Growing Isolation: Boycott of Israel Crosses to Governments’ Realm
by Ramzy Baroud
Should Israel be worried? Very much so, for the age of total
impunity is coming to an end. Critical voices of the Israeli occupation and
mistreatment of Palestinians are rising - not only within civil society
circles, but among world governments as well.
The picture may seem grim if seen through the prisms of the
recent US Republican and Democratic National Conventions. But the world is not the
United States’ government, which is defined by self-serving politics and a
quisling corporate media that often places Israeli interests over those of the
US itself. Now with the decline of the US as an economic superpower, and as
other countries and regional blocs jockey for an advanced position in the new
world order, Israel is sure to suffer further isolation in coming years.
Almost daily new evidence is emerging to demonstrate this increasingly
stark reality. Israel’s friends are fully aware of this, as are Israeli
politicians. The emerging new realization is that money and power are rarely
enough to buy legitimacy. South Africa is expectedly leading the way towards that
new global paradigm shift, and others countries are following suit.
Recently, South Africa’s cabinet passed a decision requiring
Israel to distinguish between products made in Israel and those made in illegal
Jewish colonies in the West Bank. The decision was both politically sound and
morally consistent with the country’s anti-apartheid legacy. It was also a natural
progression of South Africa’s policies, which have reflected impatience with
Israel through the years.
It is clear that Israel has chosen the apartheid option, not
just as a de facto outcome of its military policies, but through a decided
legal and political pattern. South Africa’s decision, however, was not just
motivated by political necessity. Veterans of the anti-apartheid struggle have
had numerous influences on the country’s civil society. Even the new generation
is intoned with a freedom discourse that unites most sectors of society.
‘Freedom for Palestine’ was a natural fit in that powerful discourse and no
amount of Israeli propaganda has been enough to deter South Africans from
standing in solidarity with Palestinians. The feelings are, of course, mutual.
The total output of Israeli trade with South Africa was
modest to begin with. Since 2009, trade volumes dipped significantly, and
political ties became colder than ever. This had much to do with the Israel war
on Gaza (2008-09) and what was seen as an act of Israeli piracy against the
Turkish ship the Mavi Marmara in May 31, 2011. South Africa, along with few
other countries, withdrew its ambassador from Israel in protest of the deadly
raid which killed nine peace activists.
The matter is of greater significance than dollars and cents.
The latter will become a major factor when a global boycott reaches a critical
mass. The real danger is the precedence that South Africa continues to set,
which will provide other countries with legal and political references.
Soon after South Africa’s decision – which followed remarks
made by various officials discouraging their nationals from visiting Israel,
and was followed by another major university voting for divestment and boycott
– pro-Israel officials have tried to mobilize. Denis McShane, British MP and
Policy Council member for ‘Labour Friends of Israel’, reacted by making dismaying
and historically inconsistent parallels between South Africa and Nazi Germany.
Writing in the Jewish Chronicle on September 6, Moira Schneider said that
MacShane “likened the boycott of Israeli products to the kauf nicht bei Juden
imperative of Nazi Germany.”
“Criticism of Israel is perfectly legitimate, but we have to
be clear that the new antisemitic trope is beyond the pale of legitimate
criticism,” he was quoted as saying. “The notion of Israel as an apartheid
state is deliberately promoted because an apartheid state cannot exist.”
While the flawed logic has been uttered numerous times in
the past, MacShane’s alarm now can be explained outside the political context of
South Africa, but rather in terms of what is happening in his own country.
Indeed, there has been a string of statements pointing at efforts underway in
several European countries to enact laws relevant to the illegality of the
Jewish settlements.
Some recent statements include British Foreign Office
Minister Alistair Burt "dropp(ing) the strongest hint yet that the UK may
be moving towards a ban on goods from illegal Israeli settlements." (The
Electronic Intifada, July 5, 2012). Towards the end of last year, Ireland's
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade renewed his country's commitment to the
exclusion of settlement products from the EU. More recently, on September 5,
Israel's daily Haaretz reported on the Norwegian Foreign Minister's comments
regarding the import of goods produced in the settlements, “which we consider
illegal according to international law.”
Still more, on September 7, The Jerusalem Post reported that
“the European Union is considering instituting a ban on imports of products
made in Israeli settlements, a Greek Foreign Ministry official was quoted as
saying to a group of Israeli and Palestinian journalists in Athens...”
Such a shift in language would never have been achieved
without the civil society mobilization that occurred in several countries. As
in South Africa, governments are being held accountable by vigilant and
tireless groups, collectively pushing for Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions
(BDS). They will not reduce their efforts until Israel changes course, respects
international law, and frees Palestinians from decades-long military bondage.
Unable to fathom the global paradigm shift, Israeli
politicians are responding with an incoherent strategy. Israeli Foreign
Ministry spokesman, Yigal Palmor accused the government of South Africa of ‘exclusion
and discrimination.’ The Israeli government decried the “blatant
discrimination,” claiming it was “based on national and political distinction”.
Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon went even further, accusing South Africa
of exactly that which was alleged of Israel.“Unfortunately it turns out that
the changes that took place in South Africa over the years have not brought
about basic changes in the country, and it remains an apartheid state,” Ayalon
said (Jerusalem Post, August 23).
But angry words aside, the world is changing. Israel,
however, is digressing into a dark corner where racism and apartheid are still
applied with impunity. Many Israelis are refusing to attest to their country’s
fall into the abyss. A wakeup call can only arrive when the world treats the
Israeli government in the same way that South Africa’s apartheid regime was
once treated.
Ramzy Baroud (www.ramzybaroud.net) is an internationally-syndicated columnist and the editor of PalestineChronicle.com. His latest book is My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story (Pluto Press, London.)
