Boycott Israel

[Sixties Fan]

You don't care that the US does not have its own money.

Imagine that.

Say you. Remember, you are the only one with that information. Or rather, allegation. Nobody else knows because you will not tell anyone

Imagine that, the US is the wealthiest country in the world today, but you say that it does not have its own money.

Does any country in the world?

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

However, the best part about 'Palestinian pride' is
now you can parade Arafat as LGBT visionary.

He was awfully cozy with his East German bodyguards.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

Good point. Everything they ever had has been stolen.

Bunch of renters and squatters.
Never had much of anything.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

Evey dollar you think you own, you don't. It is on loan and has to be paid back with interest.

Who did I borrow it from? How much interest do I owe?
How do they collect it?

 

[P F Tinmore]

Bunch of renters and squatters.
Never had much of anything.

OK, but the Treaty of Lausanne ceded all Ottoman territory to Palestine.

 

[Sixties Fan]

OK, but the Treaty of Lausanne ceded all Ottoman territory to Palestine.

One cannot cede anything to a region. It was never a country before Israel was rebuilt.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

OK, but the Treaty of Lausanne ceded all Ottoman territory to Palestine.

No such nation.

 

[Sixties Fan]

And now.....back to BDS

 

[P F Tinmore]

Who did I borrow it from? How much interest do I owe?
How do they collect it?

This is probably not the proper forum for this. And I should note that I tutored economics in college so I am not just somebody off the street with an opinion.

The constitution gives congress the power to create money and set its value. The government creates money out of thin air and spends it into the economy. There is no debt. No money is borrowed to be paid back with interest.

What we have had since 1913 is that the Federal Reserve creates money out of thin air and loans it into the economy to be repaid with interest.

Which would you rather have?

 

[Hollie]

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

This is probably not the proper forum for this. And I should note that I tutored economics in college so I am not just somebody off the street with an opinion.

The constitution gives congress the power to create money and set its value. The government creates money out of thin air and spends it into the economy. There is no debt. No money is borrowed to be paid back with interest.

What we have had since 1913 is that the Federal Reserve creates money out of thin air and loans it into the economy to be repaid with interest.

Which would you rather have?

And I should note that I tutored economics in college so I am not just somebody off the street with an opinion.

So your ignorance isn't exclusive to the Middle East.

The government creates money out of thin air and spends it into the economy. There is no debt. No money is borrowed to be paid back with interest.

How much of government spending should be financed by printing money?

What we have had since 1913 is that the Federal Reserve creates money out of thin air and loans it into the economy to be repaid with interest.

Sounds awful! What does the Federal Reserve do with the profits?

And you never answered my original questions...

How much interest do I owe?
How do they collect it?

 

[P F Tinmore]

And you never answered my original questions...

How much interest do I owe?
How do they collect it?

Interesting to note that the income tax started that same year.

 

[P F Tinmore]

How much of government spending should be financed by printing money?

Since the government would be the only sources for money it would have to be all of it.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

Interesting to note that the income tax started that same year.

Meh.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

Since the government would be the only sources for money it would have to be all of it.

The government could print money and collect taxes for the rest.

So how does the Fed collect interest from me for "every dollar that I think I own but I don't"?

 

[P F Tinmore]

The government could print money and collect taxes for the rest.

So how does the Fed collect interest from me for "every dollar that I think I own but I don't"?

Note that using the Federal Reserve creates debt service. If the government prints its own money, as the constitution calls for, there is no national debt and no interest.

How High Are Federal Interest Payments? | Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget

This year, the federal government will spend $300 billion on interest payments on the national debt.

www.crfb.org

 

[P F Tinmore]

Israeli weapons maker shuts London HQ following sustained protest

After relentless direct action and a number of arrests, Palestine Action has made business in Britain’s capital inoperable for Israel’s largest weapons company, Elbit Systems.

mondoweiss.net

 

[Sixties Fan]

Back to BDS

 

[Sixties Fan]

Therein lies the truth about BDS. For it is BDS and not Big Thief who are the villains in this tale. They are not interested in healing. They are not interested in conflict-resolution. It’s clear enough on their website: “The BDS movement does not advocate for a particular solution to the conflict and does not call for either a ‘one state solution’ or a ‘two state solution’.”

More alarming still is their statement of intent. It cites “ending [Israel’s] occupation and colonisation of all Arab lands”, which is a coded denial of Israel’s right to exist.

If there was ever any doubt about the group’s priorities, in successfully dissuading Big Thief from performing a fundraiser for Palestinians, surely now we can all see them for the ruthless malevolent actors they are.

BDS organisers are so blinded by their political ambitions that they lose their sense of humanity. I’m familiar with how BDS works. Some years ago, a friend and musical collaborator, Senegalese singer Baaba Maal, was due to perform in Jerusalem. Baaba is a Muslim, I might add. Within days of his announcing the show, a BDS activist managed to call me on my (personal) phone, urging me to dissuade Baaba from doing the show. He told me that he would happily do it himself, if I preferred, I just had to put him in touch with Baaba. Suffice to say Baaba, unlike others, apparently still believes that music does have the power to heal. The shows went ahead.

Baaba is not the only musician to show pluck in the face of the BDS bullying. Australian singer Nick Cave, a lone, lambent light on so many issues, performed there in 2017. In so doing, he said he took “a principled stand against anyone who tries to censor and silence musicians”, adding: “So really, you could say, in a way, that the BDS made me play Israel.” But most suffer the same BDS intimidation tactics as Big Thief. It is a compelling (if formulaic) play in three parts. Act One: Artist announces show, often acknowledging Palestinian plight and usually offering support. Act Two: Social Media storms, BDS activists swarm. Act Three: show gets cancelled. Lana Del Rey in 2018. Lorde in 2017. Gorillaz in 2010...

But I won’t turn this into a listicle. BDS enjoyed a peculiar victory earlier this year, when Irish novelist Sally Rooney refused to have an Israeli publishing house print her latest book in Hebrew. BDS have a stranglehold that turns tight around the neck of the creative industries. Musicians For Palestine, launched in 2021, is an anti-Israel collective with over 600 members. A total of 1,524 signed the Artists’ Pledge for Palestine, vowing to boycott Israel, also in 2021. Artists For Palestine UK, a group advocating the cultural boycott of the Jewish state, enjoys the support of Brian Eno, Roger Waters, Ken Loach and over 1,500 others. Spare a thought for budding bassist Oleartchik. It seems his bandmates in Big Thief have put him in rather an awkward position. By their new self-imposed standards, musical and philanthropic endeavours in Israel are seemingly unacceptable.

And if they are strictly abiding by BDS guidelines, all “companies and industries” there are not to be touched. I don’t envy his predicament. His career opportunities have suddenly become significantly limited. Nor do I envy the conversations he’ll have to have with family and friends in Israel.

I’ve been to Israel and Palestine a couple of times. I once DJed a festival in Bethlehem, Palestine, to a few hundred locals (I felt no pushback from Israelis, I note), and some Israelis who crossed the border. I know well that the troubles there are of a complexity and age both deep and endless.

But I also believe (and on this occasion I don’t mind sounding cheesy) that music heals. I suspect that BDS will continue to penetrate the arts. Above all, I know that the real losers from this latest BDS victory are the ever-suffering Palestinians.

(full article online)

https://www.thejc.com/lets-talk/all/my-fellow-musicians-don%27t-give-in-to-the-israel-boycott-bullies-3GEjReq4jI2Db9SPTukEk6

 

[Sixties Fan]

The festival told BDS to go to hell, which is the proper response. In previous years, Israel-haters urged the festival to not screen Israeli films, and the festival refused then as well.

Because the festival made it clear that they would not censor Israeli films, the boycotters changed their tactics to attack their funding. That didn't work either.

However, the Israel haters went to Plan C so they can declare some sort of victory. From the official Palestinian Wafa news agency:

International filmmakers have called out the Documentary Edge Festival for its “art-washing” of Israeli racism and apartheid against Palestinians.

In a letter signed by a number of filmmakers such as Cole Yeoman, Gabriel Shipton, David Rane, and others, the directors and writers noted that they “don’t endorse the festival’s continued acceptance of funding and official support from the Israeli Embassy.”

“As filmmakers and participants in DocEdge Film Festival, we are deeply concerned by the festival’s continued acceptance of funding and official support from the Israeli Embassy. It is an offensive and unacceptable affiliation which we do not endorse,” the letter said.

“Our concern is not fearing Israeli influence in the festival selection, rather, the credibility and legitimization that Israel gains from DocEdge’s endorsement and platform. Our call isn't to take ‘sides’ or censor films, it is to recognize human rights and to keep our cultural spaces free from the harm and normalization of racism and colonization,” the letter said.

“It is in firm solidarity with the Palestinian people and the global recognition of human rights that we request DocEdge end their affiliation with the apartheid Israeli Embassy and divest from a relationship that endorses and legitimizes the systemic and racist persecution of Palestinians,” the letter concluded.

I found the letter itself, and it is signed by a directors and producers of eight (out of 113) festival films.

Cole Yeoman - ‘The Milford Road’ - Director/Producer
Gabriel Shipton - ‘Ithaka’ - Producer & brother of Julian Assange
Haidy Kancler - ‘Melting Dreams’ - Director/ Writer
Neasa Ní Chainaín - ‘Young Plato’ - Director
David Rane - ‘Young Plato’ - Producer
Rich Felgate - ‘Finite: The Climate of Change’ - Director/ Producer
Julia Maria Diana Jansch - ‘Coming Home’ - Director/ Producer
Olha Zhurba - ‘Outside’ - Director
Kaia Kahurangi Jamieson - ‘Scope’ - Director/ Producer

Notice that none of these filmmakers actually withdrew their films from the festival. Their supposed concern over how terrible Israel is doesn't extend to them doing anything that will affect their careers. They just signed a letter - a letter designed for the BDSers to claim that they garnered some support from some people who are willing to publicly call Israel an apartheid state.

Now everyone wins: BDS can issue press releases making it sound like their movement achieved a victory by saying that they got prestigious directors to support their message, and the directors can claim that they took the moral high ground without actually doing anything.

The list of festival sponsors is here. Besides the Israeli embassy in New Zealand, the festival is also funded by the embassies of the US, Canada, France, Australia, the Netherlands and the EU.


(full article online)

BDS calls on directors to boycott NZ film festival. A story of propaganda and cowardice.

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

elderofziyon.blogspot.com