It\u2019s almost funny to read the BDS\u2019 leadership\u2019s outraged reactions to top ethnic-cleansing advocate Alan Dershowitz when he tried to stop a discussion with Judith Butler and Omar Barghouti discussing\u00a0 BDS at NYC Brooklyn College [7 Feb 2013].<\/p>\n
It\u2019s funny because the BDS leadership unfortunately is drowning in the exact same Talmudic herem<\/i> culture as is Dershowitz. Just like Dershowitz, BDS is itself engaged in a relentless assault on fundamental and elementary rights such as freedom of speech and freedom of expression. So often, we learn about BDS embarking on yet another assault on dedicated humanists and intellectuals – in many cases, leading supporters of Palestine \u2013 as we watch Palestinian solidarity transformed itself into just another zone of occupation.<\/p>\n
BDS could easily become a positive development if it could only tell the difference between an academic and an avocado. If BDS is really interested in the \u2018day after\u2019, it must immediately remove itself from Talmudic herem<\/i> culture and engage in open discourse driven by principles of ethics, tolerance and pluralism.<\/p>\n
I believe in freedom of speech and I also believe that the current herem <\/i>culture has transformed Palestinian solidarity into a an intellectual desert. No intellectual, ideological or ethical matter may be discussed without the looming threat of excommunication – a devastating state of affairs which has already reduced some of Palestine\u2019s potential young leaders into mere accessories of Jewish Power \u2013 in effect, Sabbath Goyim.<\/p>\n
This week\u2019s power struggle between Dershowitz and BDS should be a wake-up call. BDS should learn from its mistakes. First, it must become an advocate of freedom of speech. This alone would signify a shift from the tribal to the universal and from Zion to Athens where the Palestinian discourse truly belongs.<\/p>\n