Countering a sleazy lie by those who oppose BDS

I've gotten used to the hysterical charges made by the Israeli government and its rabid supporters in the US, so much so that I tend not pay attention to the details of their rants. But it recently hit me how particularly vile and crazy is the analogy they make between the call from Palestine civil society for a boycott of Israel and the Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses in Germany in 1938.

BDS (boycott, divest and sanctions) is a non-violent call from Palestine civil society for supporters of human rights to boycott Israeli products that come from illegally occupied Palestinian land (this occupation began in 1948, not just 1967) and to boycott Israeli cultural attempts to whitewash and sugarcoat their oppression of Palestinians.

So, as they portray it, the poor persecuted state of Israel is being terrorized by the powerful, evil Palestinians and their evil allies around the world...innocent Israel victimized by an inexplicable outburst of anti-semitism.

BDS is getting a lot of support because the evidence is overwhelming and undeniable that Israel is stealing land in the West Bank at an accelerating rate; because Palestinians in the West Bank live under martial law; because Palestinians inside the borders of the Israeli state have second, or third class citizenship (there are 50 laws in Israel restricting Palestinian's rights); because killings of Palestinians are continuing and are committed with impunity...we could go on.

BDS is a movement of the powerless to defend themselves agains a system that monopolizes all the power. Just like the boycotts I participated in during the civil rights movement of the early sixties, BDS seeks to put non-violent pressure on the powerful to change their discriminatory, oppressive behavior.

In 1938 the Nazis had all the power in Germany in their hands and their boycott of Jewish business was just another step in their plans to round up and murder the Jews. They were the oppressor and the Jews the oppressed.

Now the Jewish state is the oppressor and the Palestinians are the oppressed who are defending themselves. One of their most effective tools in the battle for equal rights is BDS. Israel and its apologists are shocked that BDS is gaining ground. They don't know how to stop it. Their arguments that Israel is not harming the Palestinians is laughable, and the world knows it. They won't admit Israel is in the wrong and should modify its policies. So the only tactic they use is a barrage of lies, slander and attempts to ban free speech and the right to organize of BDS supporters.

Just thought it was worth mentioning.