Europe countries should join the BDS and boycott Israel

Thanks for accepting.This is a contentious topic but I thought the discussion was very well-mannered in your previous debate. Despite the fact we may have to be critical of countries and organisations involved in the I/P conflict, I think we can do this in a manner that keeps on the right side of legitimate criticism.In regards to the topic at hand, my argument can be summarised as:- Israel is committing war crimes against the Palestinians- It is right to take action to stop war crimes against the Palestinians- Boycott is an effective economic strategy to end the war crimes and should be the method employed-- Therefore European countries should join the BDS and boycott IsraelWar CrimesIsrael has and is committing a series of human rights violations and war crimes against the Palestinians. That this is occurring is attested to by UN Reports [1], the International Court of Justice [2], human rights NGOs both inside[3] and outside[4] of Israel and even by the testimonies of Israeli soldiers themselves[5 - Youtube]. http://www.youtube.com...These collectively attest to :- The indiscriminate killing of Palestinian civilians- Imprisonment without trial- Torture of people arrested without trial- Illegal occupation- Illegal blockade- Use of men, women and children as human shields- Collective punishment against entire communities- Denial of basic service like medical careThat is some of the war crimes being comitted but is not exhaustive.That these war crimes are occurring is something that has one of the biggest consensuses in all of international politics, with the UN GA passing a resolution affirming the illegality of Israel's occupation each year by massive measures. The most recent one passed 94 votes to 7 [6]. Even of the 7 who voted against, it is largely a case of being politic and not wanting to bring it up rather than saying that it is wrong as the USA for instance still stands by it's SC resolutions which amount to the same like UNSC 242. [7]Why We Should CareThat people have universal human rights and are deserving of protection is a fundamental belief that is based in the core concepts of Western liberalism and enshrined in international law[8]. People are suffering greatly and not able to help themselves, so we should help.Indeed membership into the UN means agreement with the UN charter[9], committing members to (as per article 2) "ensure to all of them the rights and benefits resulting from membership, shall fulfill in good faith the obligations assumed by them in accordance with the present Charter" and "refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations."As the war crimes committed are a use of force used in the continuation of an occupation which stops the political independence of Palestine, we are required to "fulfill in good faith the obligation ... in accordance with the present Charter" in accordance with our UN membership and commitment to these principles.Now some might think that because this is a two-sided conflict, because Palestinian Militants enact war crimes, that this is grounds for not taking action. I would argue against this for two key reasons1) There is no grounds for making war crimes permissible as Palestinians have inalienable rights[10] and the ban on war crimes is absolute[11]This could perhaps be summed up as "Two rights don't make a wrong". To put it in more depth, the rights of the Palestinians are inalienable and cannot be removed so simply. More than that, as put by Israeli Human Rights organisation B'Tselem in their report called Absolute Prohibition: The Torture and Ill-treatment of Palestinian Detainees [11]:"Like murder, rape, and slavery, torture is a form of absolute evil that justifies the imposition of an absolute prohibition, even if the prohibition clashes with other important values"Similar reasoning is present for all War Crimes. The Geneva Convention and similar documents do not allow war crimes to be committed if a state can find reasons to call the person (or nationality) they are performing the war crimes against bad dudes. Such allowances do not exist and would render the entire point of such prohibitions useless.Palestinian militants do commit war crimes, but this does not mean that no action should be taken in regards Israel - It means action should be taken in regards to Palestine as well as Israel. What exactly this action should be is outside the scope for this debate.2) The argument that Israeli war crimes are allowable based on Palestinian militant war crimes quickly becomes circular, as it follows that Palestinian militant war crimes should themselves be allowable based on the Israeli war crimes they are a response to.This then quickly turns into a race to find who can find the earliest abuse of one side against the other - that one original act that was not in response to any previous war crime - and this demeans the entire process by trying to rationalise the decades of bloodshed as somehow legitimate for one side or the other.Why economic boycotts should be usedEconomic boycotts lack the implicit harm of direct military involvement. I'm sure my opponent will agree that if action is going to be taken, it is far more preferable for it to be economic pressure rather than an invasion of Israel. As such this will be my shortest section.The key point is that boycotts and sanctions have been shown to work. The analogous boycott towards Apartheid South Africa was "pivotal in both changing attitudes towards South Africa and to the struggle to end apartheid"[12]. Just recently Iran made an agreement on it's nuclear development after the sanctions it were linked to its agreement[13].Indeed such sanctions are the norm for countries involved in major conflicts, from Syria[14] following the civil war and even to UNSC member Russia[15] following its involvement with Ukraine.Boycott is therefore consistent with the response that should be expected towards a country in Israel's situation and its current treatment is anomalous, with Israel receiving massive and disproportionate aid rather than boycotts for its war crimes. For instance: "Total U.S aid to Israel is approximately one-third of the American foreign-aid budget, even though Israel comprises just .001 percent of the world's population and already has one of the world's higher per capita incomes"[16].I believe that taken together, these three arguements show that Europe should join BDS movement and boycott Israel. Vote PRO.[1] http://tinyurl.com...[2] http://tinyurl.com...[3] http://tinyurl.com...[4] http://tinyurl.com...[5] http://tinyurl.com...[6] http://tinyurl.com...[7] http://tinyurl.com...[8] http://tinyurl.com...[9] http://tinyurl.com...[10] http://tinyurl.com...[11] http://tinyurl.com...[12] http://tinyurl.com...[13] http://tinyurl.com...[14] http://tinyurl.com...[15] http://tinyurl.com...[16] http://tinyurl.com...