speech is one thing. The violence against Israelis and Jews all over the world is not protected. It is a crime.

What violence?

 

[Sixties Fan]

What violence?

[The violence caused against Jews by the lies BDS (co-founded, not really, by a lying Palestinian named Barghouti) tells about what is going on in Israel, Gaza and the PA.

It is no different than the violence caused by UNWRA to the Palestinians who believe the fables they are told on a daily basis which leads them to want to kill Jews.

But here is the real story of BDS and how long it has been going on and what has happened because of these boycotts.

But is really bad about BDS is that they mainly harm Palestinians. The workers. The ones BDS does not care about.]

Origins​

Almost every statement by BDS exponents claim that the movement originated in a July 9, 2005, “call… by Palestinian civil society organizations for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel and for academic and cultural boycott of Israel.” This followed the establishment of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel(PACBI) in Ramallah on April 6, 2004. The “Call” is portrayed as a response to Israel’s unwillingness to submit to a “ruling” of the International Court of Justice condemning Israel’s security barrier (that ruling was an advisory opinion that Israel was under no obligation accept).

In truth, the boycott campaign predates the establishment of Israel. The Arab boycott was formally declared by the newly formed Arab League Council on December 2, 1945:

Jewish products and manufactured goods shall be considered undesirable to the Arab countries.” All Arab “institutions, organizations, merchants, commission agents and individuals” were called upon “to refuse to deal in, distribute, or consume Zionist products or manufactured goods.
As is evident in this declaration, the terms “Jewish” and “Zionist” were used synonymously. The objective of the boycott has been to isolate Israel from its neighbors and the international community, as well as to deny it trade that might be used to augment its military and economic strength.

Is BDS Anti-Semitic?​

While the focus after 1948 was Israel, the fact that the Arab League singled out Jews for special treatment was an indication it was fundamentally anti-Semitic. This became even clearer when the forum of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) convened in Durban, South Africa in August and September 2001, at the same time as the UN World Conference against Racism. The forum was marked by repeated expressions of naked anti-Semitism by NGO activists and condemned as such by United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson who chaired the Conference.

The Forum’s final declaration described Israel as a “racist, apartheid state” that was guilty of “racist crimes including war crimes, acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing.” The declaration established an action plan – the “Durban Strategy” – promoting “a policy of complete and total isolation of Israel as an apartheid state…the imposition of mandatory and comprehensive sanctions and embargoes, the full cessation of all links (diplomatic, economic, social, aid, military cooperation and training) between all states and Israel” (para. 424).

In November 2007, the first Palestinian BDS conference convened in Ramallah and established the BDS National Committee (BNC) as the Palestinian coordinating body for the international campaign. The BDS movement seeks to link Israeli policies with the racial segregation practice in South Africa from 1948-1994. By making a specious comparison, BDS proponents hope to convince the international community to adopt the same type of boycott and sanctions campaigns that contributed to the downfall of that despicable system. The ultimate objective of the BDS movement was articulated by As’ad AbuKhalil, a professor at California State University Stanislaus:

The real aim of BDS is to bring down the state of Israel... That should be stated as an unambiguous goal. There should not be any equivocation on the subject. Justice and freedom for the Palestinians are incompatible with the existence of the state of Israel.
The BDS movement rejects the peace process and the idea of a two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Its leaders routinely dismiss peace efforts ranging from the 1978 Camp David Peace Accords to the Oslo Process to President Barack Obama’s peace initiatives. Omar Barghouti, founder of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, for example, has said:

Good riddance! The two-state solution for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is finally dead. But someone has to issue an official death certificate before the rotting corpse is given a proper burial and we can all move on and explore the more just, moral and therefore enduring alternative for peaceful coexistence between Jews and Arabs in Mandate Palestine: the one-state solution. 1
With their zero-sum approach to everything Israeli, they make no attempt to address issues of reconciliation and coexistence. Moreover, they do not acknowledge any Palestinian responsibility or accountability.

The boycott advocates have targeted stores that sell Israeli products, entertainers who plan performances in Israel, Israeli artists performing abroad, unions, professional associations and any other individual or group with some tie to Israel that they believe they can intimidate. These efforts have had minimal impact in the United States but have been more successful in Europe and a few other countries such as South Africa whose ruling African National Congress Party (ANC) has declared their full and unequivocal support for the BDS movement. The ANC adopted BDS as its official policy in October 2012, approving a resolution which included a specific call to the South African people to, “support the programs and campaigns of the Palestinian civil society which seek to put pressure on Israel to engage with the Palestinian people to reach a just solution.”21

BDS advocates insist they are not anti-Semitic. The German government, knowing the history of anti-Jewish boycottsunder the Nazis, has no difficulty declaring that BDS is fundamentally anti-Semitic. Major cities such as Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich have banned or legislated against BDS activity. On May 17, 2019, the German Parliament became the first nation in the European Union to designate the BDS movement anti-Semitic. Members of the Bundestag said the campaign to boycott Israeli products, along with the movement’s “Don’t Buy” stickers, recalled “the most terrible chapter in German history” and revived memories of the Nazi motto “Don’t buy from Jews.” The resolution said, “The pattern of argument and methods of the BDS movement are anti-Semitic” and called for an end to funding any organizations that question Israel’s right to exist, call for a boycott of Israel or actively support BDS.24

Since some BDS supporters are Jewish, proponents often say, “Even Jews support boycotting Israel; therefore, we cannot be anti-Semitic.” Most of the Jews who are involved in the campaign, however, are on the far-left fringe of the Jewish community. Far more representative was a statement signed by 136 international Jewish organizations representing the major religious streams of Judaism, Republicans and Democrats, women’s organization and a cross-section of political views. They condemned academic, cultural and commercial boycotts. While acknowledging criticism of Israel is legitimate, the statement said, “Criticism becomes anti-Semitism, however, when it demonizes Israel or its leaders, denies Israel the right to defend its citizens or seeks to denigrate Israel’s right to exist.”

Israeli Ambassador Dani Dayan was blunter, “If you are non-Jews who like to tell Jews what is and what isn’t anti-Semitism, you are most probably anti-Semites.” He added, “If you are a Jew collaborating with them, you are most probably their useful idiot.”25
----

The History of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) Movement

Encyclopedia of Jewish and Israeli history, politics and culture, with biographies, statistics, articles and documents on topics from anti-Semitism to Zionism.

www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org

 

[Sixties Fan]

lestinians Oppose BDS​

BDS proponents want to convey the impression that their actions are endorsed by all Palestinians, but this is not true. In fact, Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority, told South African journalists, “We do not ask anyone to boycott Israel itself.…We have relations with Israel, we have mutual recognition of Israel.”7

Despite the tensions between Palestinian Arabs and Israelis, there has been a parallel story of dialogue and cooperation. For example, in 2008 the Histadrut (Israeli labor union) and the Palestine General Federation of Trades Unions (PGFTU) signed an agreement to base future relations on negotiation, dialogue and joint initiatives to advance “fraternity and co-existence”. Palestinian Arab Universities – despite being hotbeds of anti-Israel activity – maintained links with their Israeli counterparts. Artists, doctors and businesspeople were amongst those who – despite the very real divisions between Palestinian and Israeli society – formed bonds of mutual benefit, cooperation and even occasional friendship across the divide of war.

The severing of these ties was not an objective that Israelis or Palestinian Arabs sought and the move to isolate the two sides did not spring from popular opinion on the Palestinian Arab side. Rather it was a strategy of a self-appointed vanguard that expressed itself through a network of NGOs who put pressure on other elements in Palestinian Arab society to fall in behind the “Durban strategy.”

The BDS movement, which is run largely by non-Palestinians outside of the disputed territories, has also done real harm to Palestinians. The most notable example is the case of the company SodaStream, which was targeted because of its factory in Mishor Adumim, adjacent to the “settlement” of Ma’ale Adumim. The company was the largest employer of Palestinians in the territories with nearly 600 workers who received the same salary, medical insurance and conditions as the other workers. BDS activists protested outside stores, intimidated shoppers and vandalized SodaStream products. As a result of financial losses, partly due to the BDS attacks, but mostly a result of the U.S. market moving away from sugary drinks, the company closed the West Bank factory and replaced it with one in the Negev Desert.

Ali Jafar, a shift manager from a West Bank village who had worked for SodaStream for two years, said: “All the people who wanted to close [SodaStream’s West Bank factory] are mistaken... They didn’t take into consideration the families.”8

Only 36 Palestinians who worked at the SodaStream plant in the West Bank were rehired to work in the new facility in Israel. Bassam Eid, a Palestinian human rights activist, met with some of the people who were fired because of the move. “They told me they were earning an average of NIS 5,000 a month there, and that today they are being offered salaries of just NIS 1,400 in the PA.” He added that “people there are deep in debt because they have taken on long-term commitments based on the understanding that their work at the plant would continue; but reality has slapped them in the face because of the pressure created by BDS movement. Today, they are running between the courts and the bailiff offices and is anyone taking any notice of them? Do you think the boycott movement cares about them at all?”9

In May 2017, it was reported that all employees of the SodaStream factory who wanted their jobs back were rehired at the new facility in Israel. Altogether, 74 Palestinian workers were rehired. SodaStream CEO Daniel Birnbaum stated in an interview with the Jerusalem Post on May 20, 2017, that the company is delighted to welcome back our 74 devoted Palestinian employees, who are able to join their 1,500 friends at our Rahat facility in the Negev.22

The History of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) Movement

Encyclopedia of Jewish and Israeli history, politics and culture, with biographies, statistics, articles and documents on topics from anti-Semitism to Zionism.

www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org

 

[P F Tinmore]

lestinians Oppose BDS​

BDS proponents want to convey the impression that their actions are endorsed by all Palestinians, but this is not true. In fact, Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority, told South African journalists, “We do not ask anyone to boycott Israel itself.…We have relations with Israel, we have mutual recognition of Israel.”7

Despite the tensions between Palestinian Arabs and Israelis, there has been a parallel story of dialogue and cooperation. For example, in 2008 the Histadrut (Israeli labor union) and the Palestine General Federation of Trades Unions (PGFTU) signed an agreement to base future relations on negotiation, dialogue and joint initiatives to advance “fraternity and co-existence”. Palestinian Arab Universities – despite being hotbeds of anti-Israel activity – maintained links with their Israeli counterparts. Artists, doctors and businesspeople were amongst those who – despite the very real divisions between Palestinian and Israeli society – formed bonds of mutual benefit, cooperation and even occasional friendship across the divide of war.

The severing of these ties was not an objective that Israelis or Palestinian Arabs sought and the move to isolate the two sides did not spring from popular opinion on the Palestinian Arab side. Rather it was a strategy of a self-appointed vanguard that expressed itself through a network of NGOs who put pressure on other elements in Palestinian Arab society to fall in behind the “Durban strategy.”

The BDS movement, which is run largely by non-Palestinians outside of the disputed territories, has also done real harm to Palestinians. The most notable example is the case of the company SodaStream, which was targeted because of its factory in Mishor Adumim, adjacent to the “settlement” of Ma’ale Adumim. The company was the largest employer of Palestinians in the territories with nearly 600 workers who received the same salary, medical insurance and conditions as the other workers. BDS activists protested outside stores, intimidated shoppers and vandalized SodaStream products. As a result of financial losses, partly due to the BDS attacks, but mostly a result of the U.S. market moving away from sugary drinks, the company closed the West Bank factory and replaced it with one in the Negev Desert.

Ali Jafar, a shift manager from a West Bank village who had worked for SodaStream for two years, said: “All the people who wanted to close [SodaStream’s West Bank factory] are mistaken... They didn’t take into consideration the families.”8

Only 36 Palestinians who worked at the SodaStream plant in the West Bank were rehired to work in the new facility in Israel. Bassam Eid, a Palestinian human rights activist, met with some of the people who were fired because of the move. “They told me they were earning an average of NIS 5,000 a month there, and that today they are being offered salaries of just NIS 1,400 in the PA.” He added that “people there are deep in debt because they have taken on long-term commitments based on the understanding that their work at the plant would continue; but reality has slapped them in the face because of the pressure created by BDS movement. Today, they are running between the courts and the bailiff offices and is anyone taking any notice of them? Do you think the boycott movement cares about them at all?”9

In May 2017, it was reported that all employees of the SodaStream factory who wanted their jobs back were rehired at the new facility in Israel. Altogether, 74 Palestinian workers were rehired. SodaStream CEO Daniel Birnbaum stated in an interview with the Jerusalem Post on May 20, 2017, that the company is delighted to welcome back our 74 devoted Palestinian employees, who are able to join their 1,500 friends at our Rahat facility in the Negev.22

The History of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) Movement

Encyclopedia of Jewish and Israeli history, politics and culture, with biographies, statistics, articles and documents on topics from anti-Semitism to Zionism.

www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org

You don't underestand the concept behind SodaStream.

 

[Hollie]

You don't underestand the concept behind SodaStream.

Pointless.

 

[Hollie]

 

[P F Tinmore]

Death and destruction.

That's nice.

 

[Hollie]

A crescendo of islamo-screeching.

 

[Sixties Fan]

[ Such non violent people ]


During the demonstration, the owner of Taste of Israel — who has not been named — was told by one of the protestors that the group knew his address and would show up at his house. The same protestor also maintained that her gripe was against Zionists, not Jews.

On Sunday, he received a phone call from someone who said, “We are coming to kill you.”

Canadian Jewish leaders have since expressed concern about what transpired.

“This is not anti-Zionism — it’s a blatant act of antisemitic hate which must be condemned by everyone,” tweeted Canadian MP Melissa Lantsman on Friday. “You don’t come to a Jewish neighborhood and yell anti-Semitic tropes if it isn’t about hating Jews.”

(full article online)

Owner of Toronto Kosher Store Reports Death Threats from BDS Activists

A past anti-Israel protest in London. Photo: Claudia Gabriela Marques Vieira via Wikimedia Commons. The lives of a Canadian Jewish …

www.algemeiner.com

 

[Hollie]

Really strange that the Islamic terrorist apologists at HRW would risk offending their Islamic terrorist darlings.

 

[Hollie]

All is not date palms and camel’s milk Mullocrats in flowing robes and people being pushed off rooftops in the administrative division of Iran, sometimes called Gaza’istan,