Opinion: BDS detours into old-school antisemitism - Milbank

[question everything]

The BDS movement, which aims to “boycott, divest and sanction” Israel and those who do business there, has long walked a line between opposing Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and fomenting hatred of Jews and Jewish culture. But now one of its affiliates has plunged headlong into outright antisemitic bigotry, conspiracy theories and implicit invitations to violence.

Late Tuesday, Boston’s arm of the loosely organized movement urged its followers, as it had several times before, to explore an interactive “Mapping Project,” which it said would show “how imperialism, racism, militarism & Zionism are systemically connected in our communities.” It does none of those things. The BDS-promoted Mapping Project is just the latest manifestation of an antisemitic canard alleging secret, hidden Jewish control of, and the buying of influence over, academia, the media, corporations, charities, law enforcement and more. The project is, as Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) said, “an antisemitic enemies list with a map attached.”

Its targets go beyond the usual Zionist groups to include the Synagogue Council of Massachusetts (which covers liberal congregations opposed to Israel’s treatment of Palestinians), the Jewish Community Relations Council (whose affiliated groups include Holocaust survivors and Jewish war veterans), the Jewish Arts Collaborative, the Jewish Teen Foundation of Greater Boston — and even J Street, a liberal-Jewish-inspired group avowedly opposing Israel’s policies toward Palestinians. The creators of the map, a crazy collection of interconnecting, colored dots, call the project “a resource for gathering intelligence on the agents of oppression” to “form our own networks of resistance.”

(snip)

And how might they do that? It continues: “We view U.S. police on all levels as white-supremacist, colonial institutions that have no role in our communities; we support non-cooperation, community self-defense, and resistance in all its forms.”

(snip)

Happily, some leaders on the left have stood against this approach. Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), a member of the progressive Squad, said of the map: “It is not acceptable to target or make vulnerable Jewish institutions or organizations, full stop.”

More..

https://wapo.st/3Oh4Mpe

[Beastly Boy]

1. A definition of jumping the shark.

I knew this was coming as soon as I read of Ben and Jerry deciding not to sell their ice cream on the occupied territories in support of the Palestinians in the occupied territories. Where is the sanity in punishing Palestinians to support Palestinians?

And where is the sanity of going full antisemite in the US to protest the treatment of Palestinians by Israel? Is this how you gain a higher moral ground?

[DavidDvorkin]

2. It's not a detour and it's not recent

It began that way -- as antisemitism with a new coat of paint.