Punishing Your Friends

I had planned to write on an incident that happened earlier this year when a Palestinian cultural event taking place in Jerusalem chose to un-invite invited Israel guests when the BDS campaign set up a “No Israelis Allowed” separation barrier around the program.

Apparently, the program featured over 100 events around the city featuring artists dedicated to Al Quds (i.e., Jerusalem) as an Arab cultural “scene.” While Israel complained that the program was in violation of the Oslo Accords with regard to making final-status claims on the city, apparently any “ban” they proposed didn’t prevent the program from going on and people attending.

Unless they were Israelis, that is, who were banned on the basis of their national origin. And this blanket ban turned out to impact those Israelis who were supportive of the project, i.e., the very Israelis who would normally be considered supports of Palestinian political positions.

Putting aside the political issues raised by the Al-Quds Underground event itself, it’s telling that in this case the boycott managed to finally hit a target: Israeli supporters of the Palestinian cause. It reminds me of a statement someone once made about Noam Chomsky who reserves his worst bile for those who only agree with him on 99% of what he says.

In an era when BDS has been so spectacularly unsuccessful in hurting its enemies, it’s interesting to note that they have now moved their guns into a different position: targeting their friends. I suspect we’ll be seeing a lot more of this as divestment fails for yet another year, despite the best efforts by the BDS brigade. After all, if your enemies are already wise to you and the “neutrals” you are trying to seduce have seen how BDS contaminates a community, who is left to punish other than those who are already inside your tent?