A Jew with a Conscience Calls for a Boycott of Israel

@Bongman, I'm quite nervous to announce that I am an American just about anywhere abroad. It's the US policies that make it dangerous to be an American anywhere outside the US period.

 

I can empathize with your hesitancy. Israel would be one of those places that Americans would be safer, I can assure you that (for whatever it is worth). You almost get the sense of feeling that they would kiss the feet that you walk on.

I'd like to share one of my eye popping experiences there. One of my coworker told me that that the street she walks through daily, had one of those suicide bomber incidents. So I asked her if she already made plans to use a different route. To my surprise she said no. Because if she allows terrorism to change her way of life, then she is letting them win. Just food for thought.

 

The implication of the thread title is a Jew with a conscience is uncommon enough as to be noteworthy (or rather, threadworthy).

 

Exactly.

It's not the word "Jew" itself, as glynch naively pretends to be the issue.

It's exactly what you said above - clearly shows glynch's anti-semitic and bigoted mindset.

 

Yes really.

 

Yes really - he's right. The title of the thread gives the connotation that Jews don't normally have a conscience. Its definitely inflammatory and honestly, I assumed it was on purpose on your part.

 

he knows it is. it was intentional. he's playing dumb. don't feed into him.

 

There is a huge difference between pointing out things that are going wrong and being bigoted. There is nothing wrong with you criticizing Israel, but your thread title gives away your true mindset.

 

Yup. Anti-semite. He cannot hide it.

 

It is unfortunate that you are an anti-semite.

In addition, you constantly propagate a completely one-sided view of the conflict, portraying Palestinians as victims and Israelis as evil, when the reality is that both sides in this conflict are not free of guilt.

It is very obvious that you are influenced by the weird leftist/marxist propaganda blogs you read, which for some odd reason ally themselves with Islamists.

 

Two anti-semites.

Barghouti is an extremist.

No wonder glynch aligns himself with people like that. Anti-semites like glynch, leftist extremists like glynch.

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Barghouti accuses Palestinians who have engaged with Israelis in intellectual debates and artistic partnerships in the spirit of inter-cultural dialogue, decontextualized from the political economy of enforced population expulsion and territorial occupation, of being "guilty of moral blindness and political shortsightedness" and "clinically delusional or dangerously deceptive." In response, Samir El-Youssef states that "Barghouti’s 'true peace based on justice' is that Israel must be punished, brought down to its knees, before a Palestinian is allowed to greet an Israeli in the street".[7]
Joel Fishman of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, in reviewing Barghouti's 2010 book, says, regarding the land, that "Barghouti argues that the Palestinians have inalienable rights, while those of the Jews were acquired, even if they received international recognition" which he says "makes the Palestinians more equal than the Jews, and historically is wrong".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omar_Barghouti

http://www.mindingthecampus.com/forum/2013/01/more_anti-israel_activism_at_b.html

More Anti-Israel Activism at Brooklyn

Brooklyn College - my home institution -- doesn't exactly enjoy the best reputation for fair-mindedness regarding Israel. A few years ago, the institution embarrassed itself by requiring incoming freshmen to read one and only one book, written by Moustafa Bayoumi, containing unsubstantiated, inflammatory attacks on U.S. policy toward the Arab-Israeli conflict. To its credit, the college leadership subsequently reformed the book selection policy, a necessary move after revelations that the English Department, which up until that time had sole authority to choose the freshman book, unanimously endorsed the Bayoumi selection.
Middle Eastern matters have returned the college to the news, in a less-than-flattering way. The New York Post reports that a handful of CUNY student groups, joined by one academic department--Brooklyn's Political Science Department--will sponsor a campus appearance from two anti-Israel extremists, Judith Butler and Omar Barghouti. (The official announcement for the event actually claims that, contrary to an assertion by the Brooklyn College spokesperson, the Political Science Department has "endorsed" the event.) The duo will be speaking on behalf of their joint efforts to promote an international boycott/divestment/sanctions against Israel. Barghouti has penned a book on the concept, which even the status quo-oriented AAUP opposes, while Butler's hostility to Israel has led her to make such bizarre claims as her assertion that "understanding Hamas/Hezbollah as social movements that are progressive, that are on the Left, that are part of a global Left, is extremely important."
In response to protests from students and some in the community, college spokesman Jeremy Thompson noted, "As a university, we are committed to academic freedom and the free exchange of ideas. We don't tell student groups or academic departments what topics they can or cannot discuss."
The spokesperson's remarks were superficially reasonable but divorced from reality. First of all, academic departments have limited time and resources; they don't sponsor talks from random crackpots off the street. So it matters to see what sort of talks they do sponsor. That an academic department chose to sponsor a talk from BDS extremist speaks to its values and overall intentions. Would the Political Science Department have been willing to sponsor--or in this case, at least according to the official announcement, "endorse"--a talk from figures who sought to delegitimize China? The current government in South Africa? Sweden? To ask the question illustrates its absurdity.
Second, on Middle Eastern matters, the Brooklyn Political Science Department reflects the broader situation within the academy: there's little, if any, indication that the department seeks to stimulate discussion by exposing students to a wide variety of perspectives on the Arab-Israel relationship. There's certainly no indication that the department would even consider "endorsing" a talk by figures at the opposite extreme from Barghouti and Butler--which in this case would be, perhaps, an MK candidate from the far-right fringe of the far-right Otzma LeYisrael party list.
Too often in the academy, it seems, the "free exchange of ideas" on matters related to Israel proceeds only in one direction.

 

I don't get why criticism of Israel makes someone "Anti-Israel" or "Anti-Semetic"

Fact is, Israel is doing some very questionable things in the occupied territories and that's fair game for criticism and should not be oppressed as "hate speech".

 

Actually the term "Jew" is often used as a pejorative for someone who is cheap or acting cheap.