Sting in the BDS tail: it has made exclusion among Australians respectable

IRVING WALLACH: By fixing a red line that labels one side as ‘good’ and the other as so ‘evil’ that it deserves to be shunned, BDS excludes any moral view other than its own

AFTER THE EMOTIONAL roller coaster of the Sydney Festival boycott for the past few weeks, a light bulb moment came with recent release of Israeli writer David Grossman’s new book, More Than I Love My Life. Grossman has been hailed as the conscience of the nation. He is an outspoken critic of the moral corruption that the Occupation has engendered in Israel.

Grossman represents those Israelis who speak out and know that a viable independent Palestinian state alongside Israel is essential to the security and future of both nations. That is the correct thing in every possible way.

So wouldn’t the international Palestinian Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) support Grossman and other Israelis who are against the Occupation? These Israelis must be their counterparts from over the border. After all, Grossman has written several novels and countless articles publicly condemning the Occupation and calling for its end.

Grossman has not been alone. Another Israeli who is outspoken against the Occupation is choreographer Ohad Naharin, creator of Decadance, the dance work that became the focus of the Festival boycott call.

Israel’s peace camp overwhelmingly includes Israeli artists, academics and ordinary Israelis – even soldiers who object to military service in the occupied West Bank. In Israel they have been vilified by the ugly nationalist right, ranging from former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, settlers and annexationists.

The perplexing and absurd nature of BDS is that they boycott anything and everything Israeli, including the peace and two-state camp. BDS is a blunt and blind movement. This has caused many to doubt whether BDS is for two states, Israel and Palestine side by side, or just one big Palestinian state.