Opuscula BOYCOTT! OK for me, Not for you?

I’M A LITTLE CONFUSED OVER this “boycott” business.

 

I am both Jewish and a dual-national: U.S. by birth, Israeli by choice.

I place my hand over my heart when the Stars and Stripes go by. I did my U.S. military service back in the 60s. I am a Red, White, and Blue American.

But I also am an Israeli.

I should mention that I am old — “ancient” as my Spouse reminds me — and I am “thin skinned” in more ways than one.

My problem with boycotts

Having written that, I confess to having a problem with boycotts.

I have, from time-to-time boycotted things.

I will not buy anything from China if I can find an alternative source.

That’s a boycott.

I don’t buy from China for a number of reasons, including

• poor and dangerous products,
• alleged government oppression,
• alleged theft of others’ ideas and technologies,
• the gift of the Wuhan/Chinese/Covid pandemic

I don’t buy Ford products having been burned twice with Ford vehicles.

I am not on Facebook or Twitter and I closed my LinkedIn account when I retired. I’m not “boycotting” these platforms; I simply have no interest in them

Being honest, I admit that the above is a “partial” list of products I won’t (knowingly) buy.

These are boycotts, albeit personal boycotts.

Since I boycott products, how can I express umbrage when someone boycotts products from all or parts of Israel?

Is there a real difference between my personal boycotts — that I freely publicize — and the political Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS)?

My boycotts are personal; while I might welcome people who would divest themselves of countries and companies I boycott, and while I would privately encourage sanctions (in the form of higher tariffs), I don’t mount a soap box, raise a battle flag and yell FORWARD to willing followers.

The “B” in BDS stands for, IMO, “bullying.”

THE DIFFERENCE is that my personal boycotts are not based on lies (Israel is an apartheid state; Israel oppresses Arabs, both of which I know first hand are lies) or senseless hatred of a people. The BDSers are know nothings; 99% have zero first hand experience with Israel, Israelis, or Zionists. (There are many, mostly Jewishly ignorant as well as politically ignorant, Jews who are BDSers. )

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You only hurt the ones you ...

The interesting things about the anti-Israel BDS movement are

• It hurts the people the BDSers claim they support
• It is a political movement that borders on the illegal
• It doesn’t seem to be working

BDSers have cost the so-called “Palestinians” jobs.

The PLO/PFLP is an economic disaster. The citizens line up to work in the horrible, apartheid Israel (think about that) where they hold all manner of employment, both trade and professional.

SodaStream employed Israelis and “Palestinians” in its plant across the “green line.”

The BDSers put an end to that, putting the “Palestinians” out of jobs that paid the same wages regardless of where the worker lived. SodaStream did not have to employ “Palestinians” and the “Palestinians” did not have to work for SodaStream.

SodaStream moved to the south and now hires Israelis.

So, did BDS help or hurt the “Palestinians”? Did its action help of hurt the “Palestinian” government?

A QUICK WORD ON APARTHEID An Israeli Arab may live anyplace in Israel. An Israeli Jew is forbidden by the “Palestinian” government and Islam, to live in “Palestine,” even though there are “progressive” Jews who would rush to live in “Palestine” were they permitted.

Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, includes Muslims who promote the destruction of Israel. That would be like having nazis in Congress during World War 2 or Communists in Congress during the Cold War era. (Soviet Premier Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev was angry and threatened to bury us because President Eisenhower prevented Khrushchev from visiting Disneyland in California. There also was the small matter of Francis Gary Powers and the U-2 downing over what was then the USSR.)

It could have been avoided

Had the Arabs agreed to the 1947 Partition Plan, Israel would be a sliver of a state, with Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt as its immediate neighbors. “Palestine” as separate from Jordan did not exist.

Had the Arabs agreed to a peace agreement after 1948, they still would have Jerusalem and Jordan would own the so-called West Bank.

So far, nothing has satisfied the Arabs who insist on attacking Israel.

Jordan lost the “West Bank” to an Egyptian (Arafat).

Jordan lost Jerusalem to Israel.

(Since, both Egypt and Jordan have signed peace treaties with Israel, and while peace between them is nothing like peace between the U.S. and Canada, the treaties have held.)

Oslo divided up the West Bank into three sections. Both Israel and the” Palestinians” agreed to the agreement; the Palestinians quickly abrogated it.

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

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