One of the most insidious elements of the BDS assault on Israel’s legitimacy is the high profile targeting of culture figures who agree to visit Israel or speak out positively about Israel.
BDS gains undeserved headlines every time it browbeats a celebrity to forego visiting Israel. In recent times, however, the group has been getting publicity it may not want – culture figures standing up to the challenge and declaring their support for Israel.
That’s exactly what happened this week when Telegraph writer Jake Wallis Simons found himself on the receiving end of a bully campaign for agreeing to participate in a literary event in Jerusalem:
Later this month, I am planning to travel to Israel to appear in the Jerusalem literary festival. As surely as night follows day, I have received an “open letter” from a group of 71 activists calling themselves the British Writers in Support of Palestine (BWIP), led by a poet and “professional Tarot card reader”. They were, I was informed, “extremely disappointed” by my decision, and “respectfully encouraged” me to boycott the event.
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Simons then goes on to explain why he rejected the boycott, noting numerous inconsistencies in the way Israel is treated by the boycotters compared to other countries.
He also points out the hypocrisy at the heart of the boycott movement:
By the standards of the pro-boycott activists, should the Palestinians not also be boycotted? Their society is severely intolerant of homosexuals; many go to live in Israel rather than face oppression at home. The Palestinian government has signed a reconciliation deal with a terror organisation, and within weeks they may form a unity government. As I reported in the Telegraph last week, the Palestinian leadership pays huge financial rewards to those convicted of terror offences, and cold-blooded child killers are celebrated as heroes when they are released.
While we’re on the subject, shouldn’t the BWIP have called their group “British Writers In Support of Palestine and Israel”? And if not, why not?
As a reporter, Simons writes, “I value objectivity above all, and am not interested in closing my ears to one side of any story, particularly a story as complex as this.”
Maybe if more culture figures respond to BDS bullying by praising Israel for its freedom, holding the Palestinians accountable for their oppression, and drawing attention the hypocricy at the heart of the BDS, the bullies would have to think twice about their tactics.
