Coalition Plans To Punish Those Who Boycott Israel
The charge that the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel is anti-semitic fails its only salient test. The target of BDS is not Jews or Judaism, but militarism and lawlessness, argues Jake Lynch.
BY JAKE LYNCH
The number two in the incoming government has vowed to use the coercive power of the state to stifle dissent on a contested policy issue.
In Uzbekistan? Equatorial Guinea? No – Australia.
According to Julie Bishop, shadow foreign minister and deputy Liberal leader, I and other supporters of an academic boycott of Israel will be penalised under the Coalition, by having our access to public research funds summarily cut off.
It appears to be a gesture to pro-Israel groups, who are backing what they – like everyone else – assume will be the winner in September's federal election. Prominent members of both main parties, including Prime Minister Julia Gillard, have signed the 'London declaration on combating anti-semitism', but Labor has resisted calls to use the machinery of government to enforce its claims.
Chief among them are that calls for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions on Israel are themselves a form of anti-semitism.
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http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/4778144.html
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