Happy Israeli Apartheid Week!
Many of you -- particularly those of you based on college campuses -- will be aware that yesterday kicked off Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW), a synchronized series of global anti-Israel events. IAW is an annual showpiece of the BDS movement, which rather disappointingly has nothing to do with outre sexual practices. The initials stand for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions.
From March 7 through March 20 (yes, the week is actually two weeks), representatives of assorted NGOs will speak on campuses across the US, Canada and Europe with the express purpose of demonizing Israel. Fortunately, there exists an organization called NGO Monitor whose raison d'etre is to combat the "politically and ideologically motivated anti-Israel agendas" of organizations devoted to this country's delegitimization.
Prof. Gerald Steinberg, President of NGO Monitor, explained to The Jerusalem Post that IAW is essentially a series of "mini-Durban" events, meaning that they strategically employ feel-good human rights language to isolate and humiliate Israel. This tactic can be particularly effective on college campuses, where both feeling good and concurring with the perceived "correct" political standpoint on hot-button subjects are often high priorities.
To help intrepid college students combat the flood of anti-Israel rhetoric that will wash over them for the next two weeks, NGO Monitor has constructed a visual aid called the BDS Sewer System, an image that uses a network of pipes to show the links connecting NGOs to their money sources -- and that maps out the uses to which they put the money. The image shows money flowing from governments, the EU, foundations and charities to the organizations, which then use the funds to funnel their ideas to the public via mainstream, fringe, unionized and church group outlets. "Most students are unaware of the extreme agendas and hate-filled language associated with the groups behind IAW," said Jonathan Gilbert of Bruins for Israel, the Hillel society at UCLA. "The Sewer System helps demonstrate this fact to them.”
NGO Monitor notes that while in some cases, funders share the anti-Israel bent of the NGOs they sponsor, in other cases their original intention was entirely benign. In some instances, "governmental and private sources assign funds ostensibly to promote human rights, humanitarian aid, democracy and civil society," but "NGOs divert this support to bolster BDS activity and pursue their own political agendas. Due to an absence of strict guidelines, oversight, accountability and evaluations of decision making, the funding continues year after year.”
The Jerusalem Post asked NGO Monitor for examples. They pointed to the Dutch government, which funded the Interchurch Organization for Development Cooperation (ICCO) on the grounds that it is an “aid organization.” ICCO used the money to finance Electronic Intifada, a website that engages in open political warfare with Israel, comparing Israelis to Nazis and regularly accusing us of ethnic cleansing and genocide. “The Dutch government didn’t know this until we showed it to them,” said Jason Edelstein, speaking for NGO Monitor. “ICCO of course knew how the money was being used, but the Dutch government did not.” Edelstein went on to cite The New Israel Fund and the Ford Foundation as examples of organizations that “have not been fully aware that some funding goes to NGOs that promote BDS and are involved in other aspects of the delegitimization campaign.”
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Comments :
Oct '10
Re: Happy Israeli Apartheid Week!
I've never understood this myself. How can it be apartheid, when the Palestinians have their own government and eventually full statehood?
Feb '11
Re: Happy Israeli Apartheid Week!
Some can take pride in their friends, some can take pride in their enemies.
Oct '10
Re: Happy Israeli Apartheid Week!
Wealth = power, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
A corollary: The bigger and well funded the organization, the greater will be the corruption within it. And that corruption works itself out as following the politically correct course. As hostility towards Israel has become more accepted among the politically correct, this is reflected in their support for such concepts as the IAW.
Jun '10
Re: Happy Israeli Apartheid Week!
Yes, when will people with bombs strapped to their chests be treated just like everyone else? People trying to get to work on time, last day on the job....
May '10
Re: Happy Israeli Apartheid Week!
We should try to come up with a meaning for BDS, but that would endanger the ever-fragile Code of Conduct in about one post. Sounds like a medical condition afflicting the digestive tract.
Good to know the Ford Foundation is continuing the mission of its founder in promoting BDS.
May '10
Re: Happy Israeli Apartheid Week!
And if you are unable to participate at any of the exciting global IAW actions scheduled during the week of March 7-20, consider getting involved at an IAW event the following week, March 21-26 in the UK.
Mar '11
Re: Happy Israeli Apartheid Week!
I'm glad I'm nowhere near a college campus because I'd probably be getting into a lot of fights during Hate Week.
I just read a book called "Trials of the Diapora.." It's by Anthony Julius, the lawyer who defended Deborah Lipstadt against David Irving's libel suit and bankrupted Irving in the process. There should be a statue of him somewhere for that feat alone.
To say he has the goods on modern-day anti Semitism falls way short. He makes his case. Case closed.
Julius devotes many pages to showing why these boycott movements are pure and simple Jew-hatred. If you read the book, you'll find it hard to believe they could be anything but.
That's why your article, and even thousands of others like it, will have no impact on it. This isn't a debate. People want to hate the Jews because it makes them feel superior. That's why they will always hate Jews. They are the most cognitive-dissonance-resistent people in human history. They won't stop now, or ever. End of story.
Jun '10
Re: Happy Israeli Apartheid Week!
Maybe we could coordinate this with "Palestinian Suicide Bomber Week" and "Shoot a Missile Randomly Into Israel Week."
Aug '10
Re: Happy Israeli Apartheid Week!
Is the UNHRC holding any events to mark the occasion?
Edited on Mar 8, 2011 at 2:06pmNov '10
Re: Happy Israeli Apartheid Week!
So, when is "Victims of Palestinian Terrorism Week" again?