Seize the moment! Boycott Israel

They want war? Then launch a full-blown BDS assault on Israel and its supporters

By Stuart Littlewood

There was never a better moment for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions(BDS) movement to mass-mobilize for a mega-campaign not only to impact more heavily on the lawless Israeli state but also unmask those in business and public life who shamelessly support the criminal programme that was embedded in its DNA while on the Zionists’ drawing board.

Zero tolerance

This could include politicians, businesspeople, entertainers, sports stars, churchmen and the many organizations and fan clubs that nourish the thuggish vanity and horrendous cruelty of the Zionist regime. Zero tolerance is needed. Those who fund or support the inhuman behaviour we have witnessed, not just this week but ever since 1947 (and some would say, long before then), are not fit to be admitted into decent society let alone allowed to run our country and major institutions.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the Anti-Defamation League, the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the Holocaust Trust, the Jewish Leadership Council are among those who are quick to jump down anyone’s throat with accusations and slurs of anti-Semitism while they themselves endorse (or refuse to condemn) the blatant racism practised by the state that claims to be home to the Jewish people. They need to reflect.

And what about those party goons who wanted to “re-educate” MP David Ward – remember?

Pseudo-Christians who have allowed dangerous Zionist ambition to poison the faith and divert them from their Christian duty deserve no sympathy either.

Media organizations should also be targeted. Many of them simply don’t “do journalism” anymore and are happy to print the Israeli narrative without question.

Blatant lies their peddlers

Even after huge demonstrations protesting against the BBC’s biased reporting, its flagship news “Today” programme, broadcast on Radio 4, on 18 July gave the Israeli ambassador, Daniel Taub, a free platform, courtesy of British licence payers, for another torrent of disinformation that went unchallenged.

Presenter: “Let’s just get some history. Israel unilaterally disengaged from Gaza in 2005 pulling out its settlements there. In 2006 there was a ground offensive…” and he went to to list some of Israel’s major assaults.

Taub: You cannot have a situation where you have 5 million Israelis who are within reach of the longest range missiles smuggled in from Iran… meaning that more than  half of our population has to live within seconds of bomb shelters.

What we’re trying to do in this case is create an extended period of time where people can live quiet and normal lives.

The presenter could have pointed out that millions of Palestinians have lived for decades under constant fear of Israel’s jets, armed drones, helicopter gunships, tanks, naval gunboats, snipers and snatch squads. In the West Bank they have to put up with aggressive Israeli troops manning hundreds of checkpoints and battering down their doors in the dead of night and abducting their children. The Separation Wall cuts them off from their farms, their jobs, their friends and family. They have no bomb shelters and, in overcrowded Gaza, nowhere to run. The BBC presenter could also have asked Taub how a period of calm is going to solve the real problems – i.e. the illegal occupation, the dispossession and expulsions, and the vicious eight-year blockade.

However, he did ask if Israel had a long term plan, to which Taub answered:

In 2005 we pulled out completely. We uprooted 8,000 Israelis precisely because Israelis want to have a viable, prosperous, stable  Palestinian society living next door. Instead of a prosperous Palestinian society taking root Hamas took over in a very brutal coup and started firing missiles against Israel. In that situation the options available to us are limited…

He admitted no blame attaching to Israel when specifically asked.

When you have a terrorist organization like Hamas which doesn’t use arms to protect its civilians but uses civilians to protect its arms, there is no way of defending yourself that doesn’t have some impact on the civilian population. But not defending yourself is not an option.

Dereliction of duty

The lies? In 2005 Israel did not pull out of Gaza “completely”. It continued to occupy Gaza’s airspace and coastal waters and had all entrances and exits sealed, except for the Egyptian border where Israel nevertheless exerted strong influence. Palestinian fishermen cannot even fish their own waters. Palestinians cannot develop and enjoy the benefits of their offshore gas-field. Nothing comes in or out without Israel’s say-so, unless it’s through secret tunnels. That’s still the situation.

The West Bank also remains under military occupation and blockade. Israel has annexed the holy city of Jerusalem. Movement within the occupied and increasingly fragmented territories is severely restricted. The economy is strangled. Little water flows through the taps because Israel steals it. No people on earth are going to tolerate such human rights abuses without hitting back as best they can.

Taub’s false talk of hopes for a prosperous Palestinian society would have been shot down in flames by any competent interviewer. Furthermore, Hamas did not “take over” Gaza in a coup. Hamas’s unexpected victory in the 2006 elections didn’t suit Israel and its sponsors, and sanctions were immediately imposed. A coup by rivals Fatah, supported by the US and Israel, backfired and Hamas chased them out.

The presenter could quite simply have put it to Taub that all the Palestinians want, including Hamas, is an end to the Israeli occupation and their property and livelihoods back, and pressed him on that.

Did the BBC wheel in the Palestinian ambassador on the day his country was being invaded yet again? No.

Those on the “Today” team no doubt see themselves as journalists but do not trouble, even after thousands of complaints, to brief themselves correctly. Either that, or they are under instructions to let Taub and other Zionist mouthpieces shoot any line they like.

I notice that Tel Aviv’s propaganda wordsmiths have been unusually creative. The phrase “doesn’t use arms to protect its civilians but uses civilians to protect its arms”, when referring to Hamas, has become the new Israeli mantra.