[IJV members] Standing up to the Israeli Goliath
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- Published on Wednesday, 31 August 2016 09:00
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From: Richard Deaton <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
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Greetings from the hinterland. I thought some people might be interested in the op-ed piece , below, that appeared in this mornings Charlottetown Guardian (Aug 31/2016).
Salaam and shalom,
Richard Deaton
Standing up to heavily-armed Israeli goliath
Published on August 31, 2016BDS movement is neither anti-Semitic nor anti-Israeli. It is anti-Israeli policy.
By Richard Deaton: The pro-Israel lobby and its cheerleaders like Colin Trewin (Guardian, August 26, 2016), choose to ignore history. Their bellowing about the BDS movement should tell us that it is increasingly successful and drawing blood. And well it should. It has gained traction and support in Canada, the US, Western Europe, and Scandinavia, including various levels of government, pension funds (including the largest in the US), unions, universities, and numerous NGOs.The Palestinians are the people that history and the international community have forgotten. But Israel with the largest army in... the Middle East and a nuclear arsenal of nearly 200 warheads is Goliath, while the Palestinians are David. As six former heads of Israel's Shin Bet, their counter-intelligence agency, said in the film, The Gatekeepers (2012), right-wing governments in Israel have done everything possible to stall and sabotage the peace process.
Contrary to apologists for Israel's repressive policies in the Occupied Territories, the BDS movement is neither anti-Semitic nor anti-Israeli. It is anti-Israeli policy. It is a perfectly legitimate, legal, and non-violent way in which to challenge an oppressor that has ignored some 120 UN General Assembly resolutions condemning Israel's draconian measures; some like their use of collective punishment violate international and military law.
Zionism is not Judaism. Judaism is a religion, while Zionism is a racist and expansionist political philosophy. What Israel is attempting to do is to establish a new right-wing hegemony and theocracy at the expense of the Palestinians by carving up the West Bank. Israel is a bully which has ignored the legitimate grievances of the Palestinian people.
A recent poll indicates that 50 percent of Israelis believe that Arab-Israelis, 20 percent of Israel's population, are discriminated against. For example, early this summer a prominent Israel politician said that Palestinians should not be allowed to swim in Jewish swimming pools; another study (2014) revealed the extensive racism among Israeli high school students. Last year the ministry of education vetted all textbooks and deleted any reference to the Palestinian Nakba ("catastrophe") - their expulsion from Israel. And Dorit Rabinyan's new novel, Borderlife (2016), about an interracial affair between a Palestinian man and a Jewish woman was excluded from high school reading lists.
Many progressive Israeli's and organizations, such as Breaking the Silence, comprised of former IDF solders, have spoken out against Israel's occupation and, as a result, have been continuously harassed and threatened with government sanctions.
For the record the following may be of interest to the readers and editors of this paper. First, Elizabeth May in February 2016 voted against a parliamentary motion condemning the BDS movement, citing free speech. And second, this past weekend both the Vancouver Sun and the Ottawa Citizen (August 26, 2016) were forced to remove their slanderous and defamatory editorials from their websites for attacking Independent Jewish Voices, an organization supporting the BDS movement. The truth will set you free.
- Richard Deaton, Ph.D., LL.B. lives in Stanley Bridge
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