OPINION: Despite the dangers, it’s high time the BDS bashers got a bashing
Richard Ferrer has been editor of Jewish News since 2009. As one of Britain's leading Jewish voices he writes for The Times, Independent, New Statesman and many other titles. Richard previously worked at the Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, edited the Boston Jewish Advocate and created the Channel 4 TV series Jewish Mum Of The Year.
By Richard Ferrer, editor, Jewish News
THIS WEEK the Government loudly issued guidance to stop local councils, NHS Trusts, universities and other public bodies from boycotting trade and investment with any of 162 member countries of the World Trade Organisation.
Of course Canada and New Zealand don’t require such sweeping safeguards to protect their trade deals, so you don’t need to be Ban Ki-moon to see this wide net has been cast to primarily protect just one state – Israel.
The way this move was drum-rolled in the media led some to believe it was going to be a new and bold legal mechanism for safeguarding UK trade with Israel.
Let’s be clear, it’s NOT that.
But given the centrality of delegitimisation campaigns in the UK, the Government should be praised for bringing the issue back into sharp focus. These regulations curb councils through central Government legislation, so the anti-democratic argument against them is clear. They also create an issue in terms of cross-party opposition to Israel boycotts.
Before Parliament spoke virtually as one against them. Now they are a party political hot potato.
Jeremy Corbyn stated this week that blocking council independence is “an attack on local democracy”. I might need to lie down in a dark room for finally agreeing with him.
Even for those fiercely opposed to boycotts, these new measures will pose a dilemma due to curbs on concil freedom.
But despite all the dangers, the Government’s ends in this case justify its means. Just.
Because there is no alternative to stem the ideological onslaught of Israel-hating and Jew-baiting, camouflaged as right-on political concern.
Because no other countries have been targeted by a local council or an NHS trust or in recent times. The words ‘Israel’ and ‘boycott’ are now synonymous across parts of England, Scotland and Wales.
Because Britain is the European capital of maniacal Israel bashing and its lunatic fringe – the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement. Because the atmosphere is becoming uncomfortable – even intolerable – for British Jews, especially students, who are often on the receiving end.
This week the Jewish co-chair of Oxford University’s Labour Club quit, claiming a large number of fellow students “have some kind of problem with Jews” after the club endorsed ‘Israel Apartheid Week’.
Last week London’s King’s College pledged to punish pro-Palestinian thugs who set off fire alarms, smashed a window and hurled chairs at a Jewish Society event. Of course Israel doesn’t need government intervention to protect it from boycotts. They have zero impact on a country the UK heavily relies on. Annual trade between Israel and the UK is worth £4billion. Business is booming and growing at a rapid rate.
The UK is Israel’s biggest export market after the USA. This week the UK and Israel rubber-stamped an co-operation deal for defending national infrastructures such as banks, transport and power plants from cyber attack. It’s a deal that makes everyone in Britain safer.
The NHS relies on Israel. One in six of its drugs come from the Jewish state, including Azilect, the most advanced treatment available for Parkinson’s Disease. If there is a cure for cancer, you can be sure an Israeli scientist will bloody well find it.
The country’s irrigation and farming methods feed parched third world populations and show them how to reuse 80 percent of their wastewater.
No oil, just toil. That’s Israel.
All this is accomplished in the middle of the world’s crappiest neighbourhood, where virtually every other country from Gibraltar to the Khyber Pass is a blotch on humanity that richly deserves a few boycotts, divestments and sanctions of their own.
Tel Aviv is a brief drive away from Hezbollah to the north, Hamas to the west and ISIS and al-Qaeda to the east – where millions suffer under tyrannical systems that detest minorities, women who drive and people on Twitter. And Jews. My how they hate Jews.
A casual onlooker would hold Israel in esteem, not contempt. But for Britain’s [often publicly-funded] boycott movement, and sadly all too many on the left, no good deed goes unpunished when it comes to one county. Facts come second to fanaticism for this batty bunch of book-burners.
As Brendan O’Neill, the editor of Spiked Online, recently wrote in this newspaper: “Israel-bashing brings together both intolerant, austere Islamist outfits with well-to-do white people from Islington who don’t believe in God. It makes partners of youthful politicos who fancy themselves as open-minded and diehard conspiracy theorists who believe Jews run the world.”
Who’d be a member of that club?
Local authorities have no business turning unexamined assumptions into divisive political positions. Clackmannanshire Council doesn’t need a foreign policy. That’s why these new guidelines are required.
It might be like taking a javelin to lance a boil, but this abscess won’t clear up on its own without bursting.
* This article was first published in the International Business Times
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
