How to stop BDS? Simple, "solve the Israeli Palestinian conflict"
This posting has these items:
1) JNS: Jerusalem conference features the unsung Israeli perspective on fighting BDS, but Israelis are divided on how to respond to BDS;
2) EJJP: Letter to EU High Representative, from European Jews for a Just Peace, of which JfJfP is a member, setting out a very clear argument as to why the EU ambassador should not take part in this conference;
3) Ynet: BDS leaders call on EU to boycott Yedioth Ahronoth conference;
4) Ynet: EU ambassador: West Bank product labelling not a boycott, stating the obvious to everyone (except the most paranoid Israelis), the EU ambassador tries to explain the difference between labelling and boycotting goods;
5) Electronic Intifada: EU official urged to cancel appearance at anti-BDS conference, Ali Abuminah says the conference is anti-Palestinian and anti-democratic.
Roseanne Barr, who wrote an article ‘In Praise of Israeli Democracy’ for Israeli Cool last year, has had a makeover as a spokesperson for Israel right or wrong. Good move?
Jerusalem conference features the unsung Israeli perspective on fighting BDS
By Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman, JNS.org*
March 28, 2016
Debate on the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement is often heard loudest from Jews in America and the rest of the Diaspora, perhaps most notably when it comes to anti-Israel activity on college campuses, rather than focusing on what leaders in the movement’s stated target—Israel—are saying.
Yet “Stop the Boycott,” a March 28 conference in Jerusalem hosted by Yedioth Ahronoth and Ynet, focused on BDS from a fully Israeli perspective. American actress and comedian Roseanne Barr, who gave remarks at the gathering, took the Israel-focused message to heart in a post-conference phone interview.
“I think people should listen to what Jewish people say that live here, in Israel, rather than those people that live in Chicago and especially those that aren’t even Jewish,” Barr, who has become known for expressing strongly pro-Israel sentiments on Twitter, told JNS.org. “Jewish people need to be the ones to talk about it—not [Pink Floyd’s] Roger Waters or the pope. It’s a Jewish subject. The rest of the people should keep their mouths shut and listen for a change.”
Member of Knesset (MK) Yair Lapid, the leader of Israel’s Yesh Atid political party, told conference attendees regarding BDS activists, “We need to go where they are and be better than they are.”
“There is no way that the ‘start-up nation’ could not know how to do a better job than they are doing,” Lapid said, using the nickname [Israel] has earned due to its penchant for entrepreneurship and innovation. “There is no way we will not be able to reach every campus and debate and win those debates….Why are we not doing it? It’s like the IDF being told not to go where they are shooting. If they are shooting, go and fight. We are fighting for this state.”
Similarly, Israeli opposition leader MK Isaac Herzog (Zionist Union) said the pro-Israel community can’t take out one mosquito at a time.
“We cannot walk around with a racket that kills mosquitoes here on this campus or a little mosquito there—we need to dry up the swamp….It is in our hands to change it,” he said.
“I think Israeli politicians need to address issues like BDS,” said Elana Yael Heideman, executive director of the Israel Forever Foundation, which works to combat BDS.
The challenge, however, was apparent from one conference panel in which five Israeli politicians from varying parties and perspectives all offered their commentary on fighting BDS, but no fully-baked solutions for the problem.
“This is what Israeli politicians are grappling with,” said Tovah Lazaroff, deputy managing editor of The Jerusalem Post, who covers issues relating to BDS for the English-language Israeli daily newspaper. “If they had a solution, they would have already done it. I don’t think anyone is refusing to do it.”
MK Tzipi Livni [above], chairperson of the Knesset’s Hatnuah faction, disagrees. At the conference, she accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of pandering to his right-wing coalition of 61 lawmakers by refusing to take the steps he knows he should take, “because he’s afraid the education minister (MK Naftali Bennett) will be mad at him.”
Livni said that when Israel promotes a truly Jewish and democratic state as well as the peace process, it will “create a wall” of protection against BDS.
Echoing remarks made earlier in the conference by Lars Faaborg-Andersen, head of the European Union delegation to Israel, that “the most effective antidote to the BDS movement is to solve the Israeli Palestinian conflict,” Livni said that when Israel will promote a truly Jewish and democratic state as well as the peace process, it will “create a wall” of protection against BDS.
Livni said she worries that the longer Israel takes to make such steps, the more “in” BDS will become. Equating the BDS movement to veganism, she said, “If it becomes a social and cultural trend, then it will become worse and worse. We have to break this vicious cycle.”
Bennett, who besides his education portfolio is also Israel’s Diaspora affairs minister and the leader of the Jewish Home political party, shot down Livni’s analysis in the first sentence of his remarks. Looking at the last decade, he cited multiple examples of instances when Israel pandered for peace and it worked against the Jewish state.
“In Gaza, we did what the world asked. We went out of there all the way to the ’67 lines….We should have received great applause—that was the purpose of the disengagement,” said Bennett. “We got no affection.”
Bennett called it delusional to believe that if Israel gave land to the Arabs, the world would love and accept the Jewish state.
“Maybe in the short-term, a few days or weeks. But in the long-term, it makes Israel a mockery,” he said. “The world appreciates a nation that protects itself.”
He argued that Israel belongs to the Jewish people—“the land is ours.” That premise, he said, is where any debate needs to start.
Bennett added that there is no solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, so to win the BDS battle, Israel needs to shift the dialogue “to our strong points.”
“Is there anyone here who knows how to solve the conflict? Everyone has tried,” he said. “We are so busy with what we cannot solve. Let’s represent Israel as what we are: a lighthouse, a steady island in the midst of the Arab storm.”
In her talk, which took place directly after that of the politicians, Barr said she sees pandemic antisemitism on Twitter. Since many social media users at first didn’t realize her Jewish roots—“perhaps because no one thought I was Jewish being from Utah”—she was privy to witnessing uncensored things non-Jews say about Jews, things they might not have said if they knew they were speaking to a Jew.
“It was shocking when I realized that what I considered criticism of Israel became garden variety antisemitism,” Barr said. “BDS is right-wing and fascist….BDS [members] do not want peace, nor do they want peace negotiations.”
Barr said she thinks many celebrities are afraid to speak up for Israel because they’re afraid of being maligned in the media, at conferences, on campuses, or even in synagogue.
“I think people are afraid. Have you ever been shouted down by these BDS people?” said Barr. “People are afraid of being targeted….[They are] protecting their lives and their families.”
Tovah Lazaroff, an American at home in Israel, who thinks Israelis really don’t grasp what the point of BDS is.
Lazaroff said the majority of politicians, like Bennett and Barr, are grappling with what to do in a universe where they believe that BDS is about antisemitism and delegitimization of Israel, while everyone else thinks it’s about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“If everyone believes the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is fuelling BDS, then you need a solution about and beyond resolving the conflict,” said Lazaroff. “You cannot show that BDS is about delegitimization of Israel while the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is going on.”
The good news, according to Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon (Kulanu), is that BDS has not yet affected Israel’s economy. At the conference, he described Israel’s economy as strong, with a low unemployment rate. But he did not discount the potential power of the BDS movement.
“A threat is a threat,” said Kahlon, noting that the government has earmarked NIS 118 million ($31 million) to be used to among other things to help compensate any businesses who report being hurt by BDS. “The finance minister has to react to any threat in earnest….The boycott has to be taken seriously.”
Federica Mogherini, still smiling after a conference of the European Council in Brussels, February 9, 2015. Photo by Emmanuel Dunand/AFP
Letter to EU High Representative
High Representative Federica Mogherini
March 28, 2016
Dear Ms. Mogherini,
We read with great concern that the EU Ambassador to Israel is to speak at the Israeli “Stop the Boycott” conference on 28 March. His presence there will be most unfortunate, for several reasons.
The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement has empowered civil society to apply pressure to Israel by peaceful, legal means in order to persuade it to end the occupation of Palestinian land. It is self-evident that this Israeli government, as the previous one, will not end the occupation along the intentionally legitimate parameters unless pressure is applied to it. Prime Minister Netanyahu’s insistence on only negotiating “without preconditions” is proof enough.
We are sure you realise that the Israeli strategy against BDS is to elide the distinction between Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and then claim that all BDS activity is the same, whether directed at Israel or the OPT, and is intended to “delegitimise” Israel. The EU has always maintained the distinction clearly, and affirmed time and again that Israel has no sovereign rights in the OPT.
Under the rules of the World Trade Organization Government Procurement Agreement, government bodies are allowed to exclude companies from tendering for contracts on the basis of having committed “grave professional misconduct”. Many of the services provided to settlements, or elsewhere in the OPT, would certainly qualify for that description. Some services inside Israel, for example at the prison where Palestinians from the OPT are illegally held, would also qualify. Since the WTO Agreement only applies to the sovereign areas of its states parties, government bodies are free to decide not to buy products from the OPT for any reason.
Non-government organizations and consumers are free to decide what to buy, or from whom, without any restrictions on their choices.
Sixteen EU member states have issued guidance discouraging companies from doing business in the OPT.
The EU should not be trying to restrict civil society actors from exercising their rights. Therefore it should not be seen to be endorsing the Israeli campaign against BDS, the elision of Israel with the OPT which Israel promotes, or the denigration of the legal rights of government bodies, other organisations and consumers. Nor should it be undermining member states’ guidance that discourage companies from doing business in the OPT. The Ambassador’s presence at this Conference will be seen to do all of that, and it should not be allowed.
Yours sincerely,
Dror Feiler, Chair, EJJP**;
Judar for Israelisk-Palestinsk Fred (Stockholm) [Jews for Israeli-Palestinian Peace].
Arthur Goodman, Diplomatic and Parliamentary Liaison officer, JfJfP (London)
BDS leaders call on EU to boycott Yedioth Ahronoth conference
Boycott movement leaders urge EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini to forbid the union’s ambassador to Israel from attending Yedioth Ahronoth’s anti-BDS conference, set to take place on Monday.
By Itamar Eichner, Ynet
March 24, 2016
Representatives of the BDS movement have demanded that the EU boycott the Yedioth Ahronoth and Ynet anti-BDS conference, which will convene on Monday in Jerusalem. The BDS movement has demanded that EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini order EU Ambassador to Israel Lars Faaborg-Andersen to not participate in a conference panel alongside pro-settlement political leader Dani Dayan.
“We are writing to urge the European Union to cancel the participation of Mr. Lars Faaborg-Andersen, head of the EU delegation to Israel, in the Israeli “Stop the Boycott” conference, scheduled to take place in Jerusalem on 28 March 2016,” BDS representatives wrote to Mogherini, “Speaking at this conference, hosted by the right-wing, anti-Palestinian Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, would implicate the EU in the latest phase of Israel’s war on the largest Palestinian-led human rights movement in the world.”
They continued, writing, “It is deeply concerning that Mr. Faaborg-Andersen will be speaking alongside Dani Dayan, a key leader of the settler movement.”
Ambassador Andersen said Wednesday that he will not surrender to pressure and demands to cancel his participation in the conference, and that he will appear on the panel with Dayan as planned.
EU ambassador: West Bank product labelling not a boycott
Lars Faaborg-Andersen defends the European Union’s position on Israeli West Bank products, and argues that the only way to end the BDS campaign is by solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
By Itamar Eichner, Yael Friedson, Ynet news
March 28, 2016
EU Ambassador to Israel Lars Faaborg-Andersen stressed on Monday that the European Union was opposed to the BDS movement and that the labelling of West Bank products did not constitute a boycott.
Faaborg-Andersen participated in Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth’s anti-BDS conference, despite calls from BDS activists to boycott the conference. “Sometimes extremist settlers criticize me, and now, the BDS movement does,” he said.
The ambassador reiterated the EU’s stance on the Israeli settlements in the West Bank: “They are illegal under international law, they are a hinderance to the peace process, and they aren’t part of Israel. Our agreements concern products made within Israel’s internationally recognized borders, border that don’t include the settlements.”
He also noted that “Our policy is engagement with Israel. We are Israel’s largest trade partner, and we are Israel’s most important international partner in science, technology, and the list goes on.”
Faaborg-Andersen was quick to point out, however, that, “this isn’t a boycott. We let (settlement products) be sold in Europe, but they have to be correctly labelled.”
He argued that the threat of BDS should not be blown “out of proportion,” and stressed that at present, the movement actually holds very little influence. With that in mind, he insisted that the BDS movement should not be given too much attention, as it could boost the movement’s power.
The diplomat asserted that the key to defeating the BDS movement is in Israel and the Palestinians resolving their conflict. Israel, he said, should stop “being seen as undermining the two state solution” and must “show more of a will to move forward with the process.”
“With no Palestinian issue,” he said, “there will be no BDS issue. We don’t expect Israel to be able to solve this issue alone.”
EU official urged to cancel appearance at anti-BDS conference
EU Ambassador to Israel Lars Faaborg-Andersen, left, and Israeli Minister Yuval Steinitz do the photographic handshake. Photo by Yossi Zwecker
By Ali Abunimah, Electronic Intifada
March 25, 2016
Palestinian and European campaign groups are calling on the European Union to cancel the participation of one of its senior diplomats in an Israeli conference which aims to end the global boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement for Palestinian rights.
Ambassador Lars Faaborg-Andersen, head of the EU delegation in Tel Aviv, is scheduled to take part in a panel on 28 March on “combatting the boycott through state action,” alongside West Bank settler leader Dani Dayan.
The panel is part of the “Stop the Boycott” conference organized in Jerusalem by the Israeli publications Yediot Ahronot and Ynet.
It will be addressed by Israeli officials, including public security minister Gilad Erdan, who heads the government’s anti-BDS efforts, as well as by leaders of US-based Israel lobby groups including StandWithUs and the Anti-Defamation League.
It will also feature an appearance by Roseanne Barr, the US television personality and former comedian who now uses her public platform to incite hatred against Palestinians and Muslims.
The EU’s ambassador to Israel sharing a conference platform with a key leader of the settler movement makes a mockery of the EU’s supposed opposition to the continued construction of illegal settlements on occupied Palestinian land
Dani Dayan previously led the Yesha Council, the body that represents settlements in the occupied West Bank, all of which are illegal under international law.
Because of his high-profile leadership role in the settler movement, Brazil has refused Dayan’s appointment as Israel’s ambassador to the country.
“The EU’s ambassador to Israel sharing a conference platform with a key leader of the settler movement would make a mockery of the EU’s supposed opposition to the continued construction of illegal settlements on occupied Palestinian land,” Europe campaigns officer Riya Hassan said in a statement from her organization, the Palestinian BDS National Committee.
Anti-Palestinian and anti-democratic
In language clearly calculated to link the civil society movement to terrorism and play on Islamophobic fears in the wake of recent atrocities by Islamic State, the conference program claims that the BDS movement carries an “explosive payload of outrageous lies” that is “conquering a growing number of strongholds in Europe, the United States and elsewhere.”
This is no mere academic conference, but one aimed at strengthening Israel’s overt and covert efforts to crush the movement for Palestinian rights.
“The fight must be initiated by the State of Israel, must make use of combined forces and be carried out globally at all levels,” says the description of the panel in which the EU’s Lars Faaborg-Andersen will participate alongside Dayan and an Israeli military officer.
“It must include: quiet and overt diplomacy (mobilizing countries with which we have strategic relations), legislative initiatives against the BDS movement in the various countries, public relations efforts, mobilization of the Jewish world and coordinated action with all the agencies and organizations that work against the BDS movement,” the program adds.
Since it is known that Israel’s secret intelligence services are already involved in the fight against BDS, this is tantamount to incitement for Israel to use covert tactics against citizens of European countries who are doing nothing more than exercising their democratic rights.
Complicity
In a letter to EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, the BNC and a coalition of European campaign groups urge the EU to cancel its envoy’s appearance at the conference and end EU complicity with Israel’s efforts to stifle support for Palestinian rights.
“Regardless of its position on BDS, an inclusive, nonviolent movement for Palestinian freedom, justice and equality, the EU should respect the voice of the absolute majority of Palestinian civil society as well as the voices of a fast growing cross-section of European civil society that stand behind this movement,” the letter states.
“We urge the EU to end its ‘Israel exception to free speech’ and to adopt the principled stand of a leading UN official regarding Palestinian rights who confirmed as early as 2011 that ‘Calling for or participating in a boycott is a form of expression that is peaceful, legitimate and internationally accepted,’” it adds.
“Different views”
BDS Movement @BDSmovement
Isn’t @EUinIsrael worried that speaking alongside settler leader Dani Dayan undermines EU opposition to settlements? http://bit.ly/1T6v1yYEU in Israel ✔ @EUinIsrael
.@BDSmovement No. Settlements are illegal. In Israel we quite often speak on panels of people with different views on an issue.
8:17 PM – 24 Mar 2016
Mogherini’s spokespersons did not reply to a request for comment from The Electronic Intifada, but Faaborg-Anderson’s office responded to the BNC on Twitter, asserting that there was no problem with the envoy’s participation in the anti-BDS panel with Dayan.
“Settlements are illegal,” Faaborg-Anderson’s office tweeted. “In Israel we quite often speak on panels of people with different views on an issue.”
According to this framing, it would appear that the EU views direct participation in Israeli settler-colonization of the occupied West Bank as merely a point of view, rather than a series of crimes under international law for which those responsible should be held accountable.
Ironically, several EU governments have not accorded the same respect to their own citizens advocating for Palestinian rights.
Despite the EU’s verbal opposition to settlements, the 28-nation bloc continues to finance Israeli military industries and activities located inside settlements.
Several EU governments have waged aggressive efforts to crack down on the BDS movement. The UK is seeking to intimidate democratically elected local councils and other public institutions from supporting BDS initiatives.
In France, an arbitrary interpretation of a court ruling is being used to repress BDS activities as “illegal.”
Earlier this month, an activist was even arrested for wearing a T-shirt supportive of BDS.
In a statement to The Electronic Intifada last week, by contrast, Sweden’s foreign ministry affirmed that country’s respect for the democratic rights of citizens by recognizing that BDS “is a civil society movement” and that “governments should not interfere in civil society organization views.”
In yet another act of complicity, EU governments this week abstained in a UN Human Rights Council vote to create a database of all companies that operate in Israeli settlements.
The resolution passed by 32 votes in favour with 15 abstentions. The US administration of President Barack Obama reportedly made intense efforts to block the initiative.
“What use are the EU’s regular condemnations of the ongoing expansion [of] Israel’s illegal settlements if they will not support measures aimed at stopping international businesses from supporting their expansion?” the BNC’s Riya Hassan said in response.
Notes
* JNS is Jewish news service. In fact it is a pro-Israel news service, not covering the various political activities of Jewish groups outside Israel – unless they campaign for Israel. It says: “JNS.org is an independent, non-profit, business resource and wire service covering Jewish news and Israel news for Jewish media throughout the English-speaking world.”
** EJJP, European Jews for a Just Peace, is a federation of Jewish groups in Europe which stand for a ‘just peace’ between Palestinians and Israelis. JfJfP is a member of the federation.