....so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name. Revelation 13 v17

Boycotts against Israel

Academics, professors, and the other participants of Israel Apartheid Week are working hard to get bring down Israel economically by a practical campaign, which known as B.D.S.

 

Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions. The aim is to bring Israel to its knees economically, by stopping consumers buying products originating in Israel. The cause is popular on campuses and with leftist activists. Activities include invading supermarkets to make a noisy protest and remove Israeli products from the shelves. Personally, I see this as illegal activity against the shops but not much action appears to have been taken. Interestingly the Buycott campaign (Note carefully the spelling) has turned the situation against the activists and resulted in increased sales of Israeli goods due to good people turning out to buy Israeli goods in defiance of the anti-Israel activists. However, the campaign is still a poisonous influence in free countries.

Boycotts within Judea & Samaria

A Palestinian from Bethlehem was arrested and charged with "carrying out commercial transactions with residents of a hostile state." His purported crime was purchasing wood products from an Israeli community located beyond the 1949 armistice lines.

This man's arrest is part of what the unelected, U.S.-supported Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has touted as his "National Honor Fund." The goal of this project is to ban all economic contact between Palestinians and Jews who live and work beyond the 1949 armistice lines.

Speaking to The Jerusalem Post, Palestinian Labor Minister Ahmed Majdalani said the PA hopes that by the end of the year all the thousands of Palestinians who are employed in Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria will quit their jobs. What he didn't mention is that if they don't quit, they will be arrested.

Doing Boycotts properly

It should be pointed out that carrying out a proper and comprehensive boycott of israel is more difficult and costly than most activists realise.... The following video explains.

Seriously, Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaigns have much darker and more sinister implications, as pointed out in a recent Israel Today article.

On April 1", 1933, the Nazi persecution of the Jews in Germany began with the call for an economic boycott. The pattern was the same everywhere. Uniformed Nazi activists stood in front of Jewish shops and businesses, preventing customers from entering. Storefronts were marked with the word "JEW," the Star of David, and posters bearing the words, "Germans! Resist! Do not buy from Jews!" This appeal was the trigger for the annihilation of 6 million Jews.

Nazi stormtroopers bar the Berlin entrance to a Jewish shop. Their signs read: "Germans, defend yourselves against the Jewish atrocity proaganda, buy only at German shops!" and "Germans, defend yourselves, buy only at German shops!" (1933)
[Photo Credit: U.S. National Archives, William Blye Collection]

April 1 1933 in Germany is similar to what took place on a global scale at the annual Israeli Apartheid Week in March 2010. In 40 cities around the world, crowds paraded through the streets, burned Israeli flags, and called on the world to boycott Israeli products, academics, universities and research institutes. This is the latest version of Hitler's "Don't buy from Jews!"

Israel Today pointed out that such a boycott, driven by pro Muslim forces, will extend to Christians sooner or later.

What happened next? See Holocaust.

Do a Google Image search on "Boycott Israel" and you will see a multitude of clever and/or emotive images that will get people all fired up with loathing for Israel, but they are all based on false accusations. You will need to be very well informed to be able to answer these lurid accusations.

What can I do about BDS?

There are practical resources with ideas for understanding and challenging this Bullying, Delegitimisation and Sabotage.

Very helpful representation; BDS Sewer Map

. http://www.ngo-monitor.org/bds/

To combat Apartheid Week by detailing sources of delegitimization campaigns.

www.stopbds.com  

www.standwithus.com/BDS/

Engage - http://engageonline.wordpress.com

Divest This ( www.divestthis.com ) offers this guide, written by Jon Haber and serves up a regular, cogent critique of the BDS campaign. It distills into a few really readable pages key arguments, history and resources for understanding the true nature of BDS and how best to combat it.

Then there is the Buycott approach

Go and make a point of buying Israeli goods where the BDS people are promoting a boycott.

Beyond Boycotts

This is from one of many pages on http://www.ism-london.org.uk/107 boasting how their activists have been blockading the Ahava store in London's Covent garden, using intimidating and even illegal tactics to prevent lawful trade.

ISM activists participated in an action to shut down an Ahava store in Covent Garden on Saturday January 10th, timed to coincide with the national demo in London.

Ahava, an Israeli cosmetics company, sells produce from apartheid settlements in the West Bank (all Israeli settlements are illegal under international law).

The shop was closed from 11am, and the police didn’t managed to remove the activists from the shop until 4.30pm, they shop was forced to close for the duration of the action. Three activists were arrested and, as they refused to give their names to police, only to a judge, have skipped the police bail stage of the legal process and have already been charged with aggravated trespass.

Members of the Zionist Federation have attempted to make a presence outside the Ahava shop to explain the error of the ISM action. ISM have described them as racists!

Apparently the EDL has also staged a counter demonstration; which hardly helps.

The only line of opposition appears to be to make a point of buying Ahava products in defiance of these ignorant, intimidating and self righteous activists!

( ISM London is a group of activists in London and around the UK volunteering with the International Solidarity Movement in Palestine. )

Updated 18/11/10