Smearing BDS

"Only blind dogmatism could present Israel as something positive for the Jewish people. Established as a so-called refuge, it has, unfailingly, over the past 5 decades, been the most dangerous place on the face of the earth for a Jew. It has been the cause of tens of thousands of Jewish deaths, of families torn apart; it has left in its wake a trail of mourning widows, orphans and friends... And let us not forget that to this account of the physical suffering of the Jews must be added those of the Palestinian people, a nation condemned to indigence, persecution, to life without shelter, to overwhelming despair, and all too often to premature death." Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss, quoted in A Threat from Within: A Century of Jewish Opposition to Zionism, Yakov M. Rabkin, 2006, p 199)

Amazing what you can do with words, isn't it?

Take the word 'Jew' for example. For Zionists, 'Jew' and 'Zionist' are synonymous. Judaism, the faith, and Zionism, the political ideology, are one and the same. And so they use either as it suits them.

In the past, it suited the faithless, secular Zionists, the advocates of a 'Jewish' state in Palestine, to call themselves Zionists, by way of distinguishing themselves from religious Jews, the bulk of whom were anti-Zionist. Now, however, whenever the crimes of their so-called 'Jewish' state become too obvious to ignore, they invariably reach for the 'J' word, playing expertly on its historical associations of anti-Semitic discrimination and persecution.

Works a treat by sowing confusion and deflecting justified criticism of their genocidal colonial-settler project in Palestine.

This deliberate and dishonest obfuscation is now finding its way into the gibberings of certain ms media pundits in this country who, for reasons best known to themselves, have begun to take up the cudgels for Israel against the global Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign directed against it.

First came bovver boy Andrew Bolt in the Murdoch tabloid, The Daily Telegraph:

"Here are some things I never thought I'd see in this country I love. I never thought I'd see people picketing shops because their owners were Jews. But in Melbourne last Friday, 19 protesters were arrested as they tried to stop people from shopping at the Max Brenner chocolate and coffeee store in Melbourne's QV. In Sydney last month, leftist and Muslim protesters did the same to a Max Brenner shop in Sydney, claiming the Jewish-owned franchise company supported the Israeli Army. I've seen pictures of Jewish shops being attacked before, of course, but they were in black and white, in another country at another, ghastly time." (Something is rotten in the land I love, 6/7/11)

There you are, 1930's Germany all over again! Blink, and you would have missed the only reference to Israel.

Today, we have Gerard Henderson in the Sydney Morning Herald following suit:

"A century ago, Australia was a relatively tolerant society. Even so, Jews and Catholics were banned from Protestant-dominated gentleman's clubs in Sydney, Melbourne and elsewhere. In other words, discrimination against certain minorities became acceptable and fashionable. Consequently, it was rarely commented on or even noticed. Today Australia is an accepting society which formally outlaws discrimination on the basis of race or gender and disapproves of intolerance towards minorities. Except, it seems, Jews and Catholics."

What?! Anti-Semitism rearing its ugly ahead again?

"On the evening of Friday, July 1 - at the commencement of the Jewish Sabbath - there was a demonstration outside the Max Brenner chocolate shop in Melbourne. This was part of the BDS campaign against Israel. Demonstrators prevented customers from entering the premises. The reason? The Strauss Group, the parent company of Max Brenner, supplies confectionary goods to the Israeli Defence Force."

What?! Max was trading on the... Sabbath! Oh well, at least the Israeli connection is made somewhat clearer.

"There's not much connection between buying hot chocolate on a cold winter night in Melbourne and the events in the Middle East - where Israel remains, with the possible exception of Iraq, the only democracy*."

Well, yes there is, if most of your dollar flows back to the parent company which boasts on its website about aiding and abetting the IDF. (See my 12/7/09 post How Sweet It Is)

"Yet this was a violent demonstration. Victorian police suffered three injuries and 19 protesters were arrested. Demonstrators called for the destruction of Israel and chanted: 'From the river to the sea/ Palestine will be free'. The protest was reported in the Herald-Sun but all but ignored in The Age and the ABC."

Police injuries? Really? I mean, really? And the protesters called for the destruction of Israel by chanting From the river to the sea/ Palestine shall be free? Yes, much too violent. Maybe they should have chanted 'Between the Apartheid Wall and the Settlements/ Palestine shall be free' instead?

"Michael Danby, the Labor MP for Melbourne Ports, put the matter in perspective when he commented: 'These people are prejudiced fanatics who should look into their soul. While 1500 people are murdered in Syria, they launch their own sad little attack on a chocolate shop because it also has stores in Israel'. "

Because it also has stores in Israel!

"Danby's point about double standards is well taken. There is little doubt that most ABC and Age journalists would regard a violent boycott of a kebab shop in opposition to Hamas rocket attacks on Israel, as both a provocation and newsworthy."

So the kebab shop is putting a few on the side and sending them off to sustain the footsoldiers of Hamas? What? First to the other side of the planet, and then through the tunnels? Good one, Gerard!

Now to the point of this grubby little exercise - the smear of anti-Semitism:

"Then there are the historical parallels. In the mid-1930s, Sir Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists used to go on rampages outside Jewish-owned shops in London's East End - some were boycotted, others smashed up. The British government responded by implementing the Public Order Act. Mosley targeted Jewish traders because they were Jews. The BDS protesters targeted the Max Brenner chocolate shop because its parent company does business in the Jewish state of Israel."

Are you sure its parent company just happens to do business in Israel? That is, as opposed to being Israeli.

Not even a Max Brenner chocolate would melt in this bloke's mouth.

[* Some democracy: "The Israeli Parliament has passed contentious legislation that effectively bans any citizens calling for academic, consumer or cultural boycotts of Israel in a move that has been denounced by its opponents as anti-democratic." (Critics damn Israel boycott law as blow to democracy, Isabel Kershner, Agencies/The Age, 13/7/11)]