ECAJ exposes BDS

AN information booklet about the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel has been sent to politicians, journalists and key decision-makers by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ).

The booklet contains the history and aims of the BDS movement as well as a summary of the movement’s activities in Australia.

The booklet states that the BDS campaign claims to have three specific aims: To end Israeli occupation of all Arab lands, to achieve equal rights for Arab citizens of Israel and the realisation of the right of return of Palestinian refugees.

But it counters those claims by quoting founding member of the movement Omar Barghouti, who said that if the “occupation” ends BDS would not stop; and former South African politician and pro-BDS campaigner Ronnie Kasrils, who stated that “BDS will bring about the defeat of Zionist Israel, and victory for Palestine”.

ECAJ public affairs director Alex Ryvchin said the booklet is part of the council’s long-term work to expose the dishonesty of the BDS campaign.

“It’s important that people know the true facts about BDS,” Ryvchin said.

“One of the core aims, the right of return of seven million descendents of Palestinians displaced during the Arab-initiated war of 1948, would demographically change the Jewish State into a Jewish minority state.”

He added that BDS leaders are not seeking a peaceful two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

“Their aim is not to build a Palestinian state, it is to destroy the Jewish one.”

The booklet also explores the links between BDS activities in Australia and anti-Semitism, including Holocaust denial and calls for violence against Jews.

“While denying that it is anti-Semitic, the BDS campaign has consistently failed to address the anti-Semitism its actions attract and encourage, and the anti-Semitism implicit in seeking to deny the Jewish people their right for national self-determination,” the booklet says.

The booklet also notes that in March 2010 an attempt was made at the Greens federal conference to have the party endorse BDS, but it failed and at this stage no party has endorsed the campaign.

JOSHUA LEVI

Photo: Wikimedia Commons.