Hard Times at BDS High

[ericson00]

http://observer.com/2016/03/hard-times-at-bds-high/

It’s been a disappointing couple of months for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions crowd. In January, in what seemed sure to be a lay-up for reflexively anti-Israel academics targeting the Jewish state, the American Historical Association instead dealt the BDS folks a stinging blow, defeating by a more than 2 to 1 margin a resolution condemning Israel for what were claimed to be violations of Palestinian academic freedom.

Last month at McGill University in Montreal, where the BDS movement has been strong and anti-Israelism is deeply-rooted, BDS forces failed for the third time in 18 months to pass an anti-Israel motion. McGill’s undergraduates rejected the latest one by a 57 percent to 43 percent vote.

A new Gallup poll released in late February found that despite an intensified effort to discredit Israel on American campuses, Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 declare their sympathies with Israel rather than the Palestinians by 54 percent to 23 percent. American support for Israel in general is steady at 62 percent and support for the Palestinians is down slightly to 15 percent, and sympathy for Israel among Democrats has actually risen over the past year.

[King_David]

1. It's a tiny but vocal minority this BDS gang ,

They have 25 supporters here on DU and a lot more at the extremist right wing sites.
But people see through that bigoted bunch of bullies.

[ericson00]

3. while the article is good news, let's not kid ourselves

most of (but not all) the Israel hate (in the US) comes from the leftward facing direction, tho in Europe its a little more balanced, tho the extreme-left is still the foremost peddler (with the far-right not too far behind). Luckily, I think AIPAC and Congressional Dems and others are doing a great job of stopping it, and maybe even reversing it.

[King_David]

2. "sympathy for Israel among Democrats has actually risen over the past year."

[ericson00]

4. and its still a huge ratio of I to P.

may it stay that way forever.

[grossproffit]

5. THIS! I'm so happy that you post on this forum.

[azurnoir]

6. yep 53% of Dem's 56% of indi's and 79% of republican sympathize/support Israel

I hope the number stay at least in proportion too


ps some of this stuff for the possible incoming spin

[ericson00]

7. 2.5:1, 3.73:1, 11:1, and America overall: over 4:1.

in recent 3:2 (1.5:1) elections in this country (1984, 1972), a candidate has won 49 states.

raw percentages don't mean anything: its all about the margins (which are HUGE in Israel's favor).

[azurnoir]

8. yes but those ah "margins" are being greatly pumped up by Republicans

so much so that the numbers of Dems and Indi's actually bring down those margins from they would be if was only Republicans good number spin, I've been seeing lot's of that lately all over DU

[ericson00]

11. learn to read: the 2.5:1 margin is Democrats alone

and Reagan and Nixon only beat Mondale nationwide roughly 1.5:1. You can thus add the 50th state to such an electoral victory.

[azurnoir]

12. no 53% supporting Israel equates to 2.5 times more? fuzzy math indeed

and I'm not quite sure why you're going on about Reagan and Nixon but once again here's the numbers

[ericson00]

13. 53% Israel, 23% Palestinians

contests and elections are not decided by the difference from 100%, at least in this country (especially cuz few states have runoffs for below 50%)

Reagan beat Mondale by 18%. Nixon beat McGovern by 23.2%. Both won 49 states. If Israel were a party nominee and the Palestinians were another, winning by 27% would almost certainly get it 50 states plus DC.

[azurnoir]

14. this is a poll not an election or a contest 53% of Dems and 79% of Reps support/ sympathize

with Israel

[ericson00]

15. what is so hard to accept about the fact a lot more like Israel compared to Palestinians?

no matter what party, by huge margins (and margin means "difference," not vote total in a vacuum.)

[azurnoir]

17. I'm comparing support /sympathy for Israel based on political party affiliation

I've said nothing about support for Palestinians, I'll leave that for the expected morning pile on here

[Little Tich]

9. I support BDS simply because I'm opposed to Apartheid.

This issue won't go away for as long as there's Apartheid in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

[shira]

18. Bullshit. You oppose any 2 state proposal from the past 80 years...

....that would end your notion of "Apartheid".

Because like BDS, you're against the Jewish state of Israel. That's what you really find intolerable.

[Little Tich]

10. Haaretz: Leading Israeli Sociologist Calls for Boycott of West Bank University

Source: Haaretz

Prof. Uri Ram, who heads the Israeli Sociological Society, urged colleagues to boycott academic institute in settlement of Ariel.

An Israeli professor urged fellow academics on Monday to shun a Jewish settlement college in the occupied West Bank, a move that could effectively import an international pro-Palestinian boycott movement. 

Prof. Uri Ram of Ben-Gurion Univeristy, the new chair of the Israel Sociological Society, said Monday that he thinks "the Israel Sociological Society cannot sit on the fence and ignore decades of occupation. The society has no right to exist if it is not involved in the society in which it lives."

The sociological society will discuss a possible boycott of Ariel University in the West Bank at a meeting of the society’s leadership in early April.

The decision to hold the discussion was made after a researcher from Ariel University, Dr. Uzi Ben Shalom, a co-chair and member of one of the organization's communities (professional subcommittees), asked to hold a conference at his university. Members of the community, which focus on the field of military sociology, expressed reservations and asked that the organization's directors consider the issue of cooperation with Ariel University.

Read more: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.708754

[Israeli]

16. Latest boycott victories signify new momentum for BDS

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man
Published March 13, 2016

That people are openly questioning whether policy changes by multinational corporations are the result of BDS is itself already a victory.

Boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) activists have had quite a bit to celebrate in recent months. High profile companies targeted by BDS like SodaStream, Orange, Veolia, and now Ahava and G4S have all moved out of Israeli West Bank settlements or out of the Israeli market altogether.

Of course, none of those companies, with the partial exception of SodaStream and Orange, will admit the changes have anything to do with the Palestinian-led movement trying to build international pressure on Israel to end the occupation and recognize various fundamental Palestinian rights.

And while BDS proponents and opponents will trade barbs arguing whether each case constitutes a victory or a “#BDSFail,” the fact that people are openly questioning whether policy changes by multinational corporations are the result of BDS is itself already a victory.

Ahava’s decision to move a few kilometers south of the Green Line will not save the dying Dead Sea, return Palestine’s plundered resources, or end the occupation. G4S’s decision to pull out of the Israeli state security market will not end Israel’s use of administrative detention or torture in the prisons the company once helped secure.

Veolia’s decision not to renew contracts in the settlements will not stop subsidized Jewish-only bus lines running throughout the West Bank nor will it make it any less convenient to be a settler. And SodaStream’s move into Israel proper did actually harm Palestinian workers, albeit only because the Israel government decided to retaliate against them by refusing to issue work permits.

What will change is that other companies will now think twice before bidding on contracts in Israel and the occupied territories, before trying to sell their products and services in Israel and the settlements, and yet others already here will see withdrawing from the Israeli market as more and more of a legitimate option.

People have often asked me whether BDS is working and my answers are often cynical. “Talk to me when HP and Intel pull out of Israel,” I would respond. But the truth of the matter is that although that day is still impossibly far off, it is the momentum built by smaller victories that make larger steps even imaginable.

The success of the boycott movement thus far, even with concrete victories like SodaStream, Ahava and G4S, has been largely psychological. It has merely suggested to Israelis that there will be a price for continuing the occupation, even if the consequences are nowhere in sight. And Israelis are noticing.

The State of Israel is investing over NIS 100 million a year in hasbara and fighting BDS. Damaging diplomatic fights are being picked over inconsequential terms of existing trade agreements (EU settlement product labels). Local government bodies are hiring public relations firms to fight back on behalf of foreign corporations — like Airbnb — under attack for doing business in the settlements. The country’s top-selling newspaper is even trying to monetize the national mobilization against the boycott movement with a BDS-themed conference.

But that suggestion, that there might be consequences for perpetuating the occupation indefinitely, is not in any way a sure-fire harbinger of change. It does not guarantee that Israelis will wake up one day, find themselves isolated from the world, understand why, and decide to end the occupation.

For that to happen, both societies will need to be graced with a leadership which understands that Israelis and Palestinians have no choice but to live here together — as equals. Jewish Israelis will need to face the fact that abdicating their Jewish privilege is the only way to create real equality. And Palestinians will need to accept that regardless of how they got here 70 years ago, the vast majority of Israelis have nowhere else to go.

The boycott is not a solution — it is a tactic. It is also not above criticism; the BDS movement could do far better about distinguishing between legitimate and illegitimate acts of boycott, of actively condemning and distancing itself from seemingly inevitable instances of anti-Semitism, and acknowledging the inherent shortcomings of a rights-based discourse in such an emotionally charged and multi-dimensional conflict.

Yet as long as there is no political or diplomatic horizon, as long as the power dynamic allows Israel to dictate the terms of any negotiations, as long as the occupation seems hopelessly unending, BDS is one of the most powerful non-violent tools available for Palestinians to fight for their fundamental rights, and for enlisting allies around the world to fight alongside them.

Source: http://972mag.com/latest-boycott-victories-signify-new-momentum-for-bds/117846/