[rad-green] Is the UK government set to define the boycott of Israel as 'antisemitic'?

*https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/new-british-government-eager-play-its-part-dehumanising-palestinians
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/new-british-government-eager-play-its-part-dehumanising-palestinians>Middle
East Eye          18 December 2019*

*Is the UK government set to define the boycott of Israel as 'antisemitic'?*

*As Israel exports anti-BDS efforts around the globe, the Conservative
government plans to directly target the movement. **The claim that BDS is
antisemitic underpins efforts to toxify or even criminalise Palestine
solidarity activism.*


*By Ben White*

*British Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks in London on 17 December (AFP)*

One of the first bills to be introduced
<https://inews.co.uk/news/boris-johnson-announce-new-laws-ban-train-strikes-1341872>
by
Britain’s new Conservative government will reportedly stop "local
authorities from boycotting individual companies", a move described as
targeting the Palestinian-led boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS)
movement.

The Conservative Party election manifesto
<https://assets-global.website-files.com/5da42e2cae7ebd3f8bde353c/5dda924905da587992a064ba_Conservative%202019%20Manifesto.pdf>
did
indeed pledge to “ban public bodies from imposing their own direct or
indirect boycotts, disinvestment or sanctions campaigns against foreign
countries”, on the grounds that such moves “undermine community cohesion”.
Intensified attacks

Meanwhile, Eric Pickles, the British government’s "special envoy for
post-Holocaust matters", told a conference
<https://www.jns.org/boris-johnsons-government-will-pass-anti-bds-law-uk-official-says/>
in
Jerusalem on Sunday that "BDS is antisemitic and should be treated as
such", in remarks celebrated
<https://twitter.com/CFoI/status/1206298479376531457> on Twitter by
Conservative Friends of Israel.

According to a report
<https://www.jns.org/boris-johnsons-government-will-pass-anti-bds-law-uk-official-says/>
by
the right-wing outlet Jewish News Syndicate, “Pickles said Johnson’s
government would make BDS illegal for governmental and public bodies, a
move that would prevent them from working with anyone who supports the
effort to isolate and financially punish Israel.”

For now, it is unclear precisely what the government is planning; there may
be an attempt at intimidation, rather than a new law.

What unites such developments is a concerted effort by the Israeli
government, and its supporters, to shield apartheid from accountability

In 2016, the government issued a procurement guidance note for local
authorities that merely restated existing policy, in contrast to a supposed
<https://benwhite.org.uk/2016/03/02/israel-and-friends-battle-the-boycott-in-britain/>
“ban
on boycotts” trailed months previously. Restrictions on Local Government
Pension Schemes, meanwhile, are being  contested
<https://www.palestinecampaign.org/statement-psc-take-on-government-in-court-over-pensions-divestment/>
in
the courts
<https://www.bindmans.com/news/palestine-solidarity-campaign-supreme-court-appeal-on-the-governments-ban-on-ethical-investment>
.

But more radical plans could be afoot – for example, banning pro-BDS groups
from using local authorities’ facilities (as seen
<https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/germany-relentless-campaign-silence-pro-palestinian-voices-190319113250948.html>,
and contested
<https://bdsmovement.net/news/another-german-court-rules-favor-supporters-bds-movement>,
in Germany).

Events in Britain are part of a bigger picture of intensified attacks on
Palestinians and their allies, including in the United States
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/trump-wants-silence-criticism-israel-palestinians-must-keep-resisting>
 and France
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/maillard-resolution-israel-manipulates-definition-antisemitism-and-tries-impose-it-france>.
What unites such developments is a concerted effort by the Israeli
government, and its supporters, to shield apartheid from accountability.
Conflating antisemitism and anti-Zionism

Thus, as Israel cements a single, apartheid state on the ground, two
related moves are being made to stigmatise international opposition as a
form of "antisemitism".

Firstly, any kind of action pertaining to accountability – even just
accurately labelling
<https://thehill.com/opinion/civil-rights/471632-europes-labeling-of-israeli-products-recalls-third-reichs-boycott-of>
Israeli
settlement products, never mind boycotting them – constitutes a "singling
out" of Israel, and is thus antisemitic.

Secondly, questioning or criticising Israel’s identity as a "Jewish
state" because of what that means for Palestinians is also deemed
“antisemitic” – which, in a post-two-state era, will be increasingly used
to delegitimise calls for the transformation of the apartheid status quo
into a single democratic state.

Both of these elements are part of definitions of antisemitism being used
to stifle debate, including in the formation of the International Holocaust
Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) document. As Jared Kushner wrote in The New
York Times
<https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/11/opinion/jared-kushner-trump-anti-semitism.html>
last
week: “The Remembrance Alliance definition makes clear what our
administration has stated publicly and on the record: Anti-Zionism is
anti-Semitism.”

'I suspect that if Kushner or I had been born into a Palestinian family
displaced in 1948, we might have a different view of Zionism'

*- Kenneth Stern, author of IHRA definition of anti-semitism *

And the author of the text on which the IHRA definition is based, Kenneth
Stern, last week felt forced to call out
<https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/13/antisemitism-executive-order-trump-chilling-effect>
how
claims of “antisemitism” are being used to attack legitimate free speech.
“I suspect that if Kushner or I had been born into a Palestinian family
displaced in 1948, we might have a different view of Zionism, and that need
not be because we vilify Jews or think they conspire to harm humanity,”
Stern acknowledged.

“Further, there’s a debate inside the Jewish community whether being Jewish
requires one to be a Zionist. I don’t know if this question can be
resolved, but it should frighten all Jews that the [US] government is
essentially defining the answer for us.”
Criminalising solidarity activism

The claim that BDS is antisemitic underpins efforts to toxify or even
criminalise Palestine solidarity activism. “We are advancing
<https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4880517,00.html> legislation in
many countries against the BDS … so that it will simply be illegal to
boycott Israel,” Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, said back in
2016.

In this regard, the Israeli government is working alongside non-state
groups that focus on smearing Palestinian, Israeli and international
organisations calling out Israel’s violations of international law, as well
as attacking any initiative designed to hold Israel to account.

The main protagonists in such efforts are very open about their efforts, as
you can see in a video
<https://twitter.com/LaraFriedmanDC/status/1205556821655732224> of a panel
discussion earlier this year including NGO Monitor, Eugene Kontorovich of
the right-wing think-tank Kohelet Forum
<https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-the-right-wing-think-tank-that-quietly-runs-the-knesset-1.6514722>,
Shurat HaDin, and an official from Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs.

Kontorovich, for example, illustrates the overlap between those in Israel
seeking to both normalise, and advance, Israel’s permanent hold on the
occupied West Bank, including its illegal settlements
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL3S4XqZbq8>, while simultaneously placing
meaningful opposition to colonisation and annexation beyond the pale
<https://en.kohelet.org.il/publication/on-anti-bds-laws-antisemitism-and-freedom-of-speech>
.
Battle to intensify

As Joshua Leifer, associate editor of Dissent Magazine, put it
<https://twitter.com/joshualeifer/status/1201860500411363328> earlier this
month: “As the two-state paradigm finally passes from the scene, the
Israeli government is pushing initiatives around the world to codify
opposition to the one-state reality as antisemitic."

Under British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, there is unfortunately good
reason to expect that a Conservative government pursuing
<https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-bds-law-israel-boycott-divestment-sanctions-palestine-a9248801.html>
a
close relationship with the Trump administration – and with a cabinet
including committed supporters of Israel – will be eager to play its part
in the dehumanisation of Palestinians.

Here in Britain, the battle to insist on Palestinians' humanity and basic
rights is only set to intensify

If that sounds too strong, then heed the words
<https://www.972mag.com/palestinian-rights-zionism-antisemitism/> of editor
Amjad Iraqi, who warned last week of the “chilling message” being delivered
by the likes of the US and French governments: namely, that “Palestinians
are not entitled to political agency as a people fighting for justice and
human rights”.

That is the grim territory being contested, and here in Britain, the battle
to insist on Palestinians’ humanity and basic rights is only set to
intensify.

*Ben White is the author of ‘Israeli Apartheid: A Beginner’s Guide’ and
‘Palestinians in Israel: Segregation, Discrimination and Democracy’. He is
a writer for Middle East Monitor, and his articles have been published by
Al Jazeera, al-Araby, Huffington Post, The Electronic Intifada, The
Guardian, and more.*

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