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A Definition Of BDS

guest column

As Prospect Of Spring Nears,
Can BDS Activities Be Far Behind?

A

s winter slowly turns into spring, two peoples” solution to the Arab-Israeli
the prospect of anti-Israel BDS
conflict — the commonly accepted goal
activities witnessed in recent
of the United States, the European Union
years looms large on local college cam-
and the United Nations.
puses and other venues throughout our
For example, the movement calls for
community.
the return of Palestinian refugees
Advanced by some of Israel’s
to modern-day Israel, not to a
most ardent detractors, offen-
Palestinian state, a result that
sive tactics such as “Apartheid
would create an Arab majority
Wall” displays, anti-Israel church
state in all of Israel, the West
resolutions and attempts to pres-
Bank and Gaza, eliminating the
sure city councils, food co-ops or
State of Israel as we know it.
student governments to boycott
To achieve a peaceful political
or divest from Israel are central to
solution, Israelis and Palestinians
Allan Gale
the BDS movement.
must negotiate directly, and with
BDS refers to anti-Israel
international support, toward the
boycotts, divestments and sanctions
goal of a two-state solution.
intended to place economic and political
In contrast, BDS tactics, which are
pressure on the Jewish state in an attempt
one-sided and focused solely on pres-
to influence its behavior and the behavior
suring Israel, create a distorted picture
of other nations toward Israel.
of the region. Rather than improve the
These strategies are being used by the
situation, these advocates undermine the
“BDS movement,” an international, radical internationally backed peace process that
network of individuals and organizations
is premised on the development of mutual
that propagate an extreme, inflammatory
understanding and respect.
and biased political agenda designed to
Economic boycotts and divestment
undermine the legitimacy of the State of
actions will not help the Palestinian peo-
Israel. It identifies Israel as the one and
ple. The true path to the two-state solu-
only guilty party in the Israeli-Palestinian
tion depends on creating an atmosphere
conflict and seeks to punish only Israel.
of peace and reconciliation, combined
The true goal of BDS is to isolate and
with economic development and political
weaken Israel politically, economically and achievement.
culturally. The movement’s overall objec-
Rather than tearing down Israel, those
tive is to challenge Israel’s right to exist as
seeking to foster peace should support
a Western democracy and to delegitimize
programs and efforts that promote recon-
the only sovereign homeland of the Jewish ciliation and coexistence, a restart to the
people.
peace process and improvements to the
The BDS movement endeavors to have
Palestinian economy. We need to champion
its agenda adopted by colleges and uni-
efforts that help the parties move toward a
versities, churches, labor unions, civil and “two states for two peoples” solution that
human rights organizations, community
would realize the Jewish and democratic
groups, co-ops, minority affinity groups
State of Israel living in peace alongside an
and others. While some BDS supporters
independent State of Palestine.
claim they are interested in an equitable
The BDS movement is simply using
and peaceful solution to the conflict, the
these unfair and anti-Israel tactics to tell
movement’s approach impedes a just out-
a story that is counterproductive, disin-
come and offers a distorted, intolerant and genuous and wrong. BDS demonizes one
one-sided picture of a complex situation.
side of what is an extremely complicated
The boundaries of the BDS movement
conflict.
and the actions of its supporters are not
We must be building bridges between
always clearly defined. Often the move-
different peoples, not burning them. The
ment co-opts well-meaning people who
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Don’t
are frustrated with the lack of progress
use cures that don’t cure, blessings that
in the peace process, angered by some of
don’t bless, solutions that don’t solve.”
the actions of the Israeli government or
BDS tactics won’t solve the conflict.
who just want to take action to impact the Encouraging investment, engagement and
political deadlock between Israel and the
a negotiated solution will.
Palestinians.
Allan Gale is associate director of the Jewish
Ironically, despite claiming to seek
Community Relations Council of Metropolitan
“peace,” the BDS movement works unam-
biguously to undermine the “two states for Detroit.

*

6 January 14 • 2016

The B of BDS, boycotts, promotes aca-
demic and/or cultural boycotts of Israel,
contradicts the principles of academic
freedom and the open spirit of inter-
national cooperation among scientists,
artists and others. It is particularly coun-
terproductive to target Israel’s academic
community, which promotes honest
debate, criticism and self-examination
within Israeli society. Israel’s universities
enroll significant numbers of Arab stu-
dents and are important forums for inter-
action and cooperation between Jews
and Arabs.
It is for that reason that the American
Association of University Professors has
rejected any academic boycott of Israel.
For similar reasons, the International
Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), which
represents 312 affiliated organizations in
156 countries and territories represent-
ing 176 million workers, rejected calls to
support the BDS movement and, instead,
called for a two-state solution to allow
both peoples to live in peace and security.
Recently, the United Auto Workers
International headquartered here in
Detroit reversed a California local that had
endorsed BDS.
The D of BDS, divestment, calls for the
selling of stock in Israeli companies or
companies that do business with Israel.
These efforts have been widely rejected
by a variety of organizations as being
counterproductive to the goal of reaching
a peaceful solution to the conflict.
All American university and college
presidents and most churches and invest-
ment funds have rejected BDS initiatives
brought before them.
Recently retired Michigan State profes-
sor Kenneth Waltzer is now heading the
newly formed Academic Engagement
Network, an effort to combat divestment
and other BDS initiatives on college cam-
puses (www.facebook.com/
academicengagement).
The BDS efforts often damage the civil-
ity and open debate at our universities,
pit student against student, sometimes
result in anti-Semitism and test the limits
of political correctness.
The S in BDS, sanctions, typically refers
to attempts by national governments,
multilateral organizations and other inter-
national bodies to limit or ban trade and
other relations with Israeli institutions or
individuals.
In 2010, the influential Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD) did just the opposite, by voting
unanimously for Israel to join its ranks,
praising its scientific and technological
progress as having “produced outstand-
ing outcomes on a world scale.”

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