BDS and their chocolate factory of lies

The BDS movement clearly has a lot of time on their hands. Their latest move was to intimidate the University of New South Wales in Australia to prevent a small Max Brenner chocolate store from opening up on campus. Who would have thought that a small chocolate store on the BDS agenda to boycott on campus could move the Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard to announce her official policy and stand on the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. “This campaign does not serve the cause of peace and diplomacy for agreement on a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine,” she said

It seems in the Alice in wonderland of the BDS world, the boycotters believe that every new store that opens are owned by Israelis. Max Brenner chocolate chain’s management claims that it is Australian owned and operated. The whole saga reminds me about the book written by Roald Dahl called Charlie and the chocolate factory. The BDS shares their recipes of propaganda around the world through the internet and with no organised Headquarters, the activist on the ground are left to their own devices to research and decide which stores to boycott and which not. So I can imagine that every now and again, they unlock the wrong BDS secret in the Willy Wonka and they are introduced to Oompa Loompas, from Loompaland.

The plot thickens, the BDS activist used a facebook page to also promote Holocaust denial material and to promote anti semetic statements. It shows that the campaign hidden agenda has very little to do with chocolate and a whole lot more with blatant hate and political spin.

The two sides of the same coin

According to an article released by The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information system at the Israeli Intelligence and Heritage Commemoration Center ( www.terrorism-info.org.il) , the Popular front for the Liberation of Palestine ( PFLP) is co operating with anti Israeli organizations in Europe. . For those of you who are not sure, The Popular Front of the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) is listed as a terror organization in Europe. So the question is which side of the coin are BDSers supporting or are they supporting the two same sides of the same coin? How is it that BDS evolved to have a face of terror also? Who defines the boundaries of Humanitarian organizations and the limits of their boundaries to co operate with organizations that are linked to terror?

However, we look at the opposite sides of the coin, the reality is that those that participate in BDS are not able to facilitate the peace process or advance it one inch forward. It does not promote peace to call on the other side to be boycotted and it doesn’t matter which face BDS shows itself to the world, the way in which it manifest is that it causes both sides harm. It does not help to have a movement that calls itself ” non resistance” form of protest but has clear links and co operation with terror networks.

www.terrorism-info.org.il

Boycott movement failed playing Brinkmanship at Oxford University

The BDS movement must have read up on the Cuban Missile Crisis and thought that they have acquired the skill of playing brinkmanship with OxfordUniversity student’s ignorance. Unfortunately, no one consulted and coordinated it with George Galloway who didn’t receive the memo via the BDS grapevine.

The political end game for the BDS movement was when George Galloway got invited to debate an Israeli student studying at OxfordUniversity and insulted him to his face by refusing to debate with him due to his nationality being Israeli. This in re turn , spoke a million words to the OxfordUniversity students who was appalled that the student was discriminated against based on his nationality and that caused most of the left wing movements on campus to review their policy on supporting BDS.

After the unfortunate incident, it caused many intellectuals to question what exactly BDS is about and who is behind it. Many people of conscious believe that boycotts are morally wrong and undermines the peace process and disadvantages those who it purport to help

The student union at OxfordUniversity voted down the motion of supporting BDS overwhelmingly with the final results being, 69 against, 10 in favor and 15 abstentions. BDS is fundamentally flawed because it doesn’t help the Palestinians. The best that students can do around the world is to support the Palestinians financially by buying Palestinian goods and inadvertently  helping their economy grow. Its no surprise to me that the elite students of OxfordUniversity were able to see that they were being used as political pawns and that the methodology and ideology of BDS is fundamentally flawed and lined with biased political agendas.

Boycotts kill the BDS star!

These days the BDSers have a lot to be disgruntled about. The new breed of BDSer is all about arrogance and greed. It is their prerogative to show up in their Lamborghinis thinking that the supermarket chains will be rolling out the red carpet to welcome them and to be at their beck and call at  every demand they may have. The reality is that Pallywood isn’t so clear cut anymore.

The first generation of BDSers at least took a look at the facts, took a course in propaganda and acquainted themselves with the art of spinning half truths to appear like absolute truths to the unassuming masses.

These days , the BDSers are all about opportunistic urges.. It has become a lucrative industry for every Tom, Dick and Harry that has a social media account and lots of time on their hands. But this week, they had a humble encounter when the supermarket chains shut the door of fame in their faces.

 Without much pre planning ( number one factor for disaster) , without much substantive evidence ( not enough propaganda)  and lack of co ordination (too many divisive BDS rivals),  they embarked on a campaign to convince British retailer groups to stop importing , marketing and selling Israeli Agricultural products.

One of the targeted supermarket chains , Waitrose based in the United Kingdom, released a statement that ” Whatever our own views may be about Israeli products, we do not think it is right to ask our buyers to base their choice of products on any other criteria than the commercial ones of quality and value for money.”

Another targeted supermarket chain, Sainsbury released a statement that ” the store is not a political organisation and it does not boycott products from any country.”

The reality is that neither the supermarket chain nor the shoppers wanted to adhere to the BDS demands. The shoppers are not keen to be used as political pawns in a zero sum game.  Israeli farmers are well known and respected for decades long as producers of agricultural products of a high quality and standard. Consumers wont be bullied by a small amount of BDSers who seek to mix politics with fruits and wont be dictated to what they can purchase or not.

The rise and fall of the BDS star is what keeps Pallywood entertained.  I suggest that the BDS stars shave their heads, join Alcoholic  Anonymous or adopt children from Africa, maybe then your attention seeking efforts  will be noticed and you will rise to the stardom you crave. No one said that having a claim to fame is easy or driving a Lamborghini is cheap.

Lets take the “D” out of BDS

Recently the annual Red Sea Jazz Festival took place in Eilat attracting yet again very talented artists from around the globe. At the same time, BDS activists from around the world were hard at work to try to persuade these artists not to perform in Israel. Needless to say that they were not successful in persuading the free thinking artists to show up as they do every year at this unique highly acclaimed Jazz Festival.

If you had to write a thesis on the BDS movement and expose their intimidation and propaganda tactics refined by their spin doctors to appeal to “people of conscious”, you will know that whenever an artist cancels for technical reasons, they claim it to be a BDS victory. Another concept that usually works in favor of the BDS spin doctors is that if a lie is told long enough , it is believed to be a fact.

There was one cancellation for this musical festival. Stanley Jordan Trio cancelled due to technical reasons and was immediately replaced by Kurt Rosenwinkel Standards Trio. Despite the hundreds of twitter and Facebook messages send to musician, Erik Truffaz by the BDS activist he performed last weekend at the Red Sea Jazz Festival.

In a statement released by Deghelt Productions, the artists  said that they do not agree with the bullying tactics used by the BDS movement and that if they play in Israel it doesn’t mean that they endorse or support the policies of the Israeli government. The artist felt that if the Red Sea Jazz Festival is funded in part by the Israeli government that it is a sign of their openness to culture and jazz. They also dont want to punish their fans by not attending the Red Sea Jazz Festival because their fans in Israel share the same humanity, peace and hope for peace as any other fans they have around the world.

Sometimes its good we put it all into perspective and take the “D” out of BDS and realize that the BDS spin doctors over all has a negligent effect in deterring world renowned artist from performing and visiting Israel.

Isn’t it “Ironic” ?

Dear BDS activists,

You must be sulking today in a corner with a pack of tissues and water curled up in the fetoes position after learning that Alanis Morisette performed last night in Tel Aviv. Your persistent tweets and threatening facebook postings did very little to deter her from supporting Israel and ending her world tour in Tel Aviv to a sold out audience in the Nokia Staduim.

I must give you some credit where it is due, you have become very artful at propaganda. I am astounded at how you can selectively use information to manipulate the way people think. I admire the amount of effort and time that you put into your tweets to pressure artists. What concerns me however is that you do all of this out of good intentions and dont realise that you are being used as a political tool in the propaganda war waged against Israel.

I know I wont be able to convince you not to promote the agenda of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement and that you feel like you are furthering a noble cause but let me explain to you why your latest attempt to undermine Israel were not successful. Concert goers are not interested in politics. Intimidation and bullying tactics never accomplished its goals. Arts and Politics clearly doesn’t mix!

Alanis Morisette chose to come to Israel because she played here before in 2000. That means that she enjoyed her previous visit and knows the conflict is not black and white but grey. She came here only days after the cease fire between Hamas and Israel was negotiated and despite Tel Aviv being targeted by rocket attacks for the first time since the Gulf War in 1991 in the latest Gaza border escalation.

So far this year Madonna and Red Hot Chilli Peppers were able to withstand your demands and have had successful performances here in Israel. I dont want to depress you but more international superstars will be performing here in the coming months. It seems that no one wants to listen to you anymore. Luckily you dont boycott Chocolate because that can always help you to feel better soon.

Yours in Global BDS- Digest THIS!

The Free Palestine World Social Forum did not change the worlds History books.

George Orwell famously said :’ the most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.” This past weekend [28 November 2012- 1 December ], hundreds of BDS campaigners were suppose to gather in Porto Alegre in Brazil to put their heads together and to brainstorm tactics to develop a strategy to intensify the global BDS campaign against Israel. The only problem was that the attendance numbers were low. Also no high level officials of the Brazilian government were prepared to show up to endorse the proceedings.

It’s a shame that the BDS movement hijacked the agenda of the World Social Forum to endorse their biased and discriminatory policies towards Israel. The Worlds History books cannot be rewritten by a couple of panels, conferences, presentations, workshops nor seminars.

The call for the Free Palestine World Social Forum describes it as “an historic opportunity for people from all over the world to stand up where governments have failed.” The only thing that the Free Palestine World Social Forum did manage to change was the realization that the BDS call by civil society on a governmental level has failed miserably.

The irony is if the real intention of the BDS movement was to help uplift the Palestinian people , they would of hosted the conference in the Palestinian territories and bring tourism to the people they purport to help. If civil society would like to advance the peace process, it be more conducive to create opportunities for dialogue between the two sides in the conflict. The only way civil society can be written in the annals of history is if they are prepared to facilitate dialogue and bring the two sides to the negotiating table.