Daily Alert Archives

The Human Shields of the New Anti-Semitism

(Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) Prof. Asa Kasher - Those who came to the defense of the BDS movement in response to Germany's anti-BDS resolution remind me of the Palestinians in Gaza who come to the defense of the terrorists of Hamas. They express a basic identification with a movement that is sullied by anti-Semitism and with the malevolent, anti-Semitic means that it employs. They thereby become participants in the danger that anti-Semitism creates for Jews. Identification with the BDS movement is immoral. This movement is interested solely in the presence of the nation-state of the Jewish people in a disputed territory. To take an operative interest in a single situation while fundamentally and perpetually ignoring all the comparable situations is a form of racism. A racist mindset toward Jews is called anti-Semitism. The racist mindset toward Israel is the new anti-Semitism. The BDS movement's goal is to cause economic, cultural, and political damage to all the people of Israel. It is a cowardly identification that shows no hint of courage to stand, in comparable situations, against China or Russia. If the BDS movement had solid ideological principles, it would call on its supporters to boycott, divest from, and sanction the U.S., Israel's main backer, which it will never do. There is no point in denying the commonality of goals between the activity of the BDS movement and the terror activity of the organizations operating on Israel's borders which enjoy the unambiguous support of Iran, a hostile power that is blatantly anti-Semitic. The writer is Professor Emeritus of Professional Ethics and Philosophy of Practice and Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Tel Aviv University.
2019-06-28 00:00:00
Full Article