Broader View

Posts Tagged ‘BDS’

July 17, 2019

The boycott, divestment, and sanctions campaign (BDS, more accurately bigotry, deception, and slander) has failed spectacularly. Israel’s economy is booming, exports are expanding, tourism and foreign investment are thriving. But the misguided initiative has not been completely inconsequential. It has achieved some results and caused some pain—albeit not to its intended target. BDS efforts have hurt the Palestinian economy and people, the institutions unsuccessfully weaponized against Israel, the cause of peace, and innocent bystanders. Read the rest of this entry »

July 12, 2019

The boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaign is an effort to delegitimize the state of Israel and deny Jewish peoplehood and sovereignty. Its stated goals are to change Israeli policies with regard to borders and settlements, civil and political rights for Israel’s Arab minority (who in fact already enjoy full civil and political rights), and absorbing millions of descendants of Palestinian refugees who aim to overrun—and ultimately to destroy—the Jewish state.  Read the rest of this entry »

September 23, 2016

Dear Anti-Israel Activist,

I don’t know you personally, but I know what you do. You demonstrate on college campuses, in front of stores that sell Israeli products, at co-op grocery outlets, and in the town squares of liberal places like my community of Seattle. You wear a keffiyeh and carry signs that say “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Shall Be Free” and other slogans that deny Israel’s right to exist. I see your swastikas and other classic antisemitic images. Read the rest of this entry »

September 18, 2014

I previously wrote and spoke about the American Studies Association’s boycott of Israeli academics, and the complicit role of Stanford University as an institutional member of the ASA. I asked Stanford to follow the lead of Bard College, Brandeis University, Indiana University, Kenyon College, Penn State Harrisburg), the University of Texas (Dallas) and the University of Utah, and terminate its institutional membership in the ASA.  Failing that, Stanford could announce that, as a matter of policy, it will not allow university funds to be used for ASA membership dues and journal subscriptions, travel to ASA conferences, or other ASA-related activities.  (The American Studies Program can maintain its academic freedom and independence by raising its own funds for this purpose, separate from the university budget.) Read the rest of this entry »

September 7, 2014

[At the request of some of my classmates, I am posting here the comments I made at a TED-style talk at our recent reunion.]

I am here to talk about Israel, the American Studies Association boycott, and the role of Stanford University. Read the rest of this entry »