Those who participate in singling out and attempting to hurt Israel through boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaigns are anti-Israel and not pro-Palestinian as they often claim. The purpose of BDS is purely anti-Semitic meant only to inflict harm on Israeli businesses and the Israeli economy and not to help the Palestinians or any others for that matter. If this were not so, those who support BDS would recognize that many Palestinians and Arabs freely and happily work for Israeli companies on both sides of the imaginary “Green Line.” When Israeli industries and factories suffer, Palestinian and Arab workers suffer too.
The BDS crowd either has no conscience or has forgotten the lessons of history. If the church and others who know, or should know, right from wrong fail to stand up against any and all efforts and campaigns which single out Israel and the Jews as somehow deserving of being held to a different and higher standard, then they are failing to recognize the evil at the heart of BDS and anti-Semitism. Such moral failure paved the way for six million innocent people to be murdered for no other reason than Jewish blood coursed through their veins and it must never happen again. Sadly, though, as the Holocaust becomes a distant and fading memory, far too many are loosing any sense of shame at harboring anti-Semitic and anti-Israel sentiments. It’s almost become fashionable to hate Israel and this is especially egregious when talking about Christians and church leaders who are either indifferent to Israel or who are members of those denominations which have spearheaded BDS campaigns. After all, BDS is purely a campaign against Israel which is antithetical to the Word of G-d.
The Bible talks about a time when evil will be called as good and good will be called as evil. Being a Zionist means believing that Jews should have their own, sovereign nation yet liberal professors and the media speak about Zionism as though it were an evil concept instead of something that is just, right and moral. Some who support BDS think they are somehow helping the Palestinians. These naïve people have bought into the distortions perpetrated by the media and the images staged by the Palestinians themselves show suffering and poverty which they blame on Israeli policies. The Palestinian people are neglected and suffering thanks only to their own government. Their poverty has nothing to do with Israel or Israeli policies. Israel and other countries around the world pump hundreds of millions of dollars each year into the Palestinian economy which only serves to shore up the corrupt Palestinian government. This sad fact was revealed during Operation Protective Edge. Instead of using the humanitarian aid they received to build roads, hospitals, schools, parks, housing and so on, the Palestinian government redirected this funding in to the construction of tunnels of terror to invade Israel’s territory. The world was deceived and betrayed and their generosity was used for evil. In other words, the dog bit the hand feeding it.
No, Israel is definitely not responsible for Palestinian suffering. This rests squarely on the shoulders of their unstable government and their own uncivilized attitudes and behavior. Remember back during the 2005 Gaza Disengagement when Israel unilaterally withdrew and forcibly removed many of its citizens from their homes in Gaza in order to give the land to the Palestinians? Many do not know that under Israeli stewardship, Gaza was a beautiful beachfront community with thriving greenhouses, a lush agricultural industry and a solid community infrastructure. When the Palestinians were given the deed to the Gaza, among their very first acts as new “property owners” was to demolish the greenhouses, plunder the fields, burn the crops and tear down the synagogues. The greenhouses and the fields were income producing and the synagogues could have been renovated and utilized for schools, housing or other honorable purposes instead of destroyed and reduced to waste and rubble.
Prejudice against Israel which is manifesting in BDS campaigns is the same bigotry which was at work during the rise of Nazism which ushered in a time of unspeakable atrocities. With some exceptions BDS is, indeed, damaging to the Israeli economy but also to the Palestinian economy. While Israel has learned to operate in a global marketplace with many of its products, inventions and technologies being integral parts of the products the world has come to depend on and enjoy, the same is not true for the Palestinians. Israel produces quality products at competitive prices which serves to support a sizeable contingent of Palestinian and Arab workers.
The movement by the European Union demanding the labeling of products made in Judea and Samaria be marked as such and not be labeled as “Made in Israel” is all part of the global BDS campaign to discredit Israel. The United States has now jumped on the bandwagon with President Obama ordering the same damaging labeling changes. All this is an attempt to delegitimize Israel even if Palestinian lives and livelihoods are hurt or ruined in the process.
But the BDS movement does not stop with products. The press has been reporting on academic boycotts as well as a movement by a group of British medical doctors who have called for the exclusion of Israeli physicians from the World Medical Association. This would have been a huge mistake. Thank G-d that the World Medical Association did not support the call from those British doctors to boycott Israeli physicians. Israel is so far advanced in the fields of science, technology and medicine that any boycott to exclude Israeli doctors from any association would have been a set back for the global medical community as a whole and not just for Israel.
So whether you’re in the market for the best and latest technology in solar shield protection for windows, the most sophisticated computer software or anti-spyware programs or seeking treatment of a complicated medical condition, be sure to buy Israeli products and services. You’ll not only be helping Israel but you’ll be keeping many, many Palestinian and Arab workers employed. A boycott against Israel is a boycott against humanity and this is a moral failure.
Reprinted with author’s permission from The Jerusalem Post
