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BDS Tag

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 19, 2015 2 Comments
There is a growing "boycott the boycotters" movement afoot in the United States, targeting the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. On the federal level, the 1970s-era anti-boycott legislation addressing the Arab League boycott of Israel is being supplemented by legislation to address the new BDS-form of boycott.  Provisions in pending trade legislation would require that free trade agreements with the European Union impose anti-BDS goals.  A House Resolution has been introduced condemning BDS, and simlar resolutions were passed in Tennessee and Indiana. Illinois and South Carolina have gone further, and passed anti-BDS legislation. The New York State Assembly just passed an anti-BDS resolution, as a prelude to anti-BDS legislation:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 17, 2015 1 Comment
The academic boycott of Israel has generated a lot of attention and noise in the past few weeks, even though it has not generated much actual boycotting. No university in the U.S. is considering a boycott, as far as I know, and in many ways ties are expanding. The American Studies Association and a handful of much smaller faculty professional organizations have adopted the boycott, but even ASA had to back down from its key provision excluding most Israeli academics from its annual meeting. There have been, and undoubtedly will be more, attempts to get larger faculty organizations to adopt the boycott, but so far that has not happened. There are complaints from some Israelis also of an undeclared boycott of them personally in the humanities, with some American professors refusing to interact. But beyond the actual results, there is no doubt that the academic boycott movement is a malicious attack not just on Israel, but also on our entire academic system. It is led by some of the most outrageous campus characters, the rhetoric often is abusive, and the environment hostile and threatening. It is no wonder that over 250 university presidents, as well as major academic groups like the American Association of University Professors, condemned the ASA academic boycott. Over 100 members of Congress also signed a letter condemning the ASA. Soon we may be able to add a formal House Resolution to the list.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 07, 2015 6 Comments
My wife and I are back, after an intense two weeks in Israel. From the Lebanese to Gaza borders, from the Mediterranean Sea to Judea and Samaria, from the cool evenings of Jerusalem to the heat of the Negev Desert, from an apartment in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem to Bedouin villages in the north and south, from university campuses to military bases, from faculty to students, from Jews to Muslims ... I can't say we saw it all, but we saw a lot. I've documented most of our big events in daily posts, with the exception of our emotional meetings with the families of Edward Joffe and Leon Kanner, students killed in the 1969 Supersol supermarket bombing by Rasmea Odeh; that post is coming, but I still have new photos, documents and information I have to work through. Here are my 5 Big Takeaways from the trip:

1. Our Revenge Is That "We Are Still Here"

Near the start of our trip, we visited Moshav Avivim on the Lebanese border, where we met Shimon Biton, a survivor of the 1970 bazooka attack on a school bus by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Biton, who was six and one-half years old, lost his father in the attack, and himself was shot point blank range by the terrorists when they realized he survived the bazooka attack.  Ten days before we met Biton, he was reunited for the first time in 45 years with the nurse who helped save him.  (Featured Image)

Posted by Mike LaChance on May 31, 2015 6 Comments
Professor Jacobson has written extensively about the BDS movement and the effort to boycott the boycotters. Senator Ted Cruz has a new idea. Take federal funds away from schools that boycott Israel. He made the remarks at the Champion of Jewish Values International Awards Gala. Among attendees was Sheldon Adelson, an influential donor to Republican politicians. Katie Zezima of the Washington Post writes:
Cruz: Universities that boycott Israel should lose federal funding NEW YORK -- Sen. Ted Cruz said Thursday that universities that boycott Israel should lose their federal funding. Cruz's remarks were aimed at the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, which is gaining traction on college campuses. It calls for U.S. companies and universities to divest from Israel. Cruz has spoken against BDS but sharpened his tone Thursday. The nation needs a president who will ensure that "if a university boycotts the nation of Israel then that university will forfeit federal taxpayer dollars," Cruz said at the Champion of Jewish Values International Awards Gala here, where he received the Defender of Israel Award. "BDS is premised on a lie and it is antisemitism plain and simple."

Posted by Amy Miller on May 28, 2015 4 Comments
We've provided extensive coverage of the BDS movement's battle against the inclusion of Israeli-made products at food cooperatives. Most recently (and closest to the hearts of the Legal Insurrection team,) the members of the Ithaca-based GreenStar Food Co Op won a very hard-fought battle against BDS activists fighting for a referendum that called for the boycott of Israeli products. A Co Op in Olympia, Washington, however, has found itself on the opposite end of the spectrum. Members of the Olympia Food Cooperative sued the Co Op's board after board members decided to protest Israel's alleged human rights violations via a Co Op-wide boycott of Israeli-made products. Plaintiffs claimed that the boycott violated the Co Op's own boycott policy; the board, however, invoked Washington's anti-SLAPP statute, claiming that the plaintiffs had filed a frivolous lawsuit as a way of suppressing public discussion. The plaintiff group was SLAPPed (I had to) with over $200,000 in fines and penalties, but appealed, claiming the SLAPP statute itself was unconstitutional. Guess what---they won.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 22, 2015 5 Comments
Is this officially a series now? We've done Paris, Britain, Copenhagen and Malmö, where people walking the street dressed in attire indicating they are religious Jews face street harassment, mostly by Muslim young men. We also did Montevideo, where the reaction was positive. Here's Cairo, as the Jerusalem Post reports:
An Egyptian journalist conducted an experiment in which he dressed up as a Jew and asked passersby on the streets of Cairo for directions to a nearby synagogue - with nearly serious consequences for his physical safety. The Cairo-based Internet news site DOTMSR sent the journalist to the streets of Cairo dressed in overtly Hassidic garb - sidecurls, skullcap, beard, and a hat. The “Jewish” journalist was then subjected to threats of violence, epithets, slurs, and shoving from hostile locals.... DOTMSR is an Arab-language Internet news site “that broadcasts high-quality news items in Arabic.” It describes itself as a news outlet that “believes in openness, innovation, and an obligation to accepting those who are different.”

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 21, 2015 5 Comments
We recently reported on legislation in Illinois barring state pension funds from investing in companies that boycott Israel. The legislation passed both chambers unanimously, a stunning bi-partison rejection of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. Gov. Bruce Rauner has promised to sign the legislation. The BDS movement is screaming about the legislation because while boycotting Israelis is cool with them, bocotting the boycotters is the worst violation of human rights ever. That's not much of an exaggeration as to their response -- it is full blown hissy-fit which mischaracterizes the legislation as suppressing speech. The reaction from BDS not only has been a hissy fit, it has been bizarre and revealing. Jewish Voice for Peace, one of the most aggressive BDS organizations, is demanding the State Department change its long-standing definition of anti-Semitism. I've long argued that the anti-Israel boycotters, particularly in academia, were forfeiting their standing to complain when the boycotts boomeranged and were turned on them. I'd rather that BDS never started this fight, but it did and now BDS supporters are realizing they are swimming in the ocean of a pro-Israel American population. The campus and faculty lounge anti-Israel bubbles are exceptions, not the rule. And that strong and increasing public support of Israel is being expressed through elected representatives. The Illinois legislation came at a time of two pending federal bills targeting the international boycott of Israel. But states may be where the action will be, as NY legislators plan to introduced a bill similar to the one passed in Illinois:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 18, 2015 11 Comments
The anti-Semitism deeply embedded in the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement has been apparent for years, but particularly since the 2014 Gaza War. Rallies against Israel regularly devolved into Jew-baiting throughout Europe, and even in some places in the U.S., like Miami where they chanted, “Jews, remember Khaybar, the army of Muhammad is returning.” At a Boston rally sponsored by Jewish Voice for Peace in July 2014, Israel supporters were attacked by a woman who yelled that they would claim back Jerusalem for Christians and Muslims. It is no surprise that Walking While Jewish is dangerous in many cities in Europe. While there is an intellectual distinction between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism, in reality on the streets of Europe and some places in the U.S., they are one and the same.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 17, 2015 11 Comments
I appeared on Saturday, May 16, 2015, on The Craig Silverman Show on 710 KNUS in Aurora, Colorado. The conversation covered my background, what it means to be a conservative on campus, the anti-Israel boycott movement, the Pope on a Palestinian "state," the Pew Poll on Christians, and the fate of Christians in the Middle East. On Ted Cruz at Harvard Law School:
"When you're going to be political at a place like Harvard Law School, you have to be better than everybody else if you're a conservative. You have to be smarter, you have to be more well-read, you have to be better-prepared, because it's you against a lot of people. And certainly he wouldn't have been the only conservative at Harvard Law School, but he would have been in a severe minority. And when you're in that situation, you have to be better. And that's what I see with a lot of politically active conservative students on campus... [Cruz] had to sharpen his skills because he's basically arguing with everybody or almost everybody. Whereas if you're in a liberal position at a school most people agree with you, you don't need to sharpen your skills and you don't get tested the way you do if you're a conservative."
On the anti-Israel boycott movement:
"We're dealing with people who really are just outright liars. And I say that all the time because that's what they are. And they just make stuff up, they twist facts, they ignore facts."
On Israeli-Palestinian negotiations:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 16, 2015 12 Comments
This would be funny were it not for the fact that the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement is such a sad sack of haters. Activists from Ithaca Jewish Voice for Peace were behind the recent failed effort to get GreenStar Food Coop in Ithaca, NY (home of Cornell University) to boycott Israel. Those activists formed a group called Central NY Committee for Justice in Palestine, later reconfigured as Ithaca Food Justice for Palestine. But two JVP activists, Ariel Gold and Beth Harris -- who (in)famously got themselves arrested at the AIPAC annual conference -- were behind it all. Details on that GreenStar boycott effort, including the hateful messages used as part of the campaign (See Featured Image for one example), are in my post, Huge BDS loss – GreenStar Food Coop rejects Israel boycott. Attempts were made to take the GreenStar boycott movement national, involving such "stars" as Angela Davis and Medea Benjamin, but that didn't help them much: Greenstar Boycott Angela Davis Medea Benjamin One aspect of the failed boycott effort involved China. China?

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 15, 2015 14 Comments
The movement to boycott those who support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement is gaining steam, particularly at the legislative level. We previously highlighted federal legislation aimed at the European boycott movement, and the apoplectic reaction, Breaking! Anti-Israel boycotters don’t like being boycotted!:
The vicious anti-Israel boycotters of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement don’t like it when the tables are turned on them. That’s why, when faculty pass their anti-Israel boycott resolutions, they include in the resolutions the demand that their right to boycott be protected. In other words, boycotters claim the right to boycott others, but deny others the right to boycott them.
In addition to federal legislation, Illinois is on the verge of passing legislation which effectively causes the State to boycott the boycotters. The Washington Free Beacon reports, Anti-BDS Bill Poised for Passage in Illinois Legislature:
A milestone bill meant to combat international boycotts of Israel cleared a major procedural hurdle in the Illinois House this week, paving the way for the state to become among the first to divest funds from any company supporting the anti-Israel Boycott, Sanctions, and Divestment (BDS) movement. The bill, which would force Illinois’ five state pension funds to divest from any company supporting boycotts of Israel, passed by a 10-0 vote through a key executive committee on Wednesday and is now on its way to a full vote in the state’s legislature, where it is expected to garner widespread support.... If passed, Illinois would become the first state in nation to divest from companies abroad that support Israel boycotts.
The anti-Israel movement issued urgent alerts to try to stop the legislation in committee.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 12, 2015 8 Comments
Activists from Ithaca Jewish Voice for Peace brought a referendum to the GreenStar Food Coop in Ithaca calling for a boycott of Israeli products.  The effort was national, with big names such as Angela Davis (radical anti-Israel prof.) and Medea Benjamin (Code Pink) lending their support (see Featured Image). The effort was rejected tonight unanimously by the GreenStar Council based on the NY State Human Rights law prohibition of boycotts based on national origin. (Full decision at bottom of post.) Similar to the Park Slope Food Coop in Brooklyn, NY, the referenda caused enormous tension among the GreenStar membership and within the community. See our prior posts: The proposed referenda read:
1. Shall Greenstar be required to halt the sale of all Israeli products and produce grown or produced in the Occupied West Bank in Israeli settlements, settlements which are recognized as illegal under international law?

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 11, 2015 6 Comments
For years we have been documenting how stirring racial tensions on campus is one of the tactics employed by the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. The methodology is to tie unrelated movements into the fight against Israel by portraying a common enemy -- in their terminology, "white settler colonialism." Israel and the U.S. are lumped together in that theory, so that whatever goes wrong in the U.S. from a racial standpoint is tied to Israel.   So problems at the Mexican border are used by BDS groups on campus to bring Mexican-American student groups into the BDS fight; police problems in Ferguson or elsewhere are used in movements such as "Ferguson2Palestine" to blame Israel; the BlackLivesMatters movement is brought into the fight against Israel in the same manner. Here are some of our prior posts on the subject: The NY Times focused on these racial tensions in a front-page, below the fold article yesterday, Campus Debates on Israel Drive a Wedge Between Jews and Minorities:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 09, 2015 4 Comments
It seems that every week there are one or more news stories about anti-Israel violence in Europe, frequently tied to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, as with attacks in Paris. Here is the latest episode, in which four Copenhagen buses were torched, and another painted with "Boycott Israel - Free Gaza," in what is believed to be retaliation for the bus company removing BDS advertisements The Local Denmark English-language website reports, Copenhagen bus fire may be tied to Israel ads:
Four public buses were burned in the early morning hours of Friday in what may have been a reaction to a controversy surrounding an advertising campaing urging people to boycott products from Israeli settlements. Copenhagen Police suspect that there is a political motive behind the burning of four Copenhagen city buses early on Friday. “In paint was written ‘Boycott Israel - Free Gaza’ on at least one of the buses,” police spokesman Las Vestervig told tabloid BT. No one was injured in the fire, which was set in the bus company Arriva’s parking garage in the Copenhagen district of Østerbro. The fire came amidst a controversy over the bus company Movia's decision to remove advertisements from 35 buses in the capital region that urged people to boycott products from Israeli settlements.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 08, 2015 4 Comments
Readers are aware that Bowdoin College in Maine recently held a student body referendum for a full academic and cultural boycott of Israel. It failed miserably. I have a post at National Review looking back on the referendum, and how the SJP boycotters are doubling-down on their absolutist view of the conflict, Brainwashed at Bowdoin: Anti-Israel Boycotters Miss a Teachable Moment: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/418119/brainwashed-bowdoin-anti-israel-boycotters-miss-teachable-moment-william-jacobson Here is an excerpt, but head over to National Review for the whole thing. And share it widely on Facebook and Twitter, or email to friends, using the links at National Review. This is a story that needs to be told:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 08, 2015 26 Comments
The British Conservative Party had a big win yesterday in the British elections:
Prime Minister David Cameron and his Conservatives won a resounding victory in the British general election, with nearly complete results on Friday showing that the party had secured an overall majority in Parliament.... The result defied pre-election opinion polls that suggested a tight race between the Conservatives and Labour. It returns Mr. Cameron to 10 Downing Street for a second term, with enough seats in the House of Commons to act on his agenda without having to rely on support from smaller parties. He went to Buckingham Palace on Friday to be invited by the queen to form a new government.
That's the big picture. Within that big picture are some huge specific wins. Specifically, the losses by anti-Israel maniacs George Galloway, David Ward and Natalie Bennett. George Galloway is the poster child for anti-Israel hate, an obsessed creep who spews anti-Israel conspiracy theories, regularly appears on Iranian Press TV, attacks critics of the Mullah regime, and Jew-baits under the guise of anti-Zionism, British MP George Galloway storms out of debate when finds out opponent is Israeli:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 06, 2015 11 Comments
Bowdoin College Student Government held an unprecedented all-student referendum, sponsored by Students for Justice in Palestine, for a full academic and cultural boycott of Israel (not just "divestment" from certain companies). Bowdoin is one of the most elite Liberal Arts colleges, ranked 5th by U.S. News & World Report. The referendum was held after SJP managed to get 20% of the student body to sign a Petition calling for a boycott. Our prior posts have the full background: In order to pass, one-third of the 1915 students needed to participate in the vote, and two-thirds of those voting needed to vote in favor. The results have just been officially released in an email from the student government president:
Dear Students, The voting for the student referendum has now closed. The number of voters reached the necessary quorum of 1/3 of the student body but only 14% voted in favor of the referendum, therefore it does not pass. The results are as follows: In favor: 228 votes, 14% Opposed: 1,144 votes, 71% Abstaining: 247 votes, 15% Total Votes: 1,619 votes, 85% of the student body Thank you to everyone who voted.
This is a particularly crushing blow to the boycott movement, with 150 fewer students voting in favor than signed the Petition.  This reflects that many students were pressured into signing the Petition and also were misled as to the nature of the boycott. That 85% of student body participated reflects that the student body spontaneously rose up against this threat to academic freedom.
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