Growing Isolation: Boycott of Israel Crosses to Governments’ Realm
By Ramzy Baroud
September 12, 2012
Should Israel be worried? Very much so, for the age of total impunity is coming to an end. Critical voices of the
Israeli occupation and mistreatment of Palestinians are rising - not only within civil society circles, but among world
governments as well.
The picture may seem grim if seen through the prisms of the recent US Republican and Democratic National Conventions.
But the world is not the United States’ government, which is defined by self-serving politics and a quisling corporate
media that often places Israeli interests over those of the US itself. Now with the decline of the US as an economic
superpower, and as other countries and regional blocs jockey for an advanced position in the new world order, Israel is
sure to suffer further isolation in coming years.
Almost daily new evidence is emerging to demonstrate this increasingly stark reality. Israel’s friends are fully aware
of this, as are Israeli politicians. The emerging new realization is that money and power are rarely enough to buy
legitimacy. South Africa is expectedly leading the way towards that new global paradigm shift, and others countries are
following suit.
Recently, South Africa’s cabinet passed a decision requiring Israel to distinguish between products made in Israel and
those made in illegal Jewish colonies in the West Bank. The decision was both politically sound and morally consistent
with the country’s anti-apartheid legacy. It was also a natural progression of South Africa’s policies, which have
reflected impatience with Israel through the years.
It is clear that Israel has chosen the apartheid option, not just as a de facto outcome of its military policies, but
through a decided legal and political pattern. South Africa’s decision, however, was not just motivated by political
necessity. Veterans of the anti-apartheid struggle have had numerous influences on the country’s civil society. Even the
new generation is intoned with a freedom discourse that unites most sectors of society. ‘Freedom for Palestine’ was a
natural fit in that powerful discourse and no amount of Israeli propaganda has been enough to deter South Africans from
standing in solidarity with Palestinians. The feelings are, of course, mutual.
The total output of Israeli trade with South Africa was modest to begin with. Since 2009, trade volumes dipped
significantly, and political ties became colder than ever. This had much to do with the Israel war on Gaza (2008-09) and
what was seen as an act of Israeli piracy against the Turkish ship the Mavi Marmara in May 31, 2011. South Africa, along
with few other countries, withdrew its ambassador from Israel in protest of the deadly raid which killed nine peace
activists.
The matter is of greater significance than dollars and cents. The latter will become a major factor when a global
boycott reaches a critical mass. The real danger is the precedence that South Africa continues to set, which will
provide other countries with legal and political references.
Soon after South Africa’s decision – which followed remarks made by various officials discouraging their nationals from
visiting Israel, and was followed by another major university voting for divestment and boycott – pro-Israel officials
have tried to mobilize. Denis McShane, British MP and Policy Council member for ‘Labour Friends of Israel’, reacted by
making dismaying and historically inconsistent parallels between South Africa and Nazi Germany. Writing in the Jewish
Chronicle on September 6, Moira Schneider said that MacShane “likened the boycott of Israeli products to the kauf nicht
bei Juden imperative of Nazi Germany.”
“Criticism of Israel is perfectly legitimate, but we have to be clear that the new anti-Semitic trope is beyond the pale
of legitimate criticism,” he was quoted as saying. “The notion of Israel as an apartheid state is deliberately promoted
because an apartheid state cannot exist.”
While the flawed logic has been uttered numerous times in the past, MacShane’s alarm now can be explained outside the
political context of South Africa, but rather in terms of what is happening in his own country. Indeed, there has been a
string of statements pointing at efforts underway in several European countries to enact laws relevant to the illegality
of the Jewish settlements.
Some recent statements include British Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt "dropp(ing) the strongest hint yet that the
UK may be moving towards a ban on goods from illegal Israeli settlements." (The Electronic Intifada, July 5, 2012).
Towards the end of last year, Ireland's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade renewed his country's commitment to the
exclusion of settlement products from the EU. More recently, on September 5, Israel's daily Haaretz reported on the
Norwegian Foreign Minister's comments regarding the import of goods produced in the settlements, “which we consider
illegal according to international law.”
Still more, on September 7, The Jerusalem Post reported that “the European Union is considering instituting a ban on
imports of products made in Israeli settlements, a Greek Foreign Ministry official was quoted as saying to a group of
Israeli and Palestinian journalists in Athens...”
Such a shift in language would never have been achieved without the civil society mobilization that occurred in several
countries. As in South Africa, governments are being held accountable by vigilant and tireless groups, collectively
pushing for Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS). They will not reduce their efforts until Israel changes course,
respects international law, and frees Palestinians from decades-long military bondage.
Unable to fathom the global paradigm shift, Israeli politicians are responding with an incoherent strategy. Israeli
Foreign Ministry spokesman, Yigal Palmor accused the government of South Africa of ‘exclusion and discrimination.’ The
Israeli government decried the “blatant discrimination,” claiming it was “based on national and political distinction”.
Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon went even further, accusing South Africa of exactly that which was alleged of
Israel. “Unfortunately it turns out that the changes that took place in South Africa over the years have not brought
about basic changes in the country, and it remains an apartheid state,” Ayalon said (Jerusalem Post, August 23).
But angry words aside, the world is changing. Israel, however, is digressing into a dark corner where racism and
apartheid are still applied with impunity. Many Israelis are refusing to attest to their country’s fall into the abyss.
A wakeup call can only arrive when the world treats the Israeli government in the same way that South Africa’s apartheid
regime was once treated.
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Ramzy Baroud (www.ramzybaroud.net) is an internationally-syndicated columnist and the editor of PalestineChronicle.com. His latest book is My Father Was
a Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story (Pluto Press, London.)