{"id":139356,"date":"2019-08-05T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-08-05T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=139356"},"modified":"2024-09-23T14:41:42","modified_gmt":"2024-09-23T13:41:42","slug":"why-americans-should-support-bds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2019\/08\/why-americans-should-support-bds\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Americans Should Support BDS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Inspired by the civil rights and anti-apartheid movements, it calls for Palestinian liberation on terms of full equality with Israelis and categorically opposes all forms of racism, including antisemitism.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>

A sign promoting the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel at a rally. (Takver \/ CC BY-SA 2.0)<\/p><\/div>\n

29 Jul 2019 – <\/em>Last Tuesday [23 Jul], the House of Representatives passed a resolution, H.Res, 246<\/a>, targeting the grassroots, global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS<\/a>) movement for Palestinian rights that I helped found in 2005. Sadly, H.Res. 246, which fundamentally mischaracterizes our goals and misrepresents my own personal views, is only the latest attempt by Israel\u2019s supporters in Congress to demonize and suppress our peaceful struggle.<\/p>\n

H.Res. 246 is a sweeping condemnation of Americans who advocate for Palestinian rights using BDS tactics. It reinforces<\/a> other unconstitutional<\/a> anti-boycott measures, including those passed by some 27 state legislatures, that are reminiscent of \u201cMcCarthy era tactics,\u201d according<\/a> to the American Civil Liberties Union. It also exacerbates the oppressive atmosphere that Palestinians and their supporters already face, further chilling speech critical of Israel at a time when President Donald Trump is publicly smearing members of Congress who speak out in support of Palestinian freedom.<\/p>\n

In response to H.Res. 246 and similarly repressive legislative measures, House member Ilhan Omar, joined by Rashida Tlaib, civil rights icon John Lewis, and 12 other co-sponsors, introduced<\/a> H.Res. 496, which defends \u201cthe right to participate in boycotts in pursuit of civil and human rights at home and abroad, as protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inspired by the US civil rights and South African anti-apartheid movements, BDS calls<\/a> for ending Israel\u2019s 1967 military occupation, full equality for Palestinian citizens of Israel, and the UN-stipulated right of Palestinian refugees to return to the homeland they were uprooted from.<\/p>\n

BDS categorically opposes all forms of racism<\/a>, including anti-Semitism. Contrary to the false claim in H.Res. 246, BDS does not target individuals, but rather institutions and corporations that are implicated in Israel\u2019s systematic violations of Palestinian human rights.<\/p>\n

H.Res. 246 also includes a specific smear against me that has been pushed by Israel lobby groups like AIPAC by quoting a single, out-of-context sentence from a talk I gave in 2013. The same false assertion is repeated in a similar Senate Resolution, S. Res. 120<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In that talk, I advocated for a single democratic state that recognizes and accepts Jewish Israelis as equal citizens and full partners in building and developing a new shared society, free from all colonial subjugation and racial discrimination and separating church and state. Everyone, including repatriated Palestinian refugees, would be entitled to equal rights regardless of ethnic, religious, gender, sexual, or other identity. Any exclusionary, supremacist \u201cMuslim state,\u201d \u201cChristian state,\u201d or \u201cJewish state,\u201d I argued<\/a>, would by definition deny equal rights to citizens of different identities and foreclose the possibility of a true democracy, which are conditions for a just and sustainable peace. The House and Senate resolutions, as well as an AIPAC propaganda clip, remove all that context, intentionally distorting my views.<\/p>\n

Regardless, this is my personal <\/em>opinion, not the BDS movement\u2019s position. As a broad and inclusive human rights movement, BDS does not take a position on the ultimate political solution for Palestinians and Israelis. It includes supporters of both two states and a single democratic state with equal rights for all.<\/p>\n

As a human rights defender, I am not only subjected to routine vilification by Israel and its anti-Palestinian supporters. I have also been placed under a de facto and \u201carbitrary travel ban<\/a> by Israel,\u201d in the words of Amnesty International, including in 2018, when I was prevented from going to Jordan to accompany my late mother during cancer surgery. In 2016, Israel\u2019s intelligence minister threatened me with \u201ctargeted civil elimination<\/a>,\u201d drawing condemnation<\/a> from Amnesty. And for the first time ever, last April I was banned<\/a> from entering the United States, missing<\/a> my daughter\u2019s wedding and a meeting in Congress. Israel is not merely intensifying its decades-old system of military occupation, apartheid<\/a>, and ethnic cleansing against Palestinians<\/a>; it is increasingly outsourcing its repressive tactics to the US administration.<\/p>\n

Trump is unabashedly supporting and shielding from accountability Israel\u2019s far-right government as it shatters the lives and livelihoods of millions of Palestinians living under occupation and siege in Gaza; facing dispossession and forcible displacement in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem; and denied equal rights<\/a> in present-day Israel. Just two weeks ago, he escalated his incitement against supporters of Palestinian rights, attacking four new progressive members of Congress, all women of color, telling them to \u201capologize\u201d to Israel and \u201cgo back\u201d to their countries of origin, even though three of them were born in the United States.<\/p>\n

Despite all this, Israel\u2019s desperate war on BDS, fought with fabrication, demonization, and intimidation, as exemplified by this newly approved House resolution, is failing<\/a>. Our hope remains alive as we witness an inspiring shift in public opinion in favor of Palestinian human rights, including in the United States<\/a>. The ugly reality of Israel\u2019s apartheid <\/a>regime and its alliances <\/a>with xenophobic and patently anti-Semitic<\/a> forces are becoming irreconcilable with liberal and democratic values anywhere.<\/p>\n

Led by communities of color, progressive Jewish groups, mainline churches, trade unions, academic associations, LGBTQI groups, indigenous justice movements, and university students, many Americans are abandoning the ethically untenable \u201cprogressive except on Palestine\u201d stance. Instead, they are adopting the morally consistent principle of being progressive including <\/em>on Palestine.<\/p>\n

Being progressive today entails being morally consistent, standing on the right side of history by supporting us as we strive for our long-denied freedom, justice, and equality.<\/p>\n

_________________________________________________<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em>Omar Barghouti,<\/em> born 1964, is a founding committee member of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel<\/a> (PACBI) and a co-founder of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions<\/a> movement (BDS). He holds a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Columbia University and a master’s degree in philosophy (ethics) from Tel Aviv University.<\/em> Barghouti<\/em> is co-recipient of the 2017 Gandhi Peace Award.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 thenation.com<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Join the BDS-BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT, SANCTIONS <\/em>campaign<\/em><\/strong><\/span> to protest the Israeli barbaric siege of Gaza, illegal occupation of the Palestine nation\u2019s territory, the apartheid wall, its inhuman and degrading treatment of the Palestinian people, and the more than 7,000 Palestinian men, women, elderly and children arbitrarily locked up in Israeli prisons.<\/p>\n

DON’T BUY<\/strong> PRODUCTS WHOSE<\/strong> BARCODE<\/strong> STARTS WITH<\/strong> 729<\/strong>, which indicates that it is produced in Israel.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 DO YOUR PART! MAKE A DIFFERENCE!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

7 2 9: BOYCOTT FOR JUSTICE!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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