BDS and antisemitism

Page last updated 01 Nov 2015

Introduction

JfJfP’s attitude towards BDS will be found in the Boycott, divestment, sanctions section, as part of the discussion of STRATEGIES FOR CHANGE. Here we are concerned solely with the increasingly-aired assertion that what underpins BDS is a relentless antisemitism, an argument we totally reject.

There are many reasons why people might be opposed to a particular boycott campaign, or to boycotts in general, e.g. a belief in the over-riding value of a free exchange of ideas; that politics should be kept out of culture or sport; that boycott campaigns punish the most radical critics of Israel rather than its ardent supporters; that they merely foster a siege mentality, thus making change less rather than more likely. We are not concerned here to make the case for BDS, but simply to deal with attempts to dismiss such campaigns on the grounds that they are antisemitic.

Here are some examples of this kind of accusation:

“[O]ne movement that’s definitely on the wrong side of the moral divide is the movement to boycott Israel, the so-called BDS… Those who wear the BDS label should be treated exactly as we treat any anti-Semite or bigot. They should be exposed and condemned. The boycotters should be boycotted.”

Benyamin Netanyahu, speech to Aipac, 4 Mar 2014

“The success of BDS is particularly impressive because it is a movement that uses the language of rights, but deals in practice with denying Israel’s right to exist.”

Ben-Dror Yemeni, right wing columnist on Yedioth Ahoronoth

“Those who label products today are liable to label people tomorrow”, he predicted ominously.

Poet Erez Biton, 2015 winner of the Israel Prize for literature, cited in Will the EU label settler goods?

On the growing BDS movement in the States: “One thing is for sure: We do have an anti-Semitic tsunami that’s coming at us.”

Haim Saban, one of the Democratic Party’s largest donors, Ha’aretz, 6 Jun 2015

These accusations could simply be dismissed as absurdly overstated, hysterical and unfounded. Far better, though, is to scrutinise the campaigns for evidence of antisemitism. When we do so the accusations seems to disappear into the ether  – see some examples (A: below).

A second answer to these accusations is found in the recent writings pointing to the growing support for BDS by, or addressed to, liberal Zionists, in order to save Israel from itself. Some examples are given (B: below).

And finally, we link to some articles making points relevant to the general discussion of BDS and antisemitism (C: below)

The most powerful emotional appeal is made is the allegation that BDS is calling for the destruction of Israel as a Jewish state. This isn’t really an argument about BDS at all but about any campaign for equal rights within Israel and, should the occupation continue, for equal rights for all who are de facto under Israel’s jurisdiction. This is an argument about whether there can be a Jewish and democratic state, whether Israel is (already or about to become) an apartheid state and much else besides. These arguments recur under many of the topics discussed in our KEY DEBATES section.

A:  Some campaigns. Are they really antisemitic?

Read the careful way in which objectors to various activities have phrased their criticisms and situated their concerns

(1) The Habima Theatre Company. This theatre company visited London to perform The Merchant of Venice in the Globe Theatre’s Globe to Globe festival, which was opposed by a group of actors, directors and writers. They wrote (letter to the Guardian, 29 Mar 2012):

and some subsequent published and unpublished letters on this theme by Ken Loach and others, JfJfP 19 Apr 2012.

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(2) The Dump Veolia campaign

A legal briefing note prepared by Hickman & Rose, Solicitors states:

This legal statement may not be the sexiest of campaigning statements, but it is hard to accuse it of being antisemitic. (See the fuller justification of these arguments here.)

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(3) Other campaigns.

For a full listing of UK campaigns on BDS, see the Boycott Israel Network website.

B:  Some liberal Zionist arguments for BDS

“BDS isn’t an all-or-nothing tactic. If liberal Zionists don’t want to boycott Israel, let them just boycott the settlements. If they want to support the economic boycott but not the cultural boycott, or the cultural boycott but not the academic boycott, that also helps. But if they don’t want to boycott anything, let them come up with a better idea for transforming the status quo, or just any idea that hasn’t already failed.”

Larry Derfner, +972, 19 May 2015

1. After Kerry, only BDS may save the two-state solution
Larry Derfner, +972, 19 May 2015

“If, instead of trying to persuade Israel to change, two-state supporters started holding it responsible for refusing to change, it could have a jarring psychological impact on the country and its leaders.”

“About BDS. A lot of people denounce the movement because it singles out Israel for punishment when so many other countries that do much worse things get off scot-free. In fact, the opposite is true;  […] Russia, China, Iran, Syria, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Yemen, Belarus, Cuba, North Korea and lots of other countries are sanctioned and boycotted, and not by minor academic groups and trade unions as in Israel’s case, but by the United States, European Union, UN Security Council or all of them together. Israel, meanwhile, gets $3 billion dollars a year in arms, along with ‘unbreakable’ political support, as Obama likes to say, from the world’s greatest superpower. So yes, there is a double standard when it comes to Israel, and it tilts heavily in Israel’s favor.”