Israel/Palestine
Related: About this forumLauder: Anti-BDS measure adopted by US Congress is major defeat for Israel boycott movement
“The Senate today took a strong stand against the growing vilification of Israel. American values such as freedom and openness have triumphed over the blatant hypocrisy and bias of the anti-Israel campaigners. This vote marks a major defeat for BDS,” said WJC President Ronald S. Lauder.
Lauder added: “The amendment by Congressman Peter Roskam targeting BDS in the Fast Track legislation approved today throws a wrench in the works of the campaign to boycott Israel. It upholds the principle that those who seek to harm the Jewish state cannot subvert free global commerce for their own perverse political agenda.
“America’s elected representatives today made it again clear that they stand with Israel and against BDS. This was a good day not just for Israel, but for the United States too.”
The BDS amendment discourages actions by potential U.S. trading partners such as the European Union that prejudice or discourage trade between the U.S. and Israel, in particular “politically motivated actions to boycott, divest from, or sanction Israel and to seek the elimination of politically motivated nontariff barriers on Israeli goods, services, or other commerce imposed on the State of Israel.” It also seeks “the elimination of state-sponsored unsanctioned foreign boycotts against Israel or compliance with the Arab League Boycott of Israel by prospective trading partners.”
The legislation was already passed by the House of Representatives and can now be signed into law by President Barack Obama.
http://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/news/lauder-anti-bds-measure-adopted-by-us-congress-is-major-defeat-for-israel-boycott-movement-6-3-2015
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
shira
(30,109 posts)WASHINGTON — After weeks of legislative drama, a trade bill containing provisions opposing the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel cleared its final legislative hurdle Wednesday afternoon. The anti-BDS language, passed as part of the controversial Trade Promotion Authority legislation, is expected to be signed into law by President Barack Obama, who had pushed Congress to pass the trade bill as soon as possible.
Two amendments opposing BDS in Europe – one sponsored by Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin and Republican Sen. Rob Portman and the other by Republican Representative Peter Roskam and Democratic Representative Juan Vargas – were included in a trade authorization package that was considered must-pass legislation for the administration.
The president needed Congress’s vote to authorize him to negotiate trade deals with so-called “fast-track authority,” but ten days ago House Democrats turned on the president and defeated a key portion of the trade deal package.
After quick legislative maneuvering last week, House Republicans passed the authorization part of the bill – the part that the president needed most urgently and that Republicans tend to support – and then passed the revised House version back to the Senate for approval. On Wednesday afternoon, the Senate gave the controversial legislation its final approval, sending trade authorization to the president’s desk to be signed into law.
The anti-BDS provisions in the trade authorization were directed toward free trade talks between the US and the European Union. The provisions require US negotiators to make rejection of BDS a principal trade objective in Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations with the European Union. These guidelines, sponsors hope, will discourage European governments from participating in BDS activities by leveraging the incentive of free trade with the US.
“Today, for the first time in nearly four decades, Congress sent legislation to the President’s desk to combat efforts to isolate and delegitimize the State of Israel,” wrote Roskam in a statement released shortly after the Senate vote. “The recent wave of boycotts originating in Europe, including French telecom company Orange’s decision last week to sever ties with Israel, demands a robust response from the United States. This is that response. The bipartisan TPA provisions I authored are simple: if you want free trade with the United States, you can’t boycott Israel.”
“After today, discouraging economic warfare against Israel will be central to our free trade negotiations with the European Union,” he continued. “Congress will not be complicit in the marginalization of our ally Israel by watching these attacks from the sidelines. Instead, we have decided to fight back against the BDS movement and ensure the continued strength of the US-Israel relationship.”
[font color = "red"]...Both Americans for Peace Now and J Street opposed the legislation, complaining that the amendments play into the hands of BDS activists’ claims by conflating boycott of Israel and boycott of products of settlements.[/font]
http://www.timesofisrael.com/landmark-anti-bds-law-passes-final-senate-legislative-hurdle/
azurnoir
(45,850 posts)your way of approving that part of the bill?
shira
(30,109 posts)azurnoir
(45,850 posts)does it mean mean that part is significant in some way, or did you just get bored with with the standard type color?
shira
(30,109 posts)azurnoir
(45,850 posts)shira
(30,109 posts)So to answer you...
No.
azurnoir
(45,850 posts)THANK YOU
shira
26. I oppose the bigoted BDS movement & anything that would help their odious cause.
View profile
So to answer you...
No.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1134107329#post26
shira
(30,109 posts)azurnoir
(45,850 posts)nor does Peace Now both support BDS against only the settlements
shira
(30,109 posts)....is a win for BDS. I oppose giving BDS any help at all.
Period.
Boycotting settlements benefits the BDS cause, which is to support Israel's worst enemies in isolating Israel & making it a pariah state so that the world will support punishing & eventually ending the Jewish state altogether.
This same demonization & defamation campaign has happened repeatedly throughout history to the Jewish people, in order to promote pogroms, massacres, and genocide against Jews.
Nothing different today.
I won't support it.
azurnoir
(45,850 posts)shira
(30,109 posts)And I won't apologize for that either.
azurnoir
(45,850 posts)shira
(30,109 posts)Thank the American Studies Association for anti-boycott trade legislation passed today.
The anti-Israel activists employed as professors who led the fight at the American Studies Association to pass the academic boycott of Israel in December 2013, have been patting themselves on the back ever since. Forget that over 250 university presidents and the major academic organizations condemned the move as a gross violation of academic freedom. Even the NY Times called the ASA a “pariah.” The ASA humiliatingly had to back down from its plan to bar representatives of Israeli academic institutions from its annual meeting, eventually promising that even Bibi Netanyahu could attend.
The profs seething with hatred of Israel, and anti-Zionist websites which promoted their academic boycott agenda, saw it differently. In their own minds, they were on the cusp of a historic anti-Israel paradigm change. The future belonged to the boycotters, in their minds. The reality has not worked out that way. Other than some very small faculty organizations, no major academic group has adopted the boycott. No university in the U.S. is even considering a boycott.
...Second, and more important, the anti-Israel profs at the American Studies Association awakened a sleeping giant, in the form of American public opinion which is overwhelmingly pro-Israel. It’s not even close. The dreaded “Israel Lobby” that is the subject of demagoguery is, in fact, the American people.
Despite tensions between Obama and Bibi Netanyahu, it remains true that Americans and Israelis are on the same page, at many levels. Just as the U.S. political branches reacted to the Arab League boycott of Israel in the 1970s with legislation, so too the ASA boycott ignited a movement to address BDS, the new form of boycott.
The academic boycott, while nasty and potentially destructive to our own system, never was going to do nearly as much damage to Israel as the potential of European Union BDS sanctions on Israel, whether governmental or private. EU economic sanctions could have hurt a lot more than some Assistant Professor of Me, Me, Me Studies in the Humanities Department refusing to attend a conference in Israel.
And that is where trade legislation passed by the Senate today comes in. As previously described, supporters of BDS who understand the movement and are not completely wrapped up in their campus bubbles, understood that language requiring anti-BDS provisions as part of any trade deal would be the death of economic BDS in Europe.
Since there is no meaningful economic BDS in the U.S. or elsewhere in the world other than Europe, that meant the single biggest blow to BDS yet.....
....The process began with a December 2013 op-ed in Politico Magazine written by Michael Oren, then Israel’s ambassador to the United States, which challenged Congress to respond to the American Studies Association’s decision to boycott Israel – by no means the first protest of its kind, but an early sign of what was to come from similar organizations based in Europe....
...That’s right folks, the ASA boycott may not have hurt Israel much, but it led directly to the trade legislation which has dealt a damaging blow to the BDS movement.
[font color = "red"]I don’t expect the profs to give up the fight. Expect a new round of campus divestment and faculty association academic boycott calls starting this fall. It’s what they do. It’s their lives. They have to justify themselves.
And attacks on Jewish and pro-Israel students on campus, and the climate of intimidation, will likely intensify as the BDSers realize that the country as a whole has turned on them. Expect more dorm stormings, disruptions of speeches and classes, and other acts of intimidation.
And we will continue to fight against these campus bullies, and to defend the academic freedom of students and faculty who want to interact with Israelis.
UCLA pro-Israel students just took back control of student government from the group that passed divestment, and Bowdoin College students overwhelmingly rejected the academic boycott. When fully informed, there is little appetite among most students for what BDS is selling.[/font]
Meanwhile, the people’s representatives will continue to work on behalf of the overwhelming majority of Americans who side with Israel. Already, Illinois and South Carolina have passed anti-BDS legislation. Other states are promising the same....
The faculty BDSers at the American Studies Association were quite proud to think of themselves as the hunters of Israelis.
But they shot themselves in the foot.
http://legalinsurrection.com/2015/06/anti-israel-profs-helped-deal-bds-its-biggest-blow-yet/
R. Daneel Olivaw
(12,606 posts)
azurnoir
(45,850 posts)under this act makes a mockery of the term free trade
shira
(30,109 posts)R. Daneel Olivaw
(12,606 posts)You can't legislate that away.
shira
(30,109 posts)R. Daneel Olivaw
(12,606 posts)https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/19430-israel-approves-demolition-of-1000-homes-per-year-in-the-negev
Israel's Ministry of the Interior and Israel Land Administration Agency, in cooperation with Regavim NGO and the Jewish National Fund (JNF), are demolishing 1,000 homes in the Negev every year under the pretext that they were built without a permit. This has been revealed by Amichai Yogev, the southern region director of Regavim, which was founded in 2006 in order to confiscate land and build settlements in the West Bank and the Negev Desert.
In an interview today with Jewish Voice, Yogev said that there are 220,000 Arabs in the Negev today and that they are living on 13,000 km2 of land. According to estimates, there are about 70,000 unlicensed homes in the "recognised" and "unrecognised" towns and villages. This means that these homes are at risk of being demolished at any moment, according to Regavim's way of thinking.
Yogev also claimed that the Israeli NGO is frustrated by the current situation, as the Palestinian residents of the Negev build 2,000-3,000 homes a year in the unrecognised villages and gatherings. He added that despite their aggressive nature, the demolitions have less of an impact on the reality of the demographic spread that the Israeli establishment is seeking to reduce by means of these campaigns.
Asked what a village needs in order to be classified as "unrecognised", Yogev said that all the villages located in the Beersheba-Arad-Yeruham triangle are "illegal" and therefore they may be destroyed and their residents expelled.
shira
(30,109 posts)Meanwhile, the source you quoted from is a bigoted, pro-Hamas propaganda rag.
What's next? Maybe quoting from Rense? Veterans Today?
R. Daneel Olivaw
(12,606 posts)Nope. Just the Jerusalem post.
http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Activists-protest-plan-to-expel-Beduin-from-Negev-314566
Activists protest plan to ‘expel’ Beduin from Negev
And Ynet News...
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4287018,00.html
'Turning Bedouin village into Jewish settlement is racist'
And The Gaurdian...
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/01/israel-negev-bedouins-day-of-rage
Israel's plan to forcibly resettle Negev Bedouins prompts global protests
I would post more, but I will await your walking disaster of a reply.
azurnoir
(45,850 posts)
grossproffit
(5,591 posts)
R. Daneel Olivaw
(12,606 posts)If Zionism stands for apartheid then I am against it.
shira
(30,109 posts)They think they’re being very clever, they call it their three tier – we want the end of the occupation, we want the right of return and we want equal rights for Arabs in Israel. And they think they’re very clever because they know the result of implementing all three is what? What’s the result? You know and I know, what’s the result? There’s no Israel… there’s no Israel, full stop… If you want to eliminate Israel that’s your right but I don’t think you’re going to reach anybody. I think it’s a non-starter.
We have to free ourselves of illusions… how many people are you really reaching? Are you reaching a … mainstream public? I don’t think so… The solidarity movement has the right tactics. I support the BDS. But I said it will never reach a broad public until and unless they’re explicit on their goal. And their goal has to include recognition of Israel, or it’s a non-starter. It won’t reach the public, because the moment you go out there, Israel will start to say “What about us? And they won’t recognize our right.” And in fact that’s correct. You can’t answer the Israelis on that, because they’re making a statement that’s factually correct. It’s not an accident, an unwitting omission, that BDS does not mention Israel. You know that and I know that. It’s not like they’re “Oh, we forgot to mention it.” They won’t mention it because they know it will split the movement, because there’s a large segment of the movement … which wants to eliminate Israel.
You know and I know exactly what we’re talking about because if we end the occupation, and we bring back 6 million Palestinians and we have equal rights for Arabs and Jews, there’s no Israel. That’s what it’s really about. And you think you’re fooling anybody? You think you’re so clever? That people can’t figure that out for themselves? No, they understand the arithmetic perfectly well. Are you going to reach a broad public which is going to hear the Israeli side “they want to destroy us?” No, you’re not. And frankly you know what? You shouldn’t. You shouldn’t reach a broad public. because you’re dishonest … it’s dishonesty, and I don’t want that kind of leadership. At least be honest with what you want: “We want to abolish Israel, and this is our strategy for doing it.” Ok, be straight forward about it. But this kind of duplicity and disingenuousness “Oh we’re agnostic about Israel.” No, you’re not agnostic, you don’t want it. Then just say it! But they know full well that if you say it, you don’t have a prayer of reaching a broad public. That’s where the public is now. You’re not going to reach them, and it’s a waste of time.
R. Daneel Olivaw
(12,606 posts)
shira
(30,109 posts)R. Daneel Olivaw
(12,606 posts)leaves the West Bank.
shira
(30,109 posts)What's the result of your demands?
Apartheid.
Every last Jew must leave the W.Bank, same as Gaza. Leaving those areas completely Jew-free. There can be no other way in your opinion. They can't even stay there (some being there for 2-3 generations) and become citizens of a future Palestine. No, the area must be ethnically cleansed of all Jews.
Apartheid.
R. Daneel Olivaw
(12,606 posts)I can see how you would want to ignore that.
shira
(30,109 posts)...that's advocating in favor of Apartheid.
R. Daneel Olivaw
(12,606 posts)
You'll get over it.
shira
(30,109 posts)....and everything Hamas stands for WRT Israel.
R. Daneel Olivaw
(12,606 posts)Response to grossproffit (Reply #4)
King_David This message was self-deleted by its author.
Little Tich
(6,171 posts)Currently I buy Israeli products, but I actively avoid buying stuff from the settlements. If the settlements are lumped together with Israel, wouldn't that mean I've got to stop buying Blue and White?
shira
(30,109 posts)Will that make you feel better?
Little Tich
(6,171 posts)Last edited Thu Jun 25, 2015, 09:54 AM - Edit history (1)
and it's a little bit unexpected. Hopefully there are people who are smarter than the senators who brought this on who can avert this craziness. Their problem is that EU is an equal, and measures to protect Israel from BDS won't be allowed in the TIPP.
At least that's what I hope, because I don't want to see the TIPP fail due to senatorial incompetence.
shira
(30,109 posts)Little Tich
(6,171 posts)Israel is a democracy, and there's no apartheid there. In the West Bank, the presence of the settlements has created a system of apartheid. Therefore, I boycott the settlements.
No apartheid - no boycott...
