Free Speech and the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions of Israel

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ASPartOfMe
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13 Mar 2018, 5:36 pm

Free speech tests U.S. campuses Protection of repugnant anti-Semitism gets emotional and complicated. by Cathy Young

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Concerns about the suppression of speech on college campuses generally focus on left-wing activists seeking to muzzle “offensive” ideas — most recently, last week at Lewis and Clark College Law School in Portland, Oregon, where feminist dissenter Christina Hoff Sommers was repeatedly shouted down by a few angry students.

Yet some have charged that foes of political correctness ignore threats to free speech on campus from the right. Case in point: Also last week, a California professor filed a lawsuit claiming he was barred from speaking at Arizona State University because he supports a boycott of Israel.

The plaintiff, University of California, Berkeley, lecturer and American Muslims for Palestine chair Hatem Bazian, is suing both the university and the state attorney general in a challenge to the Arizona law that prohibits the state from contracting with companies and groups that boycott Israel. Such legislation, intended to counter the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting Israel, is on the books in 24 states — including New York — and is pending in 12 more.

Because of the law, Arizona State University amended its standard speaker agreement to include a “No boycott of Israel” clause. Bazian, who had been invited by the school’s Muslim Students Association to discuss Palestine and the BDS campaign, refused to sign.

One can make a solid case for anti-BDS legislation when it comes to commercial activity. But when such laws result in denying a platform to constitutionally protected speech, they pose a very obvious First Amendment problem.

Last fall, some local lawmakers threatened to use the law to nix concerts by former Pink Floyd singer Roger Waters, a vocal BDS supporter, at the county-owned Nassau Coliseum. That was a bad move; but it’s far worse when anti-BDS measures suppress speech on university campuses, which should be seats of open discourse. For what it’s worth, Arizona State University says that the form Bazian was asked to sign was used in error and is no longer given to speakers.

Leftists have a point when they say that champions of anti-political-correctness free speech often disregard attempts to restrict criticism of Israel. Ironically, this is an area in which conservatives often make a claim similar to those of the campus left: that members of a minority group — in this case, Jewish students — feel attacked and aggrieved by political discourse related to their identity. Two years ago, Israel advocacy groups at the University of California pushed for official university censure of anti-Zionism as bigotry; the university’s board of regents rejected that proposal, issuing a statement that condemned only overtly anti-Semitic forms of anti-Zionist rhetoric.

The issue is complicated. Anti-Israel polemics often do cross the line into anti-Semitism. Indeed, Bazian, the Arizona plaintiff, has come under fire for sharing plainly anti-Semitic memes on Twitter; a retweet showed a grinning Orthodox Jewish man boasting that he is “chosen” and can “kill, rape, smuggle organs & steal the land of Palestinians.” (Bazian apologized and explained that he had not examined the images very carefully.) The proposal to censure anti-Zionism at the University of California was spurred by bias incidents against Jewish students. And one can certainly argue that BDS itself is hostile to academic freedom since it seeks to ostracize Israeli academics.

Nonetheless, freedom of speech protects even advocacy of repugnant and illiberal causes. Sommers, who is Jewish and strongly pro-Israel, has tweeted in support of Bazian’s complaint, saying the mandatory “no boycott of Israel” pledge plainly violates the First Amendment. BDS, she wrote, “should be challenged with logic and evidence, not censorship.”

Amen to that.


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DarthMetaKnight
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13 Mar 2018, 5:39 pm

The BDS movement isn't anti-Semitic. Most BDS supporters don't hate all Jews.

There are plenty of Jews who hate Israel. Do their opinions matter?


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13 Mar 2018, 10:13 pm

Quote:
The plaintiff, University of California, Berkeley, lecturer and American Muslims for Palestine chair Hatem Bazian, is suing both the university and the state attorney general in a challenge to the Arizona law that prohibits the state from contracting with companies and groups that boycott Israel. Such legislation, intended to counter the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting Israel, is on the books in 24 states — including New York — and is pending in 12 more.

Because of the law, Arizona State University amended its standard speaker agreement to include a “No boycott of Israel” clause. Bazian, who had been invited by the school’s Muslim Students Association to discuss Palestine and the BDS campaign, refused to sign.


Can anyone imagine a "No Boycott of Russia" clause? No, neither can I. What makes Israel so bloody special?! Being against the state of Israel does not automatically make one an "anti-Semite" either, but that is what is suggested in the title!



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13 Mar 2018, 10:43 pm

Lintar wrote:
Can anyone imagine a "No Boycott of Russia" clause? No, neither can I. What makes Israel so bloody special?! Being against the state of Israel does not automatically make one an "anti-Semite" either, but that is what is suggested in the title!


Israel constantly receives aid that comes out of American tax dollars. That's why people are mad at Israel in particular.


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The_Face_of_Boo
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14 Mar 2018, 3:46 am

Lintar wrote:
Quote:
The plaintiff, University of California, Berkeley, lecturer and American Muslims for Palestine chair Hatem Bazian, is suing both the university and the state attorney general in a challenge to the Arizona law that prohibits the state from contracting with companies and groups that boycott Israel. Such legislation, intended to counter the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting Israel, is on the books in 24 states — including New York — and is pending in 12 more.

Because of the law, Arizona State University amended its standard speaker agreement to include a “No boycott of Israel” clause. Bazian, who had been invited by the school’s Muslim Students Association to discuss Palestine and the BDS campaign, refused to sign.


Can anyone imagine a "No Boycott of Russia" clause? No, neither can I. What makes Israel so bloody special?! Being against the state of Israel does not automatically make one an "anti-Semite" either, but that is what is suggested in the title!



Because it's religious-cultural, Protestantism is the dominant faith (and even culturally not just religiously) in US Protestant churches, especially the evangelical churches which are way more Old Testament focused than Catholics, have a strong faith that Israel is a holy country for the Jews and justify Zionism - that's why it is a special country for them and Zionism for them is a rightful thing.

https://www.pri.org/stories/2016-10-24/ ... ort-israel

https://cdn0.vox-cdn.com/assets/4830948 ... 3-2014.png

https://saint-tepes.deviantart.com/art/ ... alestine-r :!: ecognition-map-312486757



The_Walrus
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14 Mar 2018, 5:51 am

DarthMetaKnight wrote:
The BDS movement isn't anti-Semitic.

Then why does it target the only Jewish state in the world, which is also by far the most open, liberal, and tolerant country in the Middle East?

I do think a lot of the people who support it are ultimately just misled by the rhetoric, but the leaders are anti-Semites and we shouldn't ignore that.

Equally we shouldn't ignore the sh***y things that Israel does, but the way the BDS movement singles them out is motivated by racism.



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14 Mar 2018, 6:51 am

The_Walrus wrote:
Then why does it target the only Jewish state in the world, which is also by far the most open, liberal, and tolerant country in the Middle East?

I do think a lot of the people who support it are ultimately just misled by the rhetoric, but the leaders are anti-Semites and we shouldn't ignore that.

Equally we shouldn't ignore the sh***y things that Israel does, but the way the BDS movement singles them out is motivated by racism.


I have another theory. There is a lot of rhetoric calling Israel the last European colony, and this makes a certain amount of sense. It's dominated by the European Ashkenazi. Israel may be being singled out not because the Left has suddenly absorbed the protocols of the Elders of Zion, but because the "bad guys" are suspiciously white and this makes them valid targets. That is, BDS is not driven by anti-Jew racism, but anti-White racism.This only makes sense though, if you can accept the possible existence of an anti-White zeitgeist in Western politics, which many on the Left think doesn't exist. That tendency to forgive all sins non-White and exacerbate all sins committed by evil wh***y. These are often the same George Galloway types who "helped" Rhodesia and South Africa out of White rule and couldn't care less about the brutal rape and persecution of Whites there now. They who care nothing about what China is up to in Africa now, often exploiting African people and resources much more ruthlessly than Europeans ever did. Just a theory.


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14 Mar 2018, 11:52 am

^ It is an European colony.



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17 Mar 2018, 3:24 pm

The_Walrus wrote:
DarthMetaKnight wrote:
The BDS movement isn't anti-Semitic.

Then why does it target the only Jewish state in the world, which is also by far the most open, liberal, and tolerant country in the Middle East?

I do think a lot of the people who support it are ultimately just misled by the rhetoric, but the leaders are anti-Semites and we shouldn't ignore that.

Equally we shouldn't ignore the sh***y things that Israel does, but the way the BDS movement singles them out is motivated by racism.


:roll:

There's a big undercover Al Jazeera documentary on its way out, like the one we had in the UK about the Israeli lobby. Israel are frantically trying to block it with cries of antisemitism.

Do you think if there was a white state with white racial roads and white only racial cities built on brown people's stolen land after their homes were bulldozed by the colonisers, there might be a BDS group against that state? And if this was the case would you be saying that BDS movement was motivated by anti-whiteism?


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17 Mar 2018, 9:28 pm

It looks like the truth has won this round.


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18 Mar 2018, 1:53 pm

Rodger waters says American artists are "scared sh**less" to speak out against Israel's crimes.


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18 Mar 2018, 1:57 pm

The_Face_of_Boo wrote:
Because it's religious-cultural, Protestantism is the dominant faith (and even culturally not just religiously) in US Protestant churches, especially the evangelical churches which are way more Old Testament focused than Catholics, have a strong faith that Israel is a holy country for the Jews and justify Zionism - that's why it is a special country for them and Zionism for them is a rightful thing.

I, pretty much, agree with this. This was the way I was raised (my great-grandfather and grandfather were Southern Baptist preachers), and have chosen to still believe this, in adulthood. I believe they're fighting the same fight they started (over ownership of land) when Moses brought the Jewish people back from wandering in the desert for 40 years.

Also, I haven't read the article, or all of this thread, yet, but I just wanted to add: What's the problem with the U.S. recognizing Jerusalem as the capital? If Israel wants that to be their capital, who are we to say they can't / shouldn't? IMO, it's none of our friggin' business which they want to call the capital, and we should respect another country's wishes----and, if yet another country doesn't like it, they can get over themselves!!





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18 Mar 2018, 2:01 pm

JohnPowell wrote:
Rodger waters says American artists are "scared sh**less" to speak out against Israel's crimes.


There are plenty of ultra-orthodox Jews in Israel who want to end the state of Israel entirely.

Given this fact, anti-Zionism can't possibly be anti-Semitic.

Image


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18 Mar 2018, 2:21 pm

Campin_Cat wrote:
The_Face_of_Boo wrote:
Because it's religious-cultural, Protestantism is the dominant faith (and even culturally not just religiously) in US Protestant churches, especially the evangelical churches which are way more Old Testament focused than Catholics, have a strong faith that Israel is a holy country for the Jews and justify Zionism - that's why it is a special country for them and Zionism for them is a rightful thing.

I, pretty much, agree with this. This was the way I was raised (my great-grandfather and grandfather were Southern Baptist preachers), and have chosen to still believe this, in adulthood. I believe they're fighting the same fight they started (over ownership of land) when Moses brought the Jewish people back from wandering in the desert for 40 years.

Also, I haven't read the article, or all of this thread, yet, but I just wanted to add: What's the problem with the U.S. recognizing Jerusalem as the capital? If Israel wants that to be their capital, who are we to say they can't / shouldn't? IMO, it's none of our friggin' business which they want to call the capital, and we should respect another country's wishes----and, if yet another country doesn't like it, they can get over themselves!!


The Bible isn't a history book and God isn't an estate agent.

East Jerusalem is recognised as occupied Palestinian territory by pretty much the entire world.


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18 Mar 2018, 2:24 pm

DarthMetaKnight wrote:
JohnPowell wrote:
Rodger waters says American artists are "scared sh**less" to speak out against Israel's crimes.


There are plenty of ultra-orthodox Jews in Israel who want to end the state of Israel entirely.

Given this fact, anti-Zionism can't possibly be anti-Semitic.

Image



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18 Mar 2018, 2:59 pm

JohnPowell wrote:


Well played John! A+

In my opinion, neo-Zionism is similar to anti-Semitism. Neo-Zionists insist that Judaism is a monolithic bloc, and, therefore, insist that any opposition to Zionism is as bad as another Holocaust.

Meanwhile, anti-Semites insist that all Jews are bad and that the only way to stop Zionism is with another Holocaust.

Saying "Anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism!" is like saying "Anyone who disagrees with King Salman is an Islamophobe!"

We need to see the internal divisions within Islam and Judaism, just as we see the internal disagreements within Christianity.


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