International Holocaust Remembrance Day is a reminder that we must be vigilant in recognizing antisemitism’s other forms
By: Bradley Peltin
Tags: Jewish, Bds Movement, Anti Semitism, Israel, Angela Davis

Recently, there has been some controversy in Alabama where the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute recognized Angela Davis with an award for human rights work and then rescinded it due to outcry from Jewish groups and others. Angela Davis is a well known professor and activist who advocates for gender equality, civil rights, and prison reform. Now, after some pushback, it looks like Angela Davis will be receiving the award after all.

I think it is unfortunate that those supporting Angela Davis shrugged off the Jewish community’s concerns about this award. This strong opposition exists because Ms. Davis is an ardent advocate for the boycott of the Jewish state as an outspoken leader of the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. BDS advocates for a total boycott of Israeli products, businesses, and cultural and academic exchanges, divestment of investments in Israel, and international sanctions against Israel. The majority of diaspora Jewry believes that the BDS movement is antisemitic. The US State Department, the Anti Defamation League, Hillel, Zioness and many other Jewish organizations consider this radical anti-Israel movement to fall under the definition of antisemitism.

Why is BDS antisemitic? It’s important to understand that antisemitism is not merely expressed as hatred for Jews. Antisemitism is unique in that it transforms “the Jew” into the symbol of society’s most loathsome attributes. This deeply embedded prejudice and hostility can come from all parts of society and appears in a multitude of forms. Nevertheless, these groups converge on the idea that the Jew is humanity’s greatest problem. For example, in Christianity from its beginnings through the inquisition, a common slur for Jews was “Christ Killer”; under Soviet Communism, the Jew symbolized the capitalist, and under Naziism the Jew or “International Jewry” was a conspirator against the Aryan race — lurking in the shadows, pulling the strings of enemy powers.

What are humanity’s most loathsome qualities today? Well, white supremacists and the alt-right believes it is immigration and multiculturalism. The chant “the Jews will not replace us” refers to the Jews as conspiring against the white race by orchestrating the multicultural society in which we live. These neo-Nazis view multiculturalism as a threat to their “white culture”. What about in progressive circles? The most loathsome qualities are genocide, apartheid, colonialism, and racism. And what do you know? The world’s greatest offender is…. the Jewish state. Jacob Talmon, an Israeli Historian, once said, “The Jewish state has become the Jew of States.” So, to many Jews, BDS’s criticism of Israel by labeling it a genocidal apartheid state, is just the natural continuity of two millennia of various societies symbolizing the Jew.

We also know that BDS has roots in the Arab boycotts of the Jewish businesses in the British mandate that began in the early 1920s, more than 25 years before the establishment of a Jewish state. In 1945 the boycott was adopted by the Arab League as a ban on all commercial and financial transactions with Jews. In 1948 when the State of Israel was established, five Arab armies as well as fighters from other Arab countries invaded Israel declaring they will not agree to a Jewish state on even 1% of the land. The invading armies were only concerned with one thing: the complete destruction of the State of Israel. After the Arab League’s defeat, they instituted an official boycott against not only business dealings with Jews in Israel but against the country as a whole. This new form of warfare was aimed at the isolation and elimination of the Jewish state from the international community. This boycott continued through the 1950s and 1960s, reaching its height during the Oil Crisis of the 1970s; but as the State of Israel became accepted into the international community, the boycott weakened.

Fast forward to 2005 — the Arab boycott of Israel (which, with the exception of Egypt and Jordan, continues to this day) was viewed as failing to accomplish its goal. And thus, the boycott rebranded itself as a human rights movement, BDS. While the contemporary economic boycotts have largely been unsuccessful, BDS has been successful in spreading antisemitism wherever it is most active. Unfortunately, BDS found its place in left leaning circles and created alliances with social justice and minority groups, in attempt to intertwine their causes. They were able to ingratiate themselves with a number of new allies, a significant ally being the Black Lives Matter movement.

Through these alliances, BDS has evaded the nuances and intricate history that defines the relationship between Israelis and Palestinians while at the same time, spreading a mixture of lies, distortions, and canards. Instead, they try to draw linkages between police brutality in Ferguson and the Palestinian experience. They try to connect Israel with the U.S.’s prison industrial complex. They’ve also partnered with some LGBT organizations to target Jewish and Israeli LGBT groups by asserting that Israel’s support for the LGBT community is “pinkwashing” the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is not lost on me how ludicrous is it that they attempt to target Israel’s LGBT community — how many other LGBT or minority groups do you know that are held responsible for their government’s actions? Absurdities aside, anyone who spends the time to just scratch the surface knows that BDS has made clear time and time again that their goal isn’t just to exert international pressure on Israel. The founder of the modern BDS movement, Omar Barghouti, has been on record saying he’s working towards Israel’s “euthanasia”, eliminating the Jewish state “from the river to the sea”.

So, look, I do not believe that criticism of Israel’s government is antisemitism. Israel is a young country and a lot needs fixing. I have on frequent occasions criticized Prime Minister Netanyahu and his governing coalition in the Knesset. In fact, criticism of any country’s policy is totally fair game; people question America’s policies all the time. But here’s the difference between that and BDS. No one questions America’s right to exist and to defend itself.

There is a test called the “3 D’s test” that can help distinguish legitimate criticism of Israel from antisemitism. The three D’s stand for Demonization, Delegitimization, and Double Standards. When a criticism moves into these categories, it’s likely moved from legitimate criticism to antisemitism. The BDS movement has firmly moved towards the latter. Criticism of Israel’s existence and denying Israel’s right to exist, denying the Jewish people’s right to self-determination by calling Zionism racism, holding Israel to a higher standard than other countries, attempted erasure of Jewish history in Eretz Yisrael, openly calling for the elimination of the Jewish state — that, is antisemitism. People who support BDS claim they are not antisemitic, but what else should I call an ideology that seeks to wipe out the world’s only Jewish state — while, by the way, preaching about the rights of self-determination for all other minority groups.

Lastly, I do want to tackle more fully the premise that BDS is concerned about human rights issues. If there is genuine concern about human rights abuses (and there should be), why is there no BDS movement against Saudi Arabia for causing a famine in Yemen? or China for its Oppression of the Tibetans? or Iran for its treatment of gays and women? or Turkey for its imprisonment of journalists? or Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea? or Myanmar for its ethnic cleansing against the Muslim Rohingya? or Morocco for its occupation of Western Sahara? The fact that the BDS movement focuses solely on Israel while ignoring all of the worlds worst human rights violations shows that there is a double standard when it comes to Israel. If this is not antisemitism, what is driving the obsession with Israel?

BDS supporters argue that BDS has an interest in Palestinian human rights and there are other groups can focus on other oppressed peoples. Fine. If there is truly concern about Palestinian human rights, why is there no BDS against Egypt, which also maintains a complete blockade of Gaza? Egypt, a country that threatens to shoot anyone who crosses over from Gaza. If we really cared about Palestinian plight why is there no BDS against Lebanon or Qatar or Jordan where Palestinians are treated as second class people? They have been denied citizenship, restricted from owning land, forced to live in refugee camps, been denied the right to work, and barred from receiving a formal education.

If BDS supporters truly cared about Palestinians, they would know that BDS hurts Palestinians because of how the economies of Israel the Palestinian territories are interwoven. The damage BDS inflicts on Palestinian employment was made clear in 2015, when nearly 600 Palestinians lost their jobs at the Israeli-owned Soda Stream manufacturing plant after it relocated to avoid further pressure from BDS. All of this shows that BDS is not about Palestinians, it’s about attacking the Jewish state. One needs to look no further than the UNHRC which has consistently passed more resolutions against the State of Israel than the rest of the world combined. While Israel is being falsely and maliciously accused of genocide and apartheid, the rest of the world sits back and gives a free pass to the countries actually carrying out these atrocities. There is this horrible obsession with Israel, as if it’s the root of all evil. This obsession is antisemitic at its core.

So for many of us, Angela Davis’ leadership in the BDS movement and the language she uses when speaking about the State of Israel places her in very uncomfortable company. I firmly believe that a black institution can and should honor whoever they want to honor. Though the irony is not lost on me that the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, an organization dedicated to fighting prejudice, is honoring a woman whose actions and rhetoric reflect prejudice. But just know, to us in the Jewish community, giving Ms. Davis a human rights award is a validation of everything that BDS stands for, including antisemitism. When it comes to antisemitism, we have learned from our not so distant history that we must speak out against it wherever, whenever, and however it may appear. I will continue to do so.