Friday, September 10, 2010

BDS: Its not about "Occupation". Its about Israel's very existence

The Palestinian Campaign for Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel attacks participants in the Ariel Boycott: Its just not good enough. Boycott ALL of Israel. ALL OF IT.

"While we welcome acts of protest against any manifestation of Israel’s regime of colonialism and apartheid, we believe that these acts must be both morally consistent and anchored in international law and universal human rights. First, we believe that the exclusive focus on settlement institutions ignores and obscures the complicity of all Israeli academic and cultural institutions in upholding the system of colonial control and apartheid under which Palestinians suffer. PACBI believes there is firm evidence of the collusion of the Israeli academic and cultural establishment with the major oppressive organs of the Israeli state. Focusing solely on obviously complicit institutions, such as cultural centers in a West Bank colony, serves to shield mainstream Israeli institutions from opprobrium or, ultimately, from the growing global boycott movement that consistently targets all complicit institutions."

Yep. All nations have flaws. All nations make mistakes. But only Israel, alone in the family of nations has committed acts so egregious that she deserves this kind of response.

Don't you ever try and claim "Its about the occupation" ever again. Its about Israel's very existence

The statement goes on "It has not gone without notice in Israel that BDS is gaining momentum internationally as an effective means of resisting Israeli colonial oppression. Given this context, one may be excused to assert that these recent efforts to narrow the focus of the boycott against Israel may be deliberately missing the forest for the trees.. It is important to reiterate the morally-consistent rationale and principles of the Palestinian boycott campaign against Israel "

According to Ahmed Moor: "BDS does mean the end of the Jewish state…I view the BDS movement as a long-term project with radically transformative potential… the success of the BDS movement is tied directly to our success in humanizing Palestinians and discrediting Zionism as a legitimate way of regarding the world."

We've said it before. We'll say it again. This is not about "occupation". BDS is about the delegitimization of Israel. It advances the delegitimization of the State of Israel by undermining - whether explicitly or implicitly - its right to exist as a Jewish and democratic state.

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