In theory, the first purpose of boycotts is to cause people to think. To discover or reconsider an issue.
In theory, the first purpose of the Anti-Defamation League is the same. To cause people to discover, to rethink, to become aware of and combat bigotry, within themselves as well as in others.
This week a boycott campaign caused me to rethink boycotts against Israel. And a campaign by the Anti-Defamation League caused me to rethink the Anti-Defamation League.
The boycott was the decision by the Olympia, Washington Food Co-op, to remove Israeli products from the shelves of its two stores.
In a move as courageous as it was overdue, the co-op also featured and published online a pamphlet strongly opposing manifestations of anti-Semitism in leftist movements.
"Unfortunately," the co-op's blog observed, "anti-Semitic statements have abounded in a lot of the 'support' that the co-op has received in regard to the Israeli-products' boycott."
The Olympia Food Co-op has taken an important step in distinguishing between opposition to the policies of Israel on the one hand, and anti-Jewish hatred on the other.
It has also worked to identify and distance Islamophobia and anti-Arab bigotry from the wider discussion of boycotts and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Which makes it all the more curious that when longtime ADL National Director Abraham Foxman chose to publicly oppose the construction of a mosque and Muslim cultural center near the Ground Zero site, his rationale was troubling, to say the least:
"Survivors of the Holocaust are entitled to feelings that are irrational," Foxman, himself a survivor, told The New York Times.
"Referring to the loved ones of Sept. 11 victims, he said, 'Their anguish entitles them to positions that others would categorize as irrational or bigoted.'"
There is something at once refreshing and destructive about Foxman's words. Refreshing, in the sense that this sounds like unfiltered honesty. Destructive, in the sense that this is precisely the rationale under which many on the left have justified or excused non-progressive, at times overtly bigoted, statements and actions by militant Palestinians.
It is high time to strike bigotry of all forms -- by both sides -- from the debate over the Mideast conflict.
It is time, as well, for the Jewish community as a whole to relate differently to those in their midst who have a serious difference of opinion with Israel.
In this regard, it is time for the Jewish community to engage those who support the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement, rather than effectively excommunicating them.
Perhaps what is most profoundly needed is for those who care about the Mideast equation to genuinely say what they think, and to abandon the time-honored codes in which each side attacks the other.
Allow me to begin.
I fully recognize as valid the opinions of those who oppose the idea of a specifically Jewish state. I would only ask that they be honest and open about it.
If you think a Jewish state is a bad idea, an institution that should be disbanded, I believe that it is the honest thing -- honest to yourself, before all else -- to come out and say so.
As a supporter of the idea of a truly democratic Jewish state alongside an independent and sovereign Palestinian state, what I cannot accept is the idea that formally Muslim states are acceptable, where a Jewish state is not.
In the past I have been vociferous in opposing boycotts. I now realize that it was not the boycott per se that caused me rage, but the tolerance for a double standard that said "While others -- including our own United States -- commit war crimes, engage in oppression, and have a long history of subjugating, disenfranchising and dehumanizing minorities, Israel will be our sole target."
Something else angered me as well -- not the fact that some of the people who advocated boycotting Israel were actually against the idea of having a state of Israel, but the fact that for tactical reasons, they refused to come out and say so.
I remain opposed to boycotts, Olympia's included, first because I oppose collective punishment of all kinds, whether practiced by Israel against Gazans, or by progressives against Israelis as a whole. I also believe that boycotts against Israel tend to be self-defeating and play into the hands of the right.
But I want to thank the Olympia Food Co-op for going an important step. Something extremely valuable is happening there. Something truly radical. An awareness that people who are truly in favor of social justice must take a stand against bigotry, no matter the target.
The mayor of New York has set an example in this regard, saying of the mosque and its critics, "What is great about America, and particularly New York, is we welcome everybody, and if we are so afraid of something like this, what does that say about us?"
It's a lesson that Abraham Foxman needs to relearn.
_________________________________________
Written for haaretz.com
Follow Bradley Burston on Twitter: www.twitter.com/bradleyburston
For all those Israeli supports who say why dont you protest about China, Sudan and Saudi Arabia for thier constant human right abuses. I say this, buy local and support local businesses. Avoid shopping at Walmart where almost half to three quarters of their products are made in China.
Americans have every right to protest where their 3 billion dollars are going to Israel or any other Middle East country. I certainly dont want to see my tax dollars going to an aparthied racist country and seeing American arms and munitions used on men, women and children enforcing this policy.
Attacks on Israel are fashionable. Yes, I also don't like the current Israeli government; however the average person who wants to boycott Israel is against a boycott of Iran, despite its aggressive foreign policy and its treatments of minority, especially the Baha'is. And we never hear about boycotting China for what they are doing to Tibet (who don't even want a state or an autonomy, just a chance to practice their culture), or Russia for its policies in Chechnya, which made it literally into lawless hell on earth (I'm not even mentioning Sudan because I don't see a lot of Sudanese exports around so it's a mute point). Because boycotting these countries is not trendy, it's not chic, and it doesn't have a populist powerful left wing movement behind it.
What happened to being a "liberal"? When did all the liberals turn into progressives
AND Israel INTERFERRS in US politics and governement all the time, for decades. This is not debatable, it is obvious unless you believe in fairy tales like invading Iraq made any sense, or the GOP is actually frugal....No other country INTERFERRS in our country to any similar degree......NO other country could have VP Biden visit on a peace missions, INSULT HIM, and then get it's pals in the US to blame not them, but him and Obama !!!.....and then Bibi to come here and insult us yet again, in our own capital !......what arrogance !?!.....no wonder Bibi was found on a tape saying it was easy to twist and control the US....no wonder even Mossad has told their politicians recently that " Israel has become a BURDEN to the US ! ".....no kidd'n ?!
Israel wants the Arabs not to fight, even against their decades of repression, not even with rocks against F-16's and machine guns. Now they don't even want PEACEFUL, rather passive protest !!!
Some in Haaretz and elsewhere have pointed out that the right wing leadership of Israel, almost always in control, wants to hurt moderate Arabs and their protests, and therefore ENCOURAGE the more extreme elements in Islam, there and around the world.....which as the US military says, makes it all the more dangerous for them and US civilians, everywhere !
Sorry Mr. Burston, I don't think boycotting fruit, plastics, electronics, film's, etc. from Israel will kill a single person, tear off an arm, blind a child. Maybe this time you are giving into internal pressure or you just can't bring yourself to be fair about it. The less the PA's can "fight" peacefully the more they will in any other way, isn't that obvious ?
IN PRINCIPLE, there is no difference.
A state so rich in positives should not be dragged down by racist, bigoted state-supported policies.
Israel's Top 14 Anti-Democratic Knesset Bills
http://www.acri.org.il/pdf/top14bills2010.pdf
Maybe we should boycott all Israeli films to counter that message....
As to criticizing the Israeli policies, i have a sense that we would agree on more than you can imagine, but i would still argue that Israel is a strong democracy. Every country has its lunatics and crazy fanatics (US, Canada, Netherlands, and even Switzerland, are not exceptions), but that does not mean they are not democracies. If anything, the fact that the US mainstream media does not report about the crazy margins of the Israeli society can be criticism of the US media. The Israeli media deals with it all the time. Also if you read the article you linked to, it actually talks about how the Israeli authorities are dealing with such extremism, which is what they should do.
While I agree that is a critical point, I wish your characterization of the concept as radical were not true.
In all the vitrol and hyperbole inherent in on-line discussions, too often people rush to ascribe endorsement of one group based soley on critisism of some other group, when moral consistency requires the critisism of bad acts no matter the source.
As for engaging the BDS movement, I must point you toward this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnpilMYsR0I&feature=player_embedded
In a sense it is trying to force the PA's back to fighting and terrorism !?!!!
No it's not.
Reading the post made me ever more convinced that only "effectively excommunicating them" can do any good.