WhatsappIn Parts One and Two we addressed the background of BDS, its nefarious leaders, and the dishonest claim that Israel is an apartheid state. In Part Three we look at BDS’s singling out the Jewish State.
BDS’s singling out the world’s only Jewish state is insidious and abhorrent
To focus solely on the only democracy in the Middle East, Israel, to the exclusion of all other nations, is by definition discriminatory and biased. Israel boasts the best record of human rights, civil liberties and freedom in the Middle East. It is not only patently unfair to Israel, but it deprives truly significant and inhumane transgressions of human rights and genocide of much needed attention.
Israel ranks high in Freedom House’s list of countries and regions based upon freedoms, civil liberties and political rights. Is Israel and its government immune from criticism? Of course not. But all in Israel, both Jew and non-Jew, enjoy freedom of speech, freedom to protest, and access to courts. Just a few months ago, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that Lara Alqasem, noted BDS activist and president of a chapter of the virulently anti-Israel Students for Justice in Palestine, be allowed entry into Israel to study. This clearly underscores the workings of a true democracy and a country that respects the rule of law.
If those involved in the BDS movement were sincerely motivated by a need to protect human rights and not antisemitic sentiments, they would champion some of the many calamites happening in the world today. Sadly, there is no shortage of genocides and tragedies. Of all the countries in the world, why is Israel the one and only country, and the only Jewish state, BDS chooses to boycott?
In Part One I mentioned a few current humanitarian crises. Following is a little more detail on just some of the true devastation happening today in desperate need of advocacy.
Syria – Since 2011 the war between the Syrian government and opposition groups lead to over 500,000 deaths, 5.6 million refugees, and 6.6 million internally displaced people. The situation in Syria is dire. Assad is guilty of crimes against humanity for using chemical weapons on his own people. (Israel has assisted the Syrian refugees for more than seven years, in numerous ways, including shipments of food and medicine and other aid shipments, and transporting thousands of Syrian wounded to Israeli hospitals. And in light of these horrific crimes committed by the Syrian government and chessed undertaken by Israel, how the E.U. can devalue its worth by questioning Israeli rather than Syrian sovereignty over the Golan Heights is a mystery.)
Myanmar – There is a genocide happening in Myanmar, with “security” forces committing mass atrocities against the ethnic Rohingya community (primarily a Muslim community). Atrocities including killings, rape and burning of villages. More than 900,000 Rohingya refugees have fled to Bangladesh.
North Korea – The countless human rights violations perpetrated by the North Korean government include extermination, murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortions and other sexual violence, religious, racial and gender persecution, to list a few. 40% of North Korean’s population requires humanitarian assistance.
Yemen – Since 2015, more than 6,600 civilians have been killed in the fighting between various factions in Yemen. Government forces have targeted hospitals and schools. 8.4 million people in Yemen are at risk of famine, and over 22 million people in Yemen, more than 75% of the country’s population, are in need of humanitarian assistance. The troubles in Yemen have left a void in that country being filled by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and ISIL. The conflict has also resulted in persecution of the country’s Bahá’í population. (The Bahá’í Faith’s worldwide headquarters is located in Haifa, Israel, where they are permitted to freely and openly practice their religion.)
Palestinian Authority – As recently as October 23, 2018, Human Rights Watch accused the Palestinian Authority and Hamas of routinely engaging in systematic, unwarranted arrests and torture of critics, suspected dissidents and political opponents, and creating a police state in Gaza and the West Bank. Journalists, musicians and even Facebook bloggers are tortured, which HRW characterizes as a governmental policy for both the PA and Hamas. Where is Omar Barghouti, protests or the cries on college campus? Where is Roger Waters when we need him?
Unfortunately, this is but a small sampling of the current global humanitarian crises which are real and dire. Consider the impact of college students throughout the west protesting, rallying and advocating against these true atrocities. These would represent a valid “movements,” ones in which the world would support, rather than condemn.
Yet only the Jewish state of Israel is condemned…
