BDS in the Crosshairs

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Part I -- Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Most readers will know that the United States has served as the patron of Israel for decades. Why has it done so? The commonly given reasons are suspect. It is not because the two countries have overlapping interests. The U.S. seeks stability in the Middle East (mostly by supporting dictators) and Israel is constantly making things unstable (mostly by practicing ethnic cleansing against Palestinians, illegally colonizing conquered lands and launching massive assaults against its neighbors). Nor, as is often claimed, is the alliance based on "shared Western values." The U.S. long ago outlawed racial, ethnic and religious discrimination in the public sphere. In Israel, religious-based discrimination is the law. The Zionist state's values in this regard are the opposite of those of the United States. So why is it that a project that seeks to pressure Israel to be more cognizant in foreign affairs of regional stability, and more democratic and egalitarian in domestic affairs, is now under fire by almost every presidential candidate standing for the 2016 election? That project in dispute is BDS, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, promoted by civil society throughout the Western world. BDS is directed at Israel due to its illegal colonization of the Occupied Territories and its general apartheid-style discrimination against non-Jews in general and Palestinians in particular. Part II -- The Candidates and BDS With but two exceptions, every presidential candidate in both parties is condemning the BDS Movement. Lets start with the two exceptions. The first exception is the Green Party candidate Jill Stein, who has taken the accurate position that "the United States has encouraged the worst tendencies of the Israeli government." She has pledged to use both diplomatic and economic means to change Israeli behavior, behavior which she rightly believes is in contravention of international law and violates human rights. The second exception is the Republican candidate Donald Trump, who recently told a meeting of Jewish Republicans that he didn't think Israel is serious about peace and that they would have to make greater efforts to achieve it. When he was booed he just shrugged and told the crowd that he did not care if they supported him or not, "I don't want your money." Unfortunately, this appears to be the only policy area where Mr. Trump is reasonable. Jill Stein gets absolutely no media coverage and Donald Trump gets too much. And neither is in the "mainstream" when it comes to American political reactions to BDS. However, the rest of the presidential candidates are. Here is what is coming out of the "mainstream": -- Jeb Bush (Republican), 4 December 2015: "On day one I will work with the next attorney general to stop the BDS movement in the United States, to use whatever resources that exist" to do so. -- Ted Cruz (Republican), 28 May 2015: "BDS is premised on a lie and it is anti-Semitism, plain and simple. And we need a president of the United States who will stand up and say if a university in this country boycotts the nation of Israel than that university will forfeit federal taxpayer dollars." -- Marco Rubio (Republican), 3 December 2015: "This [BDS] coalition of the radical left thinks it has discovered a clever, politically correct way to advocate Israel's destruction. As president, I will call on university presidents, administrators, religious leaders, and professors to speak out with clarity and force on this issue. I will make clear that calling for the destruction of Israel is the same as calling for the death of Jews." -- Hillary Clinton (Democrat), 2 July 2015: In a letter to Haim Saban, who is a staunch supporter of the Zionist state and also among the biggest donors to the Democratic Party, she said, "I know you agree that we need to make countering BDS a priority, I am seeking your advice on how we can work together -- across party lines and with a diverse array of voices -- to fight back against further attempts to isolate and delegitimize Israel." -- Bernie Sanders (Democrat), 20 October 2015: "Sanders' fraught encounter with BDS supporters who challenged his defense of Israel at a town hall meeting in Cabot [Vermont] last year was captured on YouTube." Sanders told them to "shut up." Part III -- The Legitimacy of Boycott This hostility to the tactic of boycott runs counter to both U.S. legal tradition and the country's broader historical tradition.