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Today’s Top BDS Stories:
1. Roger Waters Insists: I’m Not Anti-Semitic
In an open letter to the UK’s Daily Telegraph, Waters blames “hasbara” for the “escalation” against him, most notably from Jewish philanthropist Gerald Ronson, who called Waters an anti-Semite at a gala dinner attended by the chief rabbi and the head of the opposition Labor party.
It is not true that I am an anti-Semite or that I am against the Israeli people. I am neither of those. I am a critic of the policies of this government of Israel. In fact, a significant minority of the Israeli people, either on religious or on humanitarian grounds, shares my view of the Israeli government’s ill-advised policies. Because I am a critic of this Israeli government’s policies and in the absence of this Israeli government producing cogent arguments to defend themselves from my criticism, I am instead routinely subjected to the accusation that I am an anti-Semite.
“This is a pattern, a crude pattern, but nevertheless an identifiable and repeated pattern, a part of the general tactic of ‘Hasbara’, (‘Explaining’ or ‘Propaganda’ to those of you with no Hebrew). The escalation of this aggressive ‘Hasbara’ may well be a reaction to the fact that BDS is gaining ground, day by day and year by year, all over the world.
2. Alan Johnson, the Israeli shown in a video being bullied by the BDS at the University of Ireland, Galway speaks out.
The BDS supporters shouted vile abuse, threatened the students who disagreed with them, and tried to break up the meeting. “You Zionist pr**ks, f*** off our campus, now!” they screamed.
In a welcome move the University has released a statement calling the behaviour “unacceptable” and promising an immediate investigation.
That’s good. But what explains the hatred and intimidation spreading on some European campuses?
3. Palestinian Football Association is fighting to have Israeli banned from FIFA, the governing body of world soccer. And the BDS is naturally there to lend support.
4. In a twist on BDS, a maritime lawyer is calling for a boycott of a port in Tunisia in response to its treatment of Israelis aboard a cruise ship this week. The Israelis were barred from leaving the ship at the port because the Tunisian government would not allow them to enter the country.
Tunisia’s actions sent a clear message to Israeli citizens. NCL’s response should be equally clear. The only reasonable action is for NCL [Norwegian Cruise Line] and the cruise industry to boycott Tunis as a port.
See yesterday’s Fighting BDS Roundup.
