The Right Way to Oppose BDS

As I have written before (here and here), I believe that the academic boycotts of Israel are misguided violations of academic freedom. The BDS movement itself has adopted a policy of anti-normalization that would prohibit joint forums and symposiums aimed at “co-existence,” in favor of a policy of “co-resistance,” that itself is an impediment to peace.

Nonetheless, I also believe it is wrong to engage the power of the courts enjoin even the most wrongheaded BDS resolutions. The recent lawsuit against the American Studies Association, alleging that its boycott resolution was ultra vires, is a prime example of the wrong way to oppose BDS.

The right way to oppose BDS is through reasoned argument, in the hope that it will ultimately prevail in American academics. I am proud to say that two recent articles by Northwestern University freshman make the anti-BDS case with power and clarity.

Edmund Bannister’s column in the Daily Northwestern persuasively argues that BDS is “counterproductive, simplistic, biased.” Read it here.

Adam Chanes’s essay in The Spectrum explains the BDS movement’s misunderstanding of both Judaism and Zionism. Read it here.

Both pieces are impressive, especially considering that the authors are college freshmen.

Comments

[Bronxite]

The BDS movement is based on hatred of Israelis. BDS could care less about Assad the butcher or human rights violations in China torture political actvists and falun gong memvers or Qatar imported slave laborers for building with no rights and you can beat up a maid nothing will happen, etc. Try driving a car or voting in Saudi if you are a woman. Gaza...they throw gays off roofs. Yet Israel is singled out as a bad actor. And in Israel there are Muslim judges and members of parliament. Incredible arbitrary singling out of the jews.

[A Guest]

Forgive my language but F BDS. Intel has huge plants in Israel (I am a shareholder I read in one of their reports they are the biggest in the world if I recall correctly) and Intel Israel produces the chips we all use. Also, all the major high tech giants like Google and Apple have large R&D facilities there. We in the USA have benefited greatly from Israel as they use their own troops and do not need or want our military bases or troops like we have all over Europe, Korean border, Japan, Persian Gulf, etc. And their military tech is awesome, Iron Dome, we benefit. Waze and many other apps - all from Israel. I admire nations that dont need our bases and a nation that provides many high tech devices and components. Our interest is to see Israel continue to yield us benefits. Id say the BDS folks are working against our national interests.

[Word]

"If we can’t sanction every country on Earth that violates human rights, surely we must choose the worst ones first. I find it difficult to believe that Israel is more repressive than Syria’s Bashar Al-Assad, Egypt’s Al-Sisi, or the Saudi monarchy. And those are just its neighbors. As a result I find it impossible to believe that NU Divest is making rational choices when it attempts to sanction Israel."

[anon]

And see, the UN.

REmember, folks, this has nothing to do with Jew Hate.

[Captain Hruska Carswell, Continuance King]

As an attorney trained by Professors on this blog, I see both sides. Many of Israel's neighbors, North Korea, China, Russia, etc are far worse than Israel. Unlike Israel, those countries do not hold themselves out as a compassionate, enlightened democracy in any fashion. Israel does. Like it or not Israel is held to a higher standard. So is the US.

[Captain Hruska Carswell, Continuance King]

I wonder why nobody is boycotting us? We kill people in the name of law and order. A recent Tribune study found that Amazon Prime does not serve many communities of Color. For instance, they serve Oak Lawn, Illinois but not a closer AA zip code to their warehouse. I also read that AA home contractors are having a difficult time serving White, upscale communities. Homeowners refuse to let them on their property....