Everything you need to know about fighting BDS and the assault on Israel’s legitimacy.
Today’s Top BDS Stories:
1. Israeli musician David Broza responds to Roger Waters’ support for BDS as only a musician can:
“Regardless of his views on the issue of Israel and Palestine, Roger Waters has written one of the most anti-boycott, boundary-breaking songs ever in ‘Mother.’ So yes, not only have I recorded this extraordinary song, but I have recorded in East Jerusalem using Israeli and Palestinian musicians, and I will perform it with those musicians next month when we tour the US,” Broza added.
“I say to Roger Waters: Instead of boycotting, please come join us in reaching across the lines that divide us. We the people–not the governments–will make peace with each other. Instead of shutting down communication, come to my country and engage in the open exchange of ideas that will make change happen. “
2. The new Chromebooks, produced by Google and HP, contain Israeli-made 4G chips.
Are the boycotters going to refrain from using the device, or will they insist that “BDS is a tactic, not a principle, let alone a call for abstention,” as a group of boycotters from Cornell did earlier this year when caught using WiX, an Israeli web technology?
3. The New Yorker looks at the issues surrounding Scarlett Johansson and SodaStream, and gives the BDS campaign the benefit of the doubt as to its motives:
Companies in the region, SodaStream included, have faced boycotts and even import bans, part of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, an international campaign that exerts political and economic pressure on Israel to end the occupation of Arab land and to establish a Palestinian state.
In reality, the BDS movement has very little economic or political influence. It is primarily a media campaign designed to convince people that Israel, and Israel alone, should be shunned among Western countries.
Other BDS-Related Content:
* William Jacobson at Legal Insurrection gives an outstanding review of the battles with the ASA since the launch of the group’s boycott a month ago.
Researching the numerous articles I have written this past month has been an eye-opener — and that from someone whose eyes were already wide open as to the nature of the Boycott, Divest and Sanction movement. The hatred of Israel among the academic boycotters is beyond anything you can imagine.
The hatred of Israel is visceral, and beyond reason. Everything good about Israel is turned into a negative.
Gail Reiss, President and CEO of American Friends of Tel Aviv University, points out the short-sightedness of the boycotters:
As part of TAU’s commitment to cross-cultural academic and scientific collaboration, molecular geneticist Prof. Karen Avraham and her Palestinian colleague Prof. Moien Kanaan are celebrated — together — for the discovery of key genes related to deafness in the Israeli and Palestinian populations. Their research team has helped identify 10 hearing loss genes, a significant step in understanding the high incidence of genetic deafness among Palestinian children.
Knowledge knows no borders. Examples like these abound throughout Israel’s institutions of higher learning.
Meanwhile, students at Tufts University are lining up in solidarity with the ASA boycott. So far, 250 students have signed a petition in support of the ASA.
* The city Council of Liverpool shot down a motion by two members of the Green Party to condemn Israel for “human rights violations.” The vote was 74-2 against the motion.
* Forbes reporter Richard Behar, whose 15,000 word open letter to NYU about its soft reaction to the ASA boycott, gave an interview to Algemeiner on why he’s standing up for Israel.
“I didn’t write about Israel for 30 years as a journalist, but I just thought enough is enough,” he told The Algemeiner. “I’m just astonished how Israel is so falsely portrayed nowadays, all-too-often in an attempt to delegitimize it.
Meanwhile, Commentary magazine has a summary of Behar’s long article.
