Time Magazine Legitimizes Anti-Semitic BDS Movement

Over at Time Magazine, Sanya Mansoor writes a love letter to the BDS Movement:

The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement relies on putting political and economic pressure on Israel. The goal is to push Israel to recognize the rights of Palestinian citizens currently living in Israel; allow Palestinian refugees, who were driven out of the country as early as 1948 when Israel was created, to return to their homes; and withdraw from all land that it seized after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, including the the occupied West Bank—which is claimed by the Palestinians.

Mansoor's paragraph contains significant omissions. First, the BDS Movement wants much more than the land Israel won during Six Day War. If one reads BDS' 2005 Call to Action it states, "Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall." 

So BDS isn't merely content with the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and the Golan Heights. It wants all of Israel and therefore wants Israel to cease to exist. That's not going to happen. Particularly in light of the growing acceptance of Israel by its Arab neighbors. 

Nor does Mansoor mention the security barrier. But there is this passage:

In some ways, BDS continues and was born out of the lack of alternative ways to express Palestinian grievances. “Every other form of Palestinian resistance has been criminalized and made unavailable,” says Noura Erakat, a human rights attorney and assistant professor at Rutgers University. “It’s not that BDS is integral. What do we have besides it?” 

And what exactly were those "alternative ways to express Palestinian grievances"? I believe Erakat is talking about suicide bombers who saw fit to detonate themselves on buses, restaurants and universities in Israel. Between 2000 and 2004, there were 127 suicide bombings carried out in Israel. Since 2005, there have been 17. I suppose Erakat longs for those days. Interesting how Mansoor makes no mention of it. But why should she? What does she care for Jews? Yet it raises a larger question to as to why the supposedly non-violent BDS would object to Israel defending itself from violence.

Nor does Mansoor delve into the question of Palestinian refugees who are distinct from the rest of the world's refugees. The descendants of Palestinian male refugees, even those born and raised in the United States, are eligible for refugee status. This would include Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib who is referenced in the article in glowing terms.

It should come as no surprise that Mansoor claims BDS isn't anti-Semitic and is only about putting pressure on Israel. If BDS is about targeting Israel then why did it target a non-Israeli Jew like reggae artist Matisyahu?

Of course, it doesn't help matters when a segment of the Jewish population and so-called human rights organizations see fit to go along with BDS. Nor does it help when a mainstream publication like Time Magazine gives anti-Semitic hatred a veneer of respectability and legitimacy.