Palestinian-Backed BDS Movement Abetted by American Universities

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                    

The 2 year old Israeli political party,  Yesh Atid, has decided to go against the BDS movement forming all over the world against Israel, Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions.  This is enacted against Israel in order to get them to comply to their wishes, as they see the situation between Israel and Palestinians through rosy eyeglasses.  "Boycotts of Israel are economic and political cultural campaigns or actions that seek a selective or total cutting of ties with the State of Israel, Israelis or Israeli corporations."
                                                                               

    
Chairman Yair Lapid, former journalist, formed this party for the secular middle class of Israel.  They are more concerned with socio, economic and governance problems than security, so were on the side of Herzog during this past election.  

Not as well visioned as Netanyahu, in my opinion,  he is rising up to fight something major, here, for this is almost as deadly as Hamas has been and who has started up again from Gaza.  Being a former journalist, he just may be able to present Israel's case in better light.

It was during his visit to New York when Lapid decided to fight BDS.  He realized that people who support BDS are the very ones who are backed by a different culture than the west, one who murders homosexuals, beats women and oppresses whole populations.  

• On 9 July 2005, 171 Palestinian non-governmental organizations put out a call for an international economic campaign against Israel which has come to be referred to as Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) after the resolution's call "... for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel Until it Complies with International Law and Universal Principles of Human Rights.  The three stated goals of the campaign are:

1. An end to Israel's "occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall;"

2. Israeli recognition of the "fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality;" and,

3. Israeli respect, protection, and promotion of "the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194

1. In reply to these slanted goals that do not reflect facts, Israel is not occupying anyone, not Gaza nor Judea and Samaria or East Jerusalem.  Gaza is ruled by Hamas from a Democratic election that shouldn't have taken place in retrospect.  Judea and Samaria (West Bank) have been run by the Palestinian Authority who has been at the head far longer than he should have-but that is up to the Palestinians.  East Jerusalem has been incorporated into all of Jerusalem as it is the Israeli capital.  Of course, the Arabs see all of Israel as "ARAB LAND."  

2. Arabs in Israel are full citizens and have been.  Some are even serving in the IDF.  

3. All Palestinians had the opportunity to stay in Israel when their brothers attacked Israel in 1948, and those that fled did not return.  Those that stayed became full citizens of Israel.  Anything different is up to discussion in peace talks.  Most went to Jordan and are Jordanians todaiy.  Some are still in refugee camps after 67 years, still being provided for by the UN.  . What Israel doesn't need are anymore Hamas types hanging around.  

I noted in today's news that Iran took out about 23 people from their prison for hanging without any trial.  G-d only knows why they were in prison in the first place.  Then to be jerked out and hung without a "Hello there"  is just unconstitutional in any descent society.  We're learning that this world is made up of  despicable people, led by IS, of course.  Iran not only supports BDS but is supporting their right to build a nuclear power plant as well, and we wonder why.  For years they have been against Israel and have not been mum about it, spewing out vile names about Israelis.

What ticked Lapid off was the decision of the UK National Union of Students (NUS) to join the BDS movement against Israel.  He saw another peg falling to pay homage to the BDS G-d.

He's calling on the British government to condemn this move which is stirring up more hatred and which undermines any hope for diplomatic progress.  The BDSers are trying to put Israel in a coffin and nail it shut.  He's putting this issue at the top of his list of priorities.

BDS has been going in the States for some time already.  "BDS is on American college campuses, especially on the West Coast    Public attention has been focused on successful boycott campaigns staged by anti-Israel groups at American academic associations such as the American Studies Association and the Asian American Studies Association.  Now the energy in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement is returning to American college campuses.  Anti-Israel groups, such as Students for Justice in Palestine, are preparing to mount massive BDS campaigns on campuses across the country, such as the University of California at Los Angeles.

Once again, we can expect Jewish students to face a barrage of anti-Jewish stereotypes and defamations, anti-Israel smears, factual exaggerations, and outright falsehoods, together with just enough factually accurate criticism to disguise the entire charade as a legitimate political movement.  Until recently, campus-based BDS campaigns were all losers. "  Of all places, college campuses seem to be attacked the most to succumb to the lure of hating Israel.  Evidently classes in Middle East history are sorely lacking, or are only telling one version-and it isn't Israel's version of the problems they have faced in the Middle East with their neighbors.  Monkey see-monkey do, and these college students are as bad as my 1st graders were in copying someone in class.  They obviously are enamoured with the exotic Arab students who are brazenly beating the drums against Israel.  Colleges and universities have been ripe for the picking for these hateniks with their vile propaganda.  

I wonder what American Jews are finally waking up and have the backbone like Lapid to commit to fighting against BDS instead of going along with it?  We need to start first before we expect the rest of the world to realize they've been betting on the wrong horse in this race.  

Update:  12:44pm.  In John Hagee's 2007 book, "In Defense of Israel," on page 147 he explains that those replacement theologians teach to support  BDS which will economically  hurt the "Christ-rejecting" Jews so that they will accept Jesus Christ!"  Ultimately, we always get to the heart of matters;  religion.  What a despicable way to try to convert somebody, but then I've never really seen any nice way.  

Resource:  http://www.jerusalemonline.com/news/politics-and-military/politics/lapid-israel-should-not-surrender-to-bds-13871%20?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=The+Latest+News+From+Israel&utm_campaign=MiddayNewsletter

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yesh_Atid
http://brandeiscenter.com/blog/bds-returns-to-campus-and-it-is-time-to-fight-back/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boycotts_of_Israel
http://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2015/05/new-israel-fund-behind-bds-against.html

USA's Position on Anti-Semitism

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                    

                                                        March 2009 in Riverside, California

Anti-Semitism is:  The belief or behavior hostile toward Jews just because they are Jewish. It may take the form of religious teachings that proclaim the inferiority of Jews, for instance, or political efforts to isolate, oppress, or otherwise injure them. It may also include prejudiced or stereotyped views about Jews. (adl)

"Deligitimizing the Jewish people to their right to self-determination and denying Israel the right to exist is a form of anti Semitism.  However, criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as anti-Semitism."  (state government)

 The problem with the UN is that they continually harp on Israel and on no other country.  I see this as being due to an abundance of Muslim countries at the helm who have unwarranted amounts of anti-Semitism to start with.  Whatever Israel does in their eyes is wrong to them as their intention is to wipe out Israel as proclaimed in their charters."  (documentary)

The video documentary below zeros in on Canada's situation of anti-Semitism.  Canada has even harsher laws pertaining to this than the USA does.

Today with the creation of Israel we see anti-Semitism in the form of  the political efforts to undercut and destroy Israel, which is a Jewish state created out of the necessity of preserving the life of Jews after 2,000 years of suffering from anti-Semitism!

"But while parts of Europe remain caught up in racial unrest, the Middle East is home to the harshest anti-Semitism in the world today. Nazi-like language is regularly expressed by the media and governments in the countries that oppose Israel and the West. And as dozens and dozens of terrorist incidents have demonstrated, there are many in Middle Eastern countries willing to act on these beliefs." (adl)

Incidents have lessened from 2010 to 2011. For the past 20 years, the incidents have been much higher and 2011 is the lowest in incidents, hopefully due to some education against it.  Yet these numbers are horrific.   In 2010 there were 1,239 incidents in the USA.  By 2011 it had decreased by 13% to 1,080 incidents.  Incidents involved were:  

What incidents have taken place? There were 731 cases of harassment, threats and events.   A great deal is done at schools and come from children, adolescents and teenagers harassing Jewish students,  They are bullying them, using words involving Nazis and Holocaust.  Being a Jewish child during WWII, I never experienced such things in Portland, Oregon, thank goodness until high school, when I realized why I wasn't making it into the schools top sororities, or heard disparaging remarks about Jews in the cafeteria.  I did get accepted into a school sorority of lesser status, however, which shows you what class of people  is responsible for where the anti-Semitism comes from.  
                                                                                    
College campuses have been a hotbed of anti-Semitism, especially in the form of anti-Israel propaganda.  

• On February 24, 1995, at the University of California at Berkeley, the Muslim Student Association sponsored a rally in support of Hamas, the Middle East extremist group, soon after a series of bus and sidewalk bombings in Israel. Students from several northern California campuses carried a sign depicting an Israeli flag with a swastika in the middle and symbolically volunteered to serve as future suicide bombers. A Jewish observer was spit on by one of the demonstrators. 

• On October 10, 1996, the Daily Illini, the newspaper serving the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign, published an Op-Ed essay attacking Israel after the opening of an archaeological tunnel in Jerusalem. In addition to references in the essay equating Zionism with racism, the piece was accompanied by a cartoon depicting a skeleton, with a blazing gun in one hand, making a peace sign with the other, and clothed in a robe with a Jewish Star on its chest. The cartoon and essay caused a widespread reaction in terms of letters to the editor over the following weeks. 
                                                                        
  
  Colleges and Universities have been hosting "Israel Apartheid Week", usually in the Spring between March 11-15 put on by the Palestine Solidarity Committee. This started in Toronto, Canada in 2005, then spread to 55 cities by 2010 in Canada, UK, USA, , SA. Judea and Samaria, Mexico, Norway and Australia.   Even such well known people such as Alice Walker, author of the Color Purple,  are one of the leaders. Being that Israel is practicing the opposite of apartheid slays me in the promotion of such an accusation, but that doesn't seem to stop a lot of college level people to want to believe this.  One of the promoters in Portland was the Socialist Party where I tried to give a speech showing this wasn't true at all, but of course was rebuffed and threatened.  That such people on higher education campuses should be smarter and less gullible doesn't seem to hold water when it comes to racial or religious hatred. 

330 cases of vandalism involving anti-Semitic slogans written on property or destruction of Jewish property occurred.  There were 19 physical attacks of Jews.  This all comes from reports involving 45 states and Washington DC.  I wonder why the other 5 states do not have such reports.  (adl reporting on jewishvirtual library)

Reference:  http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/fs/2010/122352.htm

http://isradocu.blogspot.co.il/2013/06/jew-bashing-new-anti-semitism-canada.html#ref=Wibiya_bar2  video about anti-Semitism in Canada

http://archive.adl.org/hate-patrol/antisemitism.asp

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/ADL2011audit.html

http://frontpagemag.com/2013/charles-jacobs/israeli-apartheid-week-learn-to-crush-it/

Boycotting, Divesting, Sanctioning Israel

Anti-Israel divestment campaigns have been going on in dozens of colleges, many comparing Israel to anti-Apartheid activity. This is including inflammatory street demonstrations causing tremendous stress to Jewish students. This is being seen in Seattle now, but has been going on in Portland State to a degree for some time. Campuses have been noticing a problem ever since the 60's. Jews were seen as the white successful people against the dark skin people. In Europe, a robust campaign to boycott Israeli academics continues to be parroted by a handful of N. American academics. Noam Chomsky and Michael Finklestein have been leaders against Israel.

Anti-divestment has been going on in Portland in which activists have tried to stop Israeli products from being sold in stores. We noted this happening way back in December before the holidays. Evidently its still happening in Seattle.

BDS (Boycott-Divest-Sanction) is like a viral and pathological communicable disease. We ignore it at our peril. We have been trying to educate churches such as the Methodist as to the history and position Israel finds itself in . Now the Presbyterians have adopted a resolution in 2004 declaring Israeli actions to be at the "root of evil acts: committed on both sides of the conflict and calling for "phased selective divestment" of companies operating in Israel. They have replaced the call with a more general endorsement for socially responsible investments. The Methodist has rejected divestment resolutions as have other denominations now. Virulent anti-Israel campaigns continue in several denominations. Internationally, the World Council of Churches and the Anglican Church in England have embraced BDS.

Civic: Some city councils have rejected calls for municipal divestment of Israel but in Europe there have been repeated efforts in labor unions. Thank goodness our labor leaders have publicly condemned BDS.

Corporate: A longtime BDS effort has focused on Caterpillar, Inc. Other efforts have been against companies who sell to Israel's defense forces, construction industry, and retailers that sell Israeli products or have operations across the "green line ".

Now culture is being affected. The newest campaign of BDS are artistic, athletic and other activities. A film festival in Toronto highlighted 10 films from Israel and celebrated Tel Aviv's centennial though a BDS campaign was going on. There have been protests of Israeli entertainers. Israeli athletes and teams have been ostracized in several national tournaments. I think that is very telling and reminds us of the 30's in Germany.

The Goldstone Report has caused innumerable harm to Israel's reputation, as if we really needed more mud in our eye.

The latest development in our country is that Rabbi David Nesenoff, the man who had innocently interviewed Helen Thomas at an Israel rally, has received death threats. As the next Oprah replacement (?): Rosie O’Donnell Says Helen Thomas is Right. What can be worse? Helen told the rabbi that Jews should get the hell out of Palestine and go back to Poland and Russia and the States. Is this what we all want?
A book recommended to read is START UP NATION by Elias.

Resource: CRC Israel Advocacy Committee
http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2010/06/09/the-next-oprah-rosie-odonnell-says-helen-thomas-is-right/

Alan Dershowitz's Answer to Presidential Pick

Alan Dershowitz, my favorite lawyer and author of "The Case For Israel" in which he has done an outstanding job of defending Israel's right to exist, is juggling reasons in promoting Obama as president.

He feels that we should elect a liberal president who strongly supports Israel because the worry is that "radical academics" on university campuses are trying to present Israel as the darling of the right and an anathema to the left. I feel that Noam Chomsky and Norman Finkelstein are good examples of this. It is true that Arab organizations on campuses are very forceful and outnumber Jewish students on many campuses. They are speaking out against Israel. I took a class in Middle -East History here in Portland several years ago, and the textbook we were using was written in an Arab country. I had to disagree with many parts of it.

My worry is: does Obama strongly support Israel as he says he does. One can only hope and pray. The fact that he has been associated and surrounded by academics and politicians and religious people who do not bothers me. Actions speak louder than words. When I heard that Obama spoke so eloquently at an AIPAC meeting about Jerusalem and that it must remain undivided, I had high hopes, but less than 24 hours later, after being confronted by a Palestinian, he changed his statement to having used the wrong words. Really! He mumbled that he meant that it wouldn't be divided by barbed wire!

On the other hand, it took untold beatings and breaking of bones to get McCain to say anything that his enemies wanted to hear. He, being the most stubborn man, could not be made to weaken until his life was more than ready to part from this world in the five and a half years he spent as a prisoner during Viet Nam. McCain has been a friend of Israel for many years and has supported pro-Israel votes in Congress. He is a defender of Israel to have the right to defend itself.

I've seen in this election period that words are cheap. Candidates say anything in order to get elected. I don't think the very young have learned that fact, yet. In a very short time we will learn what course will be taken on the subject of Israel. We should have learned long ago in history that appeasement never works. I see that Israel was not even a subject listed by the Oregonian this morning in showing the differences between our two candidates of McCain and Obama.

I only hope that Dershowitz is right about Obama this time in that he will continue the American support of an Israel, and not have Israel to be a part of his "Change". I hope he is not going to be as wrong as Greenspan has been about the state of our economy and say that he didn't see it coming.

Resource: The Jerusalem Post: Joel Pollak's McCain and Obama: compare records, not rhetoric
http://support.tjci.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=5445&JServSessionIdr--1=0s5