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Comment and Opinion

Huffington Post: Boycotting Israeli Goods Is Intellectually Bankrupt, by Dermot Kehoe

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At the Imperial War Museum in south London, there’s an interesting exhibit about the movement to boycott Jewish shops and goods. It details the picketing of Jewish shops by groups of demonstrators, the isolation of Jewish students by their representative bodies, and the daubing of graffiti on Jewish-owned buildings and homes. It’s Germany 1933, of course. As the exhibition makes clear, what starts with boycotts, and signs saying Kauf nicht bei Juden!, ends up with gas chambers and ovens.

There are worrying echoes today on the streets of Britain’s cities.
In Manchester, anti-Israeli boycotters targeted Tesco, then Barclays Bank, then beauticians Kedem which sells Israeli beauty products. When a Manchester Labour councillor Pat Karney tried to reason with the protestors, and ask them to stop intimidating shop workers, he was shouted down.

In High Holborn, London a local Sainsbury’s manager took the decision to remove kosher food from the shelves following protests. At a Tesco in Hodge Hill, Birmingham, a man was arrested for assault after attempting to remove kosher food.

Shabana Mahmood, the Labour MP for Birmingham Ladywood, took part in a direct action which led to a branch of Sainsbury’s being closed for 30 minutes. In Brighton, a Green councillor, who called British soldiers ‘hired killers’, has proposed a boycott motion to Brighton and Hove council.

The Boycott Disvestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, which calls for the isolation and delegitimatization of Israel, can call on prominent supporters including celebrities. British trade unions have passed pro-boycott motions, including Unite. Even a UK minister, Vince Cable, has threatened to end some sales of military equipment to Israel.

There is an intellectual bankruptcy at the heart of the campaign to boycott Israeli goods and services. Israel is not South Africa. The ‘apartheid’ tag doesn’t apply to a modern, democratic state, where women, gays and Arabs have equal rights to vote, stand for election and become judges.

Read the article in full at Huffington Post.