Ilan Pappe destroys BDS

"Historian"  Ilan Pappe has never been one to let history stand in the way of "narrative"

There is no historian in the world who is objective. I am not as interested in what happened as in how people see what's happened. ("An Interview of Ilan Pappé," Baudouin Loos, Le Soir [Bruxelles],Nov. 29, 1999)

I admit that my ideology influences my historical writings...(Ibid)

Indeed the struggle is about ideology, not about facts. Who knows what facts are? We try to convince as many people as we can that our interpretation of the facts is the correct one, and we do it because of ideological reasons, not because we are truthseekers. (Ibid)

The debate between us is on one level between historians who believe they are purely objective reconstructers of the past, like [Benny] Morris, and those who claim that they are subjective human beings striving to tell their own version of the past, like myself. (“Benny Morris’s Lies About My Book,” Ilan Pappé, Response to Morris’ critique of Pappé’s book, “A History of Palestine” published in the New Republic, March 22, 2004, History News Network, April 5, 2004)

[Historical] Narratives... when written by historians involved deeply in the subject matter they write about, such as in the case of Israeli historians who write about the Palestine conflict, is motivated also... by a deep involvement and a wish to make a point. This point is called ideology or politics. (Ibid)

Yes, I use Palestinian sources for the Intifada: they seem to me to be more reliable, I admit. (Ibid)

Quotes from the CAMERA backgrounder on Professor Ilan Pappé: When Ideology Trumps Scholarship

In a talk at Westminster University, earlier this year, David Collier at  "Beyond the Great Divide". has caught Pappe in a rare moment of candor, admitting that the genesis of the call for boycotts, divestment and sanctions was not "Palestinian civil society" 

Illan Pappe talks about BDS at every single lecture. This is the type of thing he says.

“It (BDS) began as a call from within the civil society under occupation, endorsed by other Palestinian groups, and translated into individual and collective actions worldwide.”

Do not underestimate the importance of this claim. The call has to come from within. It is of VITAL significance. In an event at the University of Kent, I was told by a speaker from War on Want, that boycotting was only legitimate because “the Palestinians had asked us to”. Put aside all the other reasons to reject the boycott, as the major casualties from any such boycott would be weaker members of Palestinian society, for any humanitarian organisation to align with it, they would have to be absolutely convinced the call was genuine.

We now know it wasn’t.

Ilan Pappe destroys BDS

Many people have long surmised that external activists told several groups of Palestinians what they needed. Then civil groups, some only made up of a couple of members, effectively sided with Hamas. They signed on the dotted line and BDS was born. The tail effectively wagging the dog. Whilst this has long been assumed, the evidence did not exist. Now it does. Watch the video. Bookmark it.

Filmed at the University of Westminster May 25 2016

Read the full account at  Beyond the Great Divide. Like them on Facebook, too

Palestinian Civil Society rejects BDS

Palestinian Civil Society appears to have looked BDS right in the eye, and rejected it.  How long will it take for the anti-Israel advocates to catch on?

From Israel National News

Last month, BDS (Boycott, Divest, Sanction) activists slammed Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas for not joining in with them to boycott Israel – and on Monday, the PA revealed just how uninvolved it was in the BDS movement. According to a PA report, 70% of the PA's imports were from Israel, with imports worth $3.5 billion entering the Authority from Israel.

It should be noted that Israel generally does not restrict imports of consumer goods to the PA, and that Israeli goods compete on Palestinian store shelves with goods from Arab countries and Europe as well as from the PA. Rather, it is the Palestinian consumer who is driving the push for Israeli goods in the PA, Palestinian merchants said.

According to the merchants, PA consumers prefer Israeli goods because they believe they are higher quality than cheaper local products or products from Arab countries. Israeli-made products are popularly priced, and consumers believe they get good value for money when they buy “blue and white.”

In an interview with the PA daily newspaper Al-Quds, Salah Haniyeh, director of the PA's Consumer Protection Authority, said that PA residents were not big savers. 

“The spending by Palestinians is the main reason for the Authority's negative balance of payments,” he said. While the PA economy would be greatly improved if Palestinians bought local products, he said he understood their reluctance to do so, as PA-made products are generally not well-made.

For many years, the construction equipment company Caterpillar was the object of the BDS holes wrath. But Palestinian civil society has spoken, and has firmly rejected the Caterpillar boycott. The Ramallah dealership is thriving

The Palestinians love their Caterpillars so much, they have celebrations for them



When BDS rears it ugly face at your church or your university, demanding you divest from Caterpillar, ask them:  "If the Palestinians haven't divested from Caterpillar why should I?"

An article in the Commentator, written  by Nick Gray touches on this phenomenon:

Though they will deny it, their actions speak louder: BDS campaigners simply do not care about the circumstances, hopes and dreams of ordinary Palestinians

The curious case of SOS – Scarlet, Oxfam and Sodastream – has enabled us to hear something almost totally inaudible most of the time – the voice of ordinary Palestinians. And what they are saying doesn't quite match the much louder voice of boycott campaign groups, one of which it seems Oxfam has become.

Instead of backing international NGO calls for a boycott of settlement goods, workers at the Sodastream factory in the West Bank have come out overwhelmingly in favour of Scarlet Johannsen’s opposition to BDS. So why are ordinary Palestinians at odds with the groups that claim to support them?

One of the biggest traps of the whole international BDS campaign is that it depersonalises the lives of ordinary people, both Israelis and Palestinians. The campaigners, including Christian NGOs and churches, simply do not care about the circumstances, hopes and dreams of ordinary people.

 Read it all here

Canada minister Jason Kenney thanks the "nutters" at Oxfam for his new Sodastream

Canada's Minister of Employment, Social Development & Multiculturalism Jason Kenney  gave an interview on Sun news, ByLine with host Brian Lilley:

"I'm going right from the studio to Home Hardware where ever it is to get one of these deals here. I didn't know Oxfam was involved in crazy politics like this so I have to make a confession I 've given money to Oxfam in the past because I thought they were there to help poor people not marginalize Israelis and make Palestinians unemployed. I'm dropping Oxfam as a charity and I'm picking up Sodastream as a new customer.  Thanks very much to all the nutters at Oxfam  for marginalizing the Palestinian people who are getting good paying jobs 4 times more working at Sodastream in the West bank than they would at other Palestinian run businesses there."

Watch the whole interview here:



And in more Sodastream News:

The Sodastream commercial featuring Scarlett Johansson has officially gone viral with over 8 million views since Jan 27.

And from the Christian Science monitor, more proof that "Palestinian Civil Society" rejects the BDS agenda, as Palestinian Sodastream employees express their concerns with the boycott
  

...those most familiar with the factory – Palestinians who work there – largely side with Ms. Johansson.

“Before boycotting, they should think of the workers who are going to suffer,” says a young man shivering in the pre-dawn darkness in Azzariah, a West Bank town cut off from work opportunities in Jerusalem by the concrete Israeli separation wall. Previously, he earned 20 shekels ($6) a day plucking and cleaning chickens; now he makes nearly 10 times that at SodaStream, which also provides transportation, breakfast, and lunch.

As a few dozen men in hoodies and work coats trickle out of the alleys to the makeshift bus stop where they wait for their ride to the factory, another adds, “If SodaStream closes, we would be sitting in the streets doing nothing....”

Speaking anonymously on a largely deserted street, with no Israeli SodaStream employees present, all but one of those interviewed said they opposed the boycott, given the lack of alternative job opportunities in the West Bank. That underscores Israeli claims that a boycott would be counterproductive, undermining the cooperation and prosperity that could boost peace prospects in the region.

UPDATE
Jason Kenney has gleefully tweeted out that he is the new proud owner of a Sodastream.

Another BDS Fail. Palestinians vacation in Israel.

 The Palestinians don't boycott Israel. Why should Americans?

Hundreds of thousands of permits are being issued to Palestinians from the West Bank who want to vacation in Israel for  Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr, the festival that marks the end of the fast .  Palestinian border crossings in every zone are opened to all who pass Israel’s security inspection. Busloads of of tourists have been leaving the cities of the West Bank every morning en route to Israel’s vacation sites, with an estimated million Palestinians expected to enter Israel ,  up from the 850,000 Palestinians who visited last year.

From  an article in Al monitor

This policy of opening border crossings during holidays was first initiated and implemented a year ago by the chief of the Central Command, Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon. Back then Alon claimed, and rightfully so, that given the decline in violence and the positive general atmosphere in the territories, there were no grounds to prevent tens of thousands of families from the West Bank from visiting Israel for reasons of security. On the contrary, Alon believed that these holiday outings would offer the people of the West Bank a new perspective on Israeli society, and that the encounter with Israelis could be a significant step toward re-establishing trust between the two peoples.

So much for Palestinians Civil Society.

And according to Maan, Jamal Jawabreh, secretary-general of the Chambers of Commerce and Industry, complained about the lack of travel restrictions, which has lead to Palestinian merchants shopping in Israel, and buying goods to resale in their own communities

Some were unhappy for other reasons.  From The Tower:

The Palestinian Authority minister for religious affairs. Mahmoud al-Habbash lashed out at his compatriots for preferring the bars and beaches of Tel Aviv to worshipful prayer. Habbash explained to Israel’s Maariv newspaper:

“On the Ramadan holiday, when we’re supposed to be growing closer to Allah, they obtain permits [to enter Israel] and go to the beach to flirt with immodest women.”
“No one said it’s forbidden to go to the beach or on vacation. We believe it’s possible to pray, fast and believe in Allah while also living normal, enjoyable lives,” he said, but added a caveat: “Everything has a limit. It’s not written anywhere that young people in their 20s are allowed to take advantage of their freedom to go to the bars of Tel Aviv, to dance and drink, to go to the beach and flirt with Jewish or non-Jewish girls, and to do things they will later regret.”

With one million Palestinians visiting Israel over the Ramadan holiday,  it begs the question. just who is this  "Palestinian Civil society" the BDS holes keep citing?

Another week of BDS failures

Pity the hapless BDS'er. Or don't. Its ok to snicker at them behind their backs. I know you want to.
They just can't win for losing.

This weeks epic BDS defeats:

British museum refuses call to boycott Ahava lab

A group of anti- Israel artists and academics has condemned the Natural History Museum in West London for its research collaboration with Ahava/Dead Sea Laboratories. The Museum has refused to submit to their demands and will not sever its working relationship with Ahava.

On Thursday, Prof. Ian Owens, the museum’s director of science, said that the museum will not heed to any boycott calls and that it is dedicated to expanding and sharing knowledge. Academic freedom is an important principle in pursuing this goal, he said.

“In this respect we are in broad alignment with the wider UK academic community. We work within the legal and policy boundaries established by politicians and policy makers, and would not participate in any academic or educational boycotts that could restrict academic freedom,” he said.

The other BDS failure that caught my attention was a bit more subtle. The BDs'ers claim their movement is sanctioned by "Palestinian civil society". We've seen quite the opposite however.

From Elder of Ziyon:

According to the head of the Federation of Trade Unions of Palestine, Shaher Saad, some 31,000 Palestinian Arab workers are now employed in Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. This is a significant increase compared to the number of such workers in April, 2010 - estimated at 25,000 - when Mahmoud Abbas signed a law banning Palestinian Arabs from working in settlements.

And from Ha'aretz

Palestinians invest twice as much in Israel as they do in West Bank.
Private Palestinian investment in Israel, as of 2010, amounted to $2.5 billion in a conservative estimate, and according to a more optimistic estimate this investment possibly even amounts to $5.8 billion. For purposes of comparison, private Palestinian investment within the West Bank, as of 2011, was only $1.5 billion.

A poll recently released by a marketing research firm, Geocartography Knowledge indicated that , 85% of Palestinian residents in the West Bank were interested in cooperation with Israel

If Palestinian civil society truly rejected "normalcy" with Israel, and endorsed BDS, how do you explain this? There are Palestinian Arabs willing to serve in the IDF. What more visceral rejection of BDS could there possibly be that having non-Jews in Israel willing to fight and die for their country?

This Bedouin family has been serving Israel for generations. BDS fail, fail, fail.



From YNet:

"Can a person be both Arab and Zionist? The answer appears to be yes.

Ask Shirin Shlian, a 20-year-old IDF soldier from one of the Galilee's Arab villages, whose job in the Israeli army is to encourage high school students to enlist – and better yet, to join combat units. "

Remind me again about this "Palestinian Civil society"