The activist
Roger Waters, the former singer of Pink Floyd, has received rave reviews for his current world tour. But critics have accused the 75-year-old Briton of anti-Semitism for his vocal support of BDS, an organization that calls for a boycott of Israel. His response: “They just want me to keep my mouth shut!” A debate.
Since the so-called, “Israeli withdrawal” Gaza has been an “open-air prison”, a humanitarian disaster that Israel caused. This fact is not disputed. Israel has maintained an 11- year illegal siege as a form of collective punishment of the population of Palestine. Most recently, we’ve seen Israeli snipers during the Great March for Return demonstrations, just following orders, gunning down unarmed Palestinian protesters. And by accusing the BDS movement of antiSemitism, you are suggesting that I, as a supporter of BDS, am either anti-Semitic or stupid. Actually, I am neither. The reason why Israel is so worked up about BDS is, in the words of former Israeli General Amos Gilad, „We don’t do Gandhi very well.“ The thing Israel fears the most is a non-violent grassroots movement that demands equality and justice for all, regardless of religion or ethnicity. That is what BDS is.
Last year, the young singer Riff Cohen from Tel Aviv, who has Arabic roots by the way, wanted to perform at the Pop Culture Festival in Berlin. BDS put pressure on the singer because the Israeli Embassy was one of the festival sponsors. In fact, it subsidised the singer‘s travel expenses to the tune of 500 euros. Does BDS think that Israeli artists should no longer be allowed to perform in Germany?
First of all, your question is very misleading. BDS does not target individuals. The movement is aimed against the government of Israel and complicit institutions that collude with it on human rights violations.
Riff Cohen is an individual.
True. What BDS was disturbed by at the Pop Culture Festival in Berlin was the support by the Israeli government. The government of Israel sponsors the travel expenses and other expenses of artists as a form of “cultural whitewashing”. Representatives of the Israeli Foreign Ministry admitted that they use culture as a propaganda tool to show off Israel‘s „nice side“. Festivals like Pop Culture in Berlin are part of this political move to “whitewash” Israel‘s image and normalize its illegal actions. No one is oppressing Riff Cohen! She can come and go as she pleases. The point is that the Palestinians in Gaza are not free.
You have a humanitarian concern, namely to draw attention to the awful situation in Gaza. Unfortunately, you are joining forces with an organisation that denies Israel’s right to exist.
BDS does not deny Israel’s right to exist. The BDS movement has three goals: the end of military rule over the Palestinians in the occupied territories that started in 1967. Complete equality for the Palestinian citizens of Israel, who form around 20% of the population and are systematically discriminated against because they are not Jewish – and, as you know, Benjamin Netanyahu’s new nation-state law means that this discrimination is now regulated by law. Third, the BDS insists on the implementation of the internationally recognised right of return for Palestinian refugees, who were driven out of their homes when Israel was founded and afterwards. The only state being denied the right to exist is Palestine.
The head of the BDS National Committee BNC is Omar Barghouti. He says, for example, „It is impossible to accept Israel as a Jewish state on our land.“
I have known Omar for several years and have followed his statements. He is a defender of human rights, who was awarded the Gandhi Peace Award in 2017 from the NGO „Promoting Enduring Peace“ He, like the rest of the BDS movement, fights against every form of racism and religious discrimination. Many responsible people have problems with a state in which a group defined by its religion or ethnic affiliation rules over a group of another religion or ethnicity – and in which two entirely different legislative programmes for the two groups apply. Can you imagine Germany with separate rights and laws for Catholics and Protestants? This summer in Germany, there were demands to discredit or silence me. I am not alone. Look around, and you will see that anyone who criticises the policies of Israel towards the Palestinians is attacked in a similar fashion!
Everyone in Germany who wants to express criticism about the Israeli government’s settlement policy is free to do so. In fact, it is all over the newspapers.
Criticizing Israeli settlements is a good first step, but you’re missing the bigger issue of decades of apartheid and ethnic cleansing. Anyway, the point I’m trying to make is that smear campaigns against critics are among the favourite methods employed by the Israeli government. It‘s annoying, because it stifles free speech and discourages the conversation, but, it is becoming less effective, thank God. When I speak to my audiences on this tour, I get the impression that the overwhelming majority of the German people feel that our brothers and sisters all over the world should enjoy equal human and civil rights according to international law, regardless of their
religion or ethnicity.
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