Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions is vital for peace and justice in Palestine and Israel

JVL Introduction

The British government is well on their way with plans to outlaw Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) as a way of protesting against the actions of the Israeli government and its treatment of Palestinians.  Now some who see themselves as supporters of Israel are calling for protest against this Israeli government; there have been protests in Tel Aviv and concerns raised by Establishment Jewish Organisations in the UK and across the world.

This opinion piece in The Forward makes a fairly gentle appeal to American Jews to support BDS against  “a most horrendous, illiberal, anti-democratic, Jewish-supremacist government,”. Of course, this  government is building on what was already there, but speeding up the displacement, demolitions and worse in its determination to dominate, to annex the West Bank and so on.  Is this the wake up call to what has been happening for many decades? Palestinians, especially those in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza or the Golan, are more worried and more pressurised then ever.

Barcelona has very recently stopped links with Israel until Israel complies with international law. The Mayor is under huge pressure for taking this action, unjust accusations of antisemitism abound.  BDS played its part in the struggle to end apartheid in South Africa.  It is an honourable and peaceful way to put pressure in support of justice for Palestinians and, indeed, to work towards peace from which Jewish Israelis and Palestinians would benefit.

This article was originally published by The Forward on Tue 31 Jan 2023. Read the original here.