Playing Politics with Human Rights: Thoughts on the Recent Anti-BDS House Bill
Published
by
Richard Kuper
JVL Introduction
The US has the most powerful pro-Israel lobby in the world and supporters of Palestinian rights face all the usual ploys aimed at undermining and delegitimising their support for the cause.
Rabbi Brant Rosen explores the cynical politics behind a recent move that led to the US Congress passing an anti-BDS bill.
This article was originally published by Shalom Rav on Fri 26 Jul 2019. Read the original here.
Playing Politics with Human Rights: Thoughts on the Recent Anti-BDS House Bill
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An informative article.
I can but note with a certain sadness the irony inherent in JVL’s forthright comment that
“Rabbi Brant Rosen explores the cynical politics behind a recent move that led to the US Congress passing an anti-BDS bill”, a bill which was passed with the strong support of “progressive” democrats.
How much easier it is to see clearly the true nature of political compromise and deceit at a telescopic distance of 4,000 miles! How very different was JVL’s “cautious welcome” to Jeremy Corbyn’s statement on anti-semitism, the latter being a statement of calculated political disingenuousness and intellectual confusion, specifically designed for the quixotic purpose of appeasing Corbyn’s most implacable enemies!
We have become used to the leadership of the Labour Party buckling under the stress of the vile torrent of lies and abuse hurled against it, with every false admission of guilt accompanied by an onslaught of renewed vigour.
We have become accustomed to the Labour Party accepting de facto that it is normal and just to privilege the rights of one minority in order to suppress all mention of the the rights of another; but some of us had not expected that JVL would compromise its own proclaimed values by failing to denounce such manoeuvres.
JVL please note: by his refusal to compromise his universalist principles, Rabbi Brant Rosen sets an example for us all.
It is RACIST BIGOTRY to “outlaw” boycotting Israel and not outlaw ALL boycotts/”sanctions”.
(1) Government has no legitimacy interfering in Civilian Boycotts
(2) Boycotts are a Civil Right
(3) Boycotts are FREEDOM of SPEECH.
(4) Boycotts are FREEDOM of ASSOCIATION — DISassociation.
(5) Boycotts are VOTING with dollars.
(6) Boycotts PEACEFULLY withhold “power/energy” from those with whom one disagrees without engaging in violence.
(7) In “Capitalism”, the system we CLAIM to follow, where and with whom you spend your money is ENTIRELY up to YOU.
The Citizens United Supreme Court decision firmly established that the right to spend money is a form of free speech. That means that the right to NOT spend money is also a form of free speech. Organizing a boycott — an act of NOT spending money — is then protected free speech in the same way that soliciting campaign funds to spend on promoting a political candidate or partisan viewpoint is free speech. “Under our Constitution, people and legal entities have the right to express political views without fear of consequences.”