Resolved: People Should Support the Boycott, Divestment and Sactions Movement (BDS)

I'd like to appologize for the delay I have been very busy and in the middle of another debate. I hope this is adequate time. Truthfully, I never completely understood shared burden of proof. It is generally harder to really prove a negative than it is to prove a positive. Nonetheless, I still look forward to a thought provoking debate and hope to tackle several issues. I will be arguing that people should not support BDS not just because it is unjust and perhaps even immoral, but the implications one gives to themselves by supporting them as well as the impact it has on the Palestinians. I do not think I need to look too far with regards to sources for my opening arguments as I am mainly going to use BDS’s website as it is literally the best testimony to the flaws in the BDS. BDS begins by describing themselves “The global movement for a campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it complies with international law and Palestinian rights” [1]. Before I even argue from a moral perspective, let’s analyze this in terms of logic and effectiveness. In order for someone to be willing to support such a movement, the burden of proof would be on either Pro or the BDS movement to prove that boycotting private Israeli businesses that often don’t have to do with the government, as any impact whatsoever in Israelis policies towards the Palestinians. Otherwise, it would be harmful and I would argue unjust to deny people of several useful everyday products for a cause that perhaps won’t even help their own cause. The point I am trying to get it as that this is not only to be a debate of it BDS’s criticisms of Israel are correct or not, but also, and perhaps more significantly, if it is effective. This is especially true if they are asking for donations from people. Keep in mind that these boycotts are not just boycotting Israeli products but even products and companies that support Israel. I would like to provide some examples of products that a genuine Israeli boycott would result in. To name a few, McDonalds, HP, Intel, Motorola, Sabra (Which I must attest from personal experience would be a huge loss), SodaStream, Pampers, Victoria’s Secret, Volvo, [2]. There are many others that I might include in the following rounds but I find them as side details. The point is that there are many major products that the BDS movement tells people to boycott. Again, I want people to ask themselves if they would support a boycott if they know it is going to be ineffective to the cause? If the answer is no, perhaps you need not read any further than the evidence I am about to provide. BDS themselves concede that these boycotts for the most part are not effective and that is not even their goal! To quote them: “Trying to boycott the products of every single company that participates in Israeli apartheid is a daunting task that has a slim change of having a concrete impact” [3]. Now, there are a few things that can be gleaned from this statement. First of all, a small point is that as they are trying to convince people to boycott Israeli goods they are showing their incompetence by their lack of dedication to proofread their statements. I think it is fair to assume that they meant “a slim chance of having a concrete impact”. Their statement, then, confirms exactly what I said previously. By calling it a daunting task they validate what I was saying about the difficulties they are bringing to people. So it is clear that they realize it is not an easy thing to ask someone to do. But they are asking people to do it with clear knowledge that it won’t be effective! The point that I would like to get across is that it is clear that the boycott’s agenda, or at least undeniably the results of it, are not for helping the Palestinian people. Now here’s where my opinion comes in so of course everyone including Pro is free to disagree with it but this is what I conclude from this evidence. The agenda of the BDS along with its intentions is nothing more than Anti-Semitic. Again I proved that many of these products are just private businesses owner which happen to be Israeli. They are often not involved with the government at all. I proved as well that they don’t bring results to the Palestinians and that it is not even their goal. This accomplishes really only one goal pretty perfectly. It pisses off and can harm Jewish business owners. It deprives them from extra money which of course feeds into the stereotype of Jews being stingy and being controlling with money. This can definitely be accomplished effectively. This just gives a barrier for BDS to hide behind and I find it criminal that they use the actual struggles of the Palestinians which I definitely recognize for their own personal agenda of Jew hatred. They don’t care about the Palestinians. They just hide behind statements about them so they don’t be recognized as being blatantly Anti-Semitic. If one argues that they are an organization that cares about human rights I would like to challenge that. Why not then make a movement that criticizes all those that actually violate them? Take, for example, the Palestinian government themselves! They persecute Christians who live there on a regular basis [5]. Why don’t they perhaps condemn the TARGETED killing of a 13 year old girl just because she lived in what BDS would call “occupied territories” of Kiryat Arba [6]? Are terms like this by BDS not something that these terrorists would celebrate? It just gives terrorists more reasons to do such actions. If they had a genuine interest in human rights these would definitely be the appropriate actions. Maybe one might suggest that they care about Palestinians in general and are just focusing on justice for them. This is also absurd. They make no references that I am aware of condemning the killing of Palestinians in Syria on a daily basis and on the very off-hand chance that they mentioned it, it is probably not on a fraction of a level that they condemn Israel. The fact is that there is literally no better place in the Middle East for Palestinians or Arabs then Israel. So, again, you are welcome to disagree that there are other motives for such an organization aside from age old Jew hatred but I just debunked every other rational for such an organization so at the very least, these challenges must be addressed. I have already given a lot to read this round so we will analyze only one more of their statements from their introduction. They claim that “BDS is a strategy that allows people of conscience to play an effective role in the Palestinian struggle for justice” [1]. Now, even for those of you disagree with me and think that BDS’s agenda along with their intentions is a just one, I’d like you to at least be open to the fact that their strategy of recruiting people is unjust. What I mean is that they are to a certain extent demonizing those who do not support them. I think I gave at least fair reasons to not support them. According to them however I do not have a conscience. They imply that if you don’t agree with them or actively participate in their movement, you don’t quite have a conscience or at least not the one they have. A more important note. They contradict their previous statement! They conceded themselves that the boycott is not effective but here they are in their introduction telling people how impactful they will be on the Palestinians if they participate in this movement. This is a very sinister tactic, again, even if they are just cause with proper intentions. Now my next argument is for those who care about the Palestinians and their well-being (Which I’m sure Pro does). In order for someone to support a boycott, it is not a question of whether it is successful, but rather if that success actually assists the cause. I am therefore going to give a brief explanation of how BDS hurts the Palestinian economy and does remotely nothing to the Israeli economy. Take for example SodaStream. It was located in the West Bank and once these boycotts take place and the company loses their business, the Israelis are fine because all they do is move that business to the south. The Palestinians in the region, however, end up losing their jobs which actually paid them significantly more than the local wages. This also takes away the chances the Israelis and the Palestinians have for peace. Israelis and Palestinians are literally working together! And BDS essentially is responsible for removing this. How can one support such a thing? [4]. I look forward to the following rounds where I can dig into the specifics of Pro's arguments and he can do the same for mine. Many of the arguments presented are nevertheless applicable. On to you Pro. Sources: 1. . https://bdsmovement.net...2. . http://www.csmonitor.com...3. . https://bdsmovement.net...4. . http://www.forbes.com...5. . https://www.opendoorsusa.org...6. . http://www.cnn.com...