Jewish Week op-ed makes (bad) case for Israel’s boycott law

Lisa Levi tries to defend the undefendable boycott law at The Jewish Week. After making the old case that the Israeli boycott law is anything like the French or the American (simply false claim, as any form of the current boycott movement is perfectly legal in the United States. In fact, a Knesset research report, prepared during the work on the boycott bill, concluded that it couldn’t find examples of similar laws in Western democracies, and resorted to citing examples from countries such as Venezuela, Eritrea and Ethiopia), comes this bizarre paragraph:

Finally, it is essential here to keep in mind that the boycott movement has little to do with the settlements. Most Israelis participating in this boycott have no idea what it is, its origins and its goals. While they think they are actively showing their disagreement with the policy of their government on a specific issue, they are actually participating in a massive, well-orchestrated, international campaign of delegitimization aimed at demonizing and isolating the State of Israel, ultimately undermining Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state.

Where do you begin to tackle this patronizing nonsense? I think that the handful of Israelis who support the BDS know exactly what is it about (read their website); but the important issue here is the settlements. I just love statements like “the boycott has nothing to do with the settlements,” or “settlements don’t hurt the peace process.” There is no way of backing them with facts, so they are just tossed into the conversation, not explanation or excuse added.

Because, as the authors of such propaganda pieces might know, settlements are a major issue, and boycott of the settlements is a years-long political practice in Israeli left, made illegal now by a government who wish to maintain the West Bank’s apartheid system forever. The boycott bill should therefore be seen in context: another step in the effort to criminalize or forbid all effective forms of opposition to the occupation.

This is what’s so new and troubling about the current government: That it takes active measures to make sure that Israeli citizen cannot challenge its most important policies. And yes, this falls under “anti-democratic.”