‘Forward’ reports what ‘NYT’ covers up: Jews for BDS

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

http://mondoweiss.net/2015/05/forward-reports-covers

[Sam Sussman’s] group didn’t meet one Israeli Arab or Palestinian, and met maybe one or two Israelis who didn’t espouse right-wing views.

Sussman isn’t the only American to visit Israel on a Birthright or similar program and return filled with questions that morph into criticism. Many of these young people I spoke with say that after Birthright they became activists in left-wing organizations. They reflect the way some people see Israel when visiting for the first time — as well as young American Jews’ changing relationship with the land of their ancestors…

When [Chris Godshall] returned to the United States he volunteered for Jewish Voice for Peace, which works against the occupation and seeks to expand Jewish organizations’ dialogue with Israel. It supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel…

As Godshall puts it, “I need to thank Birthright for the understanding that Israel is connected to me, but I’m sure they didn’t intend to push me into supporting BDS.”

[oberliner]

1. Are calls to boycott Israel anti-Semitic?

That said, calls for boycotts on some campuses have been tainted by clear expressions of anti-Jewish sentiment. At the University of California, Davis earlier this year, a successful boycott vote was followed by Muslims taunting Jewish students with chants of "allahu-akbar" and painting swastikas on a Jewish fraternity. At UCLA a Jewish student almost lost a seat on the student judicial board over concerns among fellow students that she was perhaps too "active in the Jewish community" to "maintain an unbiased view."

http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2015/05/campus-politics

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

2. I am removing my reply in deference to Oberliner's observation.

Last edited Wed May 13, 2015, 10:07 AM - Edit history (2)

[Mosby]

4. so let me see if I have this straight

Muslims were taunting Jews, but didn't spray paint swastikas? Is that about it?

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

11. Let me enlighten you and your misconceptions...

When African Americans chant "black lives matter" is it taunting or demonstrating freedom of speech?

Secondly, unless one has proof that Muslims, the same Muslims that were showing their first amendment rights, were responsible for painting swastikas on a frat house it is the purely gradeschool conjecture to accuse them of the act.

One could just as easily assume that the frat boys wanted attention and painted the swastikas themselves in an attempt to vilify BDS since it is a growing movement. To do so would be just as bigoted as accusing Muslims of the crime without proof.

I hope that makes sense to you.

[oberliner]

5. Thank you for this information

You are right, the article is pretty dodgy for the reasons you've outlined here.

I didn't dig into it as closely as I should have before posting.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

12. Then I'll soften my statement.

[oberliner]

13. Thanks

As a result of your post, I did do a little more digging into that swastika incident at UC Davis and couldn't find out if they actually ended up catching the perpetrators. There are articles about a reward being offered for information, but I don't see anything about whether it was resolved and if anyone was held responsible for the crime. Do you know if they eventually found out who did it?

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

14. From my search, no.

But whomever did such a heinous thing should face justice.

That shit should never be tolerated in a just society.

[Little Tich]

3. I must admit I haven’t seen any anti-Semitic calls for boycott of Israel, but anything is possible.

The author seems to have little understanding of BDS. The examples of BDS are correct, but it’s not about “Israeli businesses”; it’s about the settlements and the occupation.

[oberliner]

7. Consider using Google

Warning, you may encounter some unsavory websites.

There are loads of anti-semitic groups that call for boycotting Israel.

David Duke is one of the more prominent anti-semitic leaders supporting such a call.

[Little Tich]

8. I wouldn’t really think of David Duke as a true Scotsman.

What he and his buddies are doing, is completely separate from all other calls for BDS. If there was a linkage between serious calls for BDS and David Duke, I would be genuinely worried.

[oberliner]

9. People who dislike Jews tend to also dislike Israel

It seems that this would be self-evident.

People who don't like Obama are not necessarily racists, but most racists don't like him.

People who don't like Israel are not necessarily anti-semites, but most anti-semites don't like it.

[Little Tich]

10. I'm of a slightly different opinion.

I think that many anti-Semites support Israel, most notably some evangelical christians and European right-wing nationalist parties. I do concede, however, that if you compare people with no opinion about Israel and and people who have negative views about Israel, that members of the latter group probably contain more anti-Semites.

But in the end, having a negative view of Israel is not a good indication for possible anti-Semitism. I think you are a victim of wishful thinking, and that you are ignoring a very big part of anti-Semitism.

[Mosby]

15. social scientists have studied the causal connection between anti-Israel sentiment and anti-semitism

http://www.ngo-monitor.org/images/kaplan.pdf

[guillaumeb]

17. The problem with these "social scientists"

is that they are equating criticism of Israel, more properly a criticism of Zionistic inspired expansionism, with a tendency to be anti-Semitic. According to the "study", anyone who states that Israel targets Palestinian children is demonstrably an anti-Semite. What of all the media reports of Israel targeting Palestinian children? All expressions of anti-Semitism?

By this logic, if I criticize the US for targeting Pakistani civilians in drone strikes I am anti US. Or am I a racist because the President is black? Or am I an anti-democrat because the country is nominally a democracy?

[Mosby]

20. you're not understanding the results

They used a bayesian analysis and multiple regression to show that the more a person harbored anti-Israel sentiments the more LIKELY they were anti-semites. Thus a person who only agreed with one of the anti-Israel questions was usually not antisemitic while a person who agreed with all four was always antisemitic.

[Little Tich]

18. I cheerfully ignore everything from NGO-Monitor, it’s a hasbara factory.

Try again.

[Mosby]

19. the lead author is from Yale

Ngo monitor is only hosting the pdf.

[Little Tich]

21. There must be something fishy with the study, or else it wouldn't be hosted by NGO-Monitor.

Everything else by NGO-Monitor is completely unreliable, and I have written off NGO-Monitor as an even remotely reliable source.

Besides, trying to define levels of anti-Semitism by the extent a person agrees with anti-Israel statements is invalid. It creates a new definition of what anti-Semitism is to include possibilites into necessities by faulty use of modal logic. In the end, arguments that are not anti-Semitic and persons that are not anti-Semites will become labelled as such.

[Israeli]

6. Quote from article .....

"" There is not one word in the piece about why Israel feels this need to create ambassadors in the U.S., no mention of the occupation or Israel’s cratering international image, conditions that are turning a lot of young people off and leading many of them to endorse BDS. The Jewish press, the Forward and Haaretz, are giving a far more accurate picture of the world. When will American newspapers trust their readers to hear the facts? ""

When ???

More for you RDO :

https://desertpeace.wordpress.com/2015/05/12/in-photos-10-years-of-bds-a-joint-celebration/

On the evening of May 6th in NYC at Alwan for the Arts the space was filled to capacity with people gathered to hear Omar Barghouti, one of the founders of the BDS campaign against Israel, and Rebecca Vilkomerson, executive director of Jewish Voice for Peace, discuss the BDS campaign as it reaches its’ 10th anniversary. The meeting was organized by Haymarket Books.

(snip)

Israel is feeling very threatened because the economic and cultural boycott is growing and Jewish support for BDS is also growing. People are coming to realize that either they support a colonial venture or they don’t. The “Brand Israel” campaign has failed. Now the Israeli fight-back is based on propaganda and ‘lawfare’, legal challenges to BDS. They seem not to know how to deal with this non-violent principled resistance which is demanding basic rights for the Palestinian people under international law.

Vilkomerson said that JVP fully endorses all elements of the Palestinian call for BDS and believes that it provides the best tactics to bring justice to Palestine. JVP also wants to bring pressure on the US government not to be complicit in this struggle. There have been many victories here in this country – 60 members of congress did not go to hear Netanyahu’s speech. JVP stands with the divestment of the Presbyterian church and with SodaStream closing their West Bank factory. JVP also supports the many Students for Justice in Palestine chapters that have been fighting for divestment, often winning, on their campuses.

But the closer we come to winning this fight, the stronger the push-back will be. Big money is going into this fight against the BDS campaign from the Jewish community, including on campuses. There are constant accusations of anti-Semitism which, unfortunately, dilutes real anti-Semitism.

Blacks, Latinos, and young people are most likely to support Palestine and over the past year there has been an enormous growth of solidarity between the Palestinian struggle and the fight against the oppression of Black people in this country. JVP fully supports, with feet in the streets, the Black Lives Matter fight. JVP is an anti-racist organization that sees the Palestinian and the Black struggle as the same fight for justice and will be there in solidarity because it is a joint struggle. BDS is a tool of anti-racist ideology.

JVP is now 3 times the size it was before the Israeli attack on Gaza last summer. They now have 200,000 on line supporters because people are coming to recognize that the Palestinian struggle is the world’s great moral issue of our time.

I remember when people used the phrase ‘PEPs’, Progressive Except Palestine, to describe those who were generally progressive on most issues but would not or could not support Palestinians. It is becoming increasingly clear to me that there is no such thing. If you don’t understand and support the Palestinian struggle for human rights you cannot call yourself progressive.

BDS.

[King_David]

16. Again:

It's very creepy that your sig line includes my name in it
Are you stalking me or are you outwitted in argument or is it as has been suggested many times before , that you do not engage in conversation with Gay , homosexual people?

It's creepy thing you mention my name in your sig line.

It's also very immature. And a bully tactic too...( won't work either )