I remember attending a conference some years ago before the BDS non-sense caught wind. The lecturer advocated the boycotting of West Bank goods on the basis that it was morally wrong to buy products from an occupied territory. I recall standing up in the Q&A session and drawing a parable to the speaker:
“It is like he is going shopping in the aisles and only buys dolphin friendly tuna. That’s all good for the dolphins, but what about the tuna!?”
It is all very well having conscious consumerism but if BDS supporters are really interested in human rights, why not boycott China for its occupation of Tibet or “cashmere” woollen pullovers that come from disputed territories in the Indian sub-continent. This is double standards to say the least!
What takes the cake though is an announcement this week that France’s foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, led a flotilla of 100 French companies rushing to do business with Iran like a prisoner waiting for his 5 minute window for conjugal rights. With the sanctions being lifted during this 6 month easing, European businesses are rushing to Iran to make sure that any future sanctions with the theocratic regime will be irreversible. This comes after US/EU foreign ministers were caught geffufling with Iran’s foreign minister in Switzerland in November last year and agreed to try “dating for 6 months to, you know, see where it goes”.
So let’s get this right. A company with an atrocious human rights record, actively pursues nuclear weapons (and reneging on its agreement with the US/EU not to do so), threatens to destroy other countries and is unashamedly a supporter of groups listed as terrorist organisations receives a golden hug from the P5+1 leaders. These same leaders are contemplating, or at least rattling their tails, to impose boycotts on Israel if it continues to expand naturally into Palestinian territories. To put it simply, a bubble-making factory in the middle of a highway to the dead sea is single-handily the biggest threat to world peace. This is what the BDS movement, and its cohorts like Oxfam, are leading the world to believe.
The settlements are controversial - granted. It is not called a “disputed land” for nothing. Of course the continuing developments of settlements impedes on the sustainability of a possible viable Palestinian state. Does this mean that there should be a world-wide witch-hunt for Scarlets who endorse a brand that happens to have one of its many factories in an industrial zone in Area C (Israeli controlled area of the West Bank)? Must the entire world’s focus turn to this endearing lady and a tiny production line for all the wrong reasons? While all this time, world leaders are turning the other cheek to soon-to-be conflicts that require serious sanctions. No doubt Kameini, al-Assar and friends are laughing all the way to the (thawing) bank.
The Arabs came with armies to defeat Israel and lost. Terrorist gangs came with suicide bombers and rockets but this was contained. Now the only avenue left is the morally hazardous deligitimisation campaign which does not bring engagement to the peace-table. Rather, it adds another reason to delay proper peace negotiations and difficult concessions on both sides.
It remains a great hope and fear that world leaders do not succumb to this third avenue of demonisation of a conflict which already has too many hands and vested interests in its stew. And if they do boycott Israel, as it inevitably seems so, let’s hope that these countries will have bigger fish to fry and also go after the real threats to the world’s safety by upping the BDS against Iran and Syria.
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