This opinion piece by HonestReporting CEO Joe Hyams appears in The Times of Israel.
Why the BDS movement thrives on more than anti-Semitism, cash and ill-will.
A couple of years ago, I was treated to a flying lesson for my birthday. Mid-flight the pilot — having given me the controls — asked a simple question; “Joe — what do you understand to be the most important component of the aircraft keeping us alive up here right now?”
“The engine” was my intuitive answer, knowing we only made it aloft through sustained airspeed.
“Wrong” said the pilot, who then proceeded to switch off the engine. “The wings at this moment are the reason we can stay up here, gliding for quite some time without further need for fuel.” Once I got over the shock of the sudden eerie silence, I understood his point.
The plane lurched, but it did not crash.
It was a powerful lesson, about flying specifically, but also about instinct, perception and intuition. When it comes to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, we recognize bigotry and anti-Semitism as the engine, perhaps cash and political duplicity as the fuel. These things certainly power the ugly BDS machine forward and upward.
They are not however, the ‘wings’ that keep BDS aloft.
HR CEO Joe Hyams with Roseanne Barr at the anti-BDS conference.
I’m privileged to write this post from the Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth anti-BDS conference taking place in Jerusalem where I spoke onHonestReporting’s unique insights to countering BDS. President Reuven Rivlin addressed the opening of the conference, and it is a great credit to the State of Israel and the organizers at Ynet and their production partner StandWithUs that so many have come together to give serious exploration and direction to a common task: fighting back against a movement of hatred that remains in flight, and many feel continues to soar higher with time.
Read the rest of this article at The Times of Israel.
© Divuach Ne’eman R”A, 2025
