House Dems push resolution to condemn global anti-Israel boycotts ahead of AIPAC

[brooklynite]

Source: Politico

A pair of Jewish Democrats are pushing a new measure to condemn an international boycott campaign aimed at Israel, a chance for much of the party to unify around support for the key U.S. ally after weeks of turmoil on the issue.

House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) introduced a resolution Thursday that denounces boycotting efforts as “incompatible” with the official U.S. stance on a two-state solution to end the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In a letter to colleagues Thursday, Nadler and Schneider described the global attempt to economically isolate Israel as an “overly-simplistic and one-sided approach.”

“Its goal is Israel’s elimination, not the criticism of any particular policy of Israel,” they wrote of the Global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, or BDS, which has been cheered by some outside progressive groups.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/21/aipac-bds-democrats-1231135

[lapucelle]

1. ...

[BillyBobBrilliant]

2. Too Late

I am already divested

[WiseElder]

12. They will miss that six dollars too.

[DRoseDARs]

3. "Its goal is Israel's elimination..." Well that's an out-and-out lie. This is why we can't have

...anything resembling reasonable debate about controversial subjects.

I don't have a dog in the BDS-vs-its-critics fight, but Nadler and Schneider saying BDS wants to exterminate Israelis is too far.

[hack89]

4. BDS supports full Right of Return for Palestinians

including the nearly 7 million that were born after 1948. Full RoR would mean the end of Israel.

[DRoseDARs]

6. So repatriating people necessitates the extermination of people already living there?

This argument you're making is pretty much the same as other racists claiming Hispanic demographics rising in the US will lead to the elimination of the White race. Or homegrown racism in Israel where people are railing against African immigrants darkening Israel.

We cannot have reasonable discussion when people like you make claims like that.

[hack89]

7. No. It would be the end of Israel as it presently exists

as a practical matter - where are all these people going to live? You double the population in a densely populated country. There is no land for them.

[DRoseDARs]

8. Lord have mercy, you think it happens overnight.

It would happen the way it has happened for millennia: Slowly, over time. But moreover, why didn't all of the Jews move to Israel when it was established? Why do a bit more than half of the world's Jews not live there? Just because the gates are hypothetically opened, doesn't mean a flood of people pours in. People aren't binary, giving them an option to move doesn't automatically mean they'll move.

I'm not sure you understand the land volume or populations involved. There's 13 million Palestinians globally, mostly in the Middle East outside of Israel/West Bank/Gaza Strip. 1.7 already live in Israel, 4.7 are squeezed into the West Bank (2.9) and Gaza Strip (1.8) which are each phenomenally smaller than Israel herself fitting into Lake Michigan, 2.1 in Jordan, and the numbers drop from there from there. The WB and GS are very small, GS would take roughly 30-45 minutes to cross end to end. I once had a discussion with a friend about the size, our example is driving in Reno, NV from North McCarran Blvd, taking Freeway 395 south all the way to the bottom of Washoe Valley before going up and over the hill into Carson City, NV. It has the population density of Boston. The West Bank is a bit smaller than Delaware and is 3 times smaller than Israel herself.

These people mostly aren't going to suddenly pour into Israel. There aren't places for everyone to live or work and the local population is likely going to be openly hostile to them anyway. Mostly, it would be the people who do have jobs already or have family that already live in Israel. But see, this is why rational debate and discussion is needed instead of hyperbole. Discuss from a perspective of how to make it work peacefully for people who eventually might want to move, or improve conditions where they already live so they don't want to move, rather than from the position of the dirty mud people are coming to kill the Jews.

Israel didn't just survive, but flattened enemy forces (from what 6 countries simultaneously?) that attacked them, then again, then showed they could make life hell for Iran, then they had to be restrained from flattening Iraq. All in a 50 year time span. Even if your hyperbolic scenario were to play out, Israel has literally survived much worse and would be just fine.

We need to be discussing about how to make populations fit peacefully, not screech about dark invaders coming to ethnically cleanse. Israel is not helped by pretending to be a helpless, hapless victim. The Jews have suffered long, but Israel has proven herself strong time and time again in her short modern history. Whatever happens, she'll be fine.

[hack89]

9. It's a nice idea I suppose

Don't see anything good in for Israel though so I suspect it is a non-starter.

[DRoseDARs]

10. At least we agree that the whole thing is a mess, no matter one's position.

I maintain hope that it isn't intractable, but no one is helped by two members of Congress claiming things that aren't just not true, but are offensive in the extreme.

[randomguy2021]

5. Eye roll

[Nitram]

11. Half a million Israelis are living in illegal West Bank settlements, and more settlements are being

built all the time. Israel has a right to its existence. What about the Palestinians and their land? I think banning participation in the boycott is a violation of free speech guaranteed by the constitution. Participation in the boycott is entirely voluntary.

[iamthebandfanman]

13. 'allies'

with friends like Israel , who needs enemies?

remember the USS Liberty.

they are always trying to suck us into their problems and their wars.

the israeli government is ran by corrupt nationalist right wing nutjobs.