The Origins of the BDS Movement

The  BDS architects claim to have founded this boycott operation in 2005 as a “Palestinian-led movement for freedom, justice and equality” that intends to “effectively challenge international support for Israeli apartheid and settler-colonialism.”

In reality, Palestinian boycotts against Jews are not new. In 1945 The Arab League established a boycott of Jewish goods and services in the British controlled mandate territory of Palestine. Before the state of Israel even existed, they started this boycott. It clearly wasn’t a boycott of Israel since there was no Israel, it was simply a boycott of Jews. The declaration stated that “Products of Palestinian Jews are to be considered undesirable in Arab countries. They should be prohibited and refused as long as their production in Palestine might lead to the realization of Zionist political aims.”

This law was eventually overturned decades later in part by US anti-boycott legislation. To avoid this anti-boycott regulation, members of the Arab League commenced the 2001 UN World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance in Durban South Africa.

The United States and Israel withdrew their delegations from this conference within 5 days due to its overt anti-Semitic nature.  Attendees stated that “Copies of the anti-Semitic work, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, were sold on the grounds… fliers depicting Hitler with the question, “What if I had won?” circulated as well. The answer, “There would be NO Israel and NO Palestinian bloodshed.”

From this conference, the new BDS movement was truly born. The boycott was no longer against the Jewish people but against Zionists and Israeli settlers. Instead of referring to Israel as a Jewish state, it would be referred as an Apartheid state. The boycott would no longer be led by the Arab League but instead under the guise of ‘Palestinian Civil Society’. The anti-Jewish boycott created prior to the existence of Israel now had a new name; the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.

BDS is not a defender of champion for human rights, it is an extension of former anti-Jewish boycotts. The BDS movement exemplifies a reinvented form of Anti-Semitism that is growing rapidly world-wide today.

The avowed aims of this movement include Israeli withdrawal from the disputed territories; removal of the separation/security barrier (wall) in the West Bank; “full equality” for Arab Israelis; and the return of the millions of descendants of the original Arab refugees.

Each of these points are actually subterfuge for the ultimate destruction of the only nation state for Jews. Full withdrawal from the so called 1967 lines would leave Israeli population centers less than 10 miles from a supposed Arab state. Removal of the security barrier would return the Israeli civilian population to be being weekly targets of Palestinian suicide bombers (Israeli casualties before the building of the barrier were in the thousands and casualties after the imposition of the barrier are almost nil).  Full equality for Arab Israeli is already practiced as Arab citizens of Israel are represented in all aspects of Israeli society as Arab judges sit on the Israeli Supreme Court and Arab doctors, lawyers, teachers and even police are well represented. The return of the so-called descendants of the original 700 thousand Arab refugees have now swelled to more than 4 million, would completely destroy the concept of a Jewish nation state.

In an effort to fight some of Rep. Omar’s outlandish comments, House Republicans drafted a resolution to directly address the issue of anti-Semitism. Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats watered-down this statement to include Islamophobia and “bigotry against minorities” in general. The Left’s inability or unwillingness to highlight anti-Semitism in one resolution following Rep. Omar’s hate speech does not auger well for the ultimate passage of an anti-BDS legislation.