Why our boycott campaign against Israel makes sense #BDS

[InigoMontoya]

For those of you who want to boycott Israeli products, this site is remarkably useful:

 

http://www.buycottisrael.com/

 

For those of you who want to actively support the Israeli economy, this site is remarkably useful:

 

http://www.buycottisrael.com/

[blake]

I believe i am correct in thinking that it was the United Nations who divided Palestine up to give the Jews somewhere to live in 1948 as compensation for what happened in WW2..

 

no that is not correct and is in fact one of the most widely believed historical misconceptions of the whole issue, namely that Israel was like a compensatory 'gift' from the international community in reaction to the Holocaust.

 

when in fact the whole fact of Mandate Palestine was set up after WW1 was to bring about a Jewish homeland as per the Balfour Declaration.

 

the whole Israel/Palestine issue was like a tick tock tick tock timebomb that had been going on for thirty years plus, prior to 1948. The Holocaust did give the nascent state a good deal of international support after Israel declared independence that might not have been there otherwise, in 1948. But there would have been a war of independence in Palestine anyway, even without WW2 and the Holocaust. By the mid to late 1930s, before WW2 had even started in Europe, Palestinian Jews (Zionists) and Palestinian Arabs alike were realising that war between the two, which eventually exploded in 1948, was probably inevitable.

 

whether Israel would have come into being if the Holocaust had not happened is one of the bigger 'what if' questions in modern history. My guess is yes, Israel would have happened without the Holocaust, Zionism was already a very significant nationalist movement, but it would have played out very differently.

[geared]

The holocaust and the events leading up to it did drive many jews to that region seeking refuge.

 

IIRC at one point there were so many coming that limits had to be put in place to stem the influx.

 

One of the (many) reasons it all kicked off is basically because they couldn't share the holy sites in Jereselm, even tho it had been mandated.

I think the wailing wall was off limits to Jews at times, and I'm sure they reciprocated that behavior towards the Muslims.

 

There was some movement of Muslims out of Israeli areas prior to 1948 as well.

[blake]

The holocaust and the events leading up to it did drive many jews to that region seeking refuge.

 

.

 

true but there were loads there already. They had been coming in in their thousands even before Hitler, WW2, and the Holocaust, there had been nearly thirty years of Jewish/Arab clashes.

 

also be careful not to overstress the significance of the holy sites in previous times. In fact even now it has come to be more of an issue than it was then, the importance of the holy sites can be overstressed and the two really important core issues are borders and security, not the holy sites and refugees.

 

it is primarily about nationalism, not religion. Jerusalem is important because the Israelis see it as their national capital, not because that is where the western wall is. Between 1948-67 when they had no access to the site, it was not all that big an issue to the mostly secular Israelis, also the Al Aqsa site is important to the Arabs as a symbol of Palestinian nationalism more than as a Muslim holy site. When the mufti gave the Al Aqsa site a bit of a makeover in the Mandate period, it was to serve the Palestinian Arab nationalist cause, not religous Islam.

[ronthenekred]

Why post your vile drivel then?

 

That itch needs scratching again lad.

[ghost rider]

true but there were loads there already. They had been coming in in their thousands even before Hitler, WW2, and the Holocaust, there had been nearly thirty years of Jewish/Arab clashes.

 

also be careful not to overstress the significance of the holy sites in previous times. In fact even now it has come to be more of an issue than it was then, the importance of the holy sites can be overstressed and the two really important core issues are borders and security, not the holy sites and refugees.

 

it is primarily about nationalism, not religion. Jerusalem is important because the Israelis see it as their national capital, not because that is where the western wall is. Between 1948-67 when they had no access to the site, it was not all that big an issue to the mostly secular Israelis, also the Al Aqsa site is important to the Arabs as a symbol of Palestinian nationalism more than as a Muslim holy site. When the mufti gave the Al Aqsa site a bit of a makeover in the Mandate period, it was to serve the Palestinian Arab nationalist cause, not religous Islam.

It is mostly about nationalism then,nationalism is growing all over the world even here.All this happening in the world makes it inevitable to me that we will eventually all destroy ourselves.Maybe we are not as civilised and intelligent as we think we are.I have read and heard on radio and tv that Gazans will not rest until Israel ceases to exist so peace will never happen there.The stubbornless from both sides will eventually cause them to destroy themselves with the innocent bearing the brunt of it.

 

---------- Post added 10-08-2014 at 13:07 ----------

 

Israel-Gaza conflict: 150,000 protest in London for end to 'massacre and arms trade

A Jewish father told a Press Association reporter that while many of his Jewish friends were equally as outraged by the apocalyptic images emanating from the region, they were too afraid to join the march.

 

Dan Rosenberg, 43, said: “It is horrific what is going on in Gaza. It is collective punishment. I don't know how any human being can stand back while this is happening.

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/israelgaza-conflict-thousands-protest-in-london-for-end-to-massacre-and-arms-trade-9659180.html

 

---------- Post added 09-08-2014 at 23:46 ----------

 

 

If you pay a visit to Israel you will understand why the WORLD does not approve of its inhumane behavior. You don't need to pay a visit but some are far removed from reality and even the internet wont help...

I thought the blockade was built because of terrorist attacks on Israel by Hamas militants killing innocent victims in Israel,up until that point when the people of Gaza decided to elect a terrorist organisation in to power that Gazans were free to enter and work in Israel if they wanted too.Feel free to correct me on this if i am wrong.I do not think islam agrees with Jewish values.Muslims have a system of helping each other and not making money out of the poor where has Jews believe in the opposite.I imagine this causes a massive rift between the two.

[Mozilla]

Map showing damaged structures in Gaza from Israeli bombardment

 

https://twitter.com/pgo1980/status/498425981930332160/photo/1

[Intake Too]

Map showing damaged structures in Gaza from Israeli bombardment

 

https://twitter.com/pgo1980/status/498425981930332160/photo/1

 

Actually only around 20% of the damage has been caused my Israel. The rest is done by Hamas.

[ronthenekred]

Actually only around 20% of the damage has been caused my Israel. The rest is done by Hamas.

 

20%? Now what you need to do is link some form of independent evidence.

[firemanbob]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-28688179

Caution needed with Gaza casualty figures

 

War zones are not easy places to collect statistics.

 

In the Gaza conflict, most news organisations have been quoting from the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which leads a group of humanitarian organisations known as the Protection Cluster.

 

Its recent report said that as of 6 August, 1,843 Palestinians had been killed and 66 Israelis and one Thai national since Israel launched Operation Protective Edge on 8 July.

 

Of those Palestinians, the status of 279 could not be identified, at least 1,354 were civilians, including 415 children and 214 women, the UN body reported.

 

So there were 216 members of armed groups killed, and another 725 men who were civilians. Among civilians, more than three times as many men were killed as women, while three times as many civilian men were killed as fighters.

 

The UN report carries a caveat with its figures: "Data on fatalities and destruction of property is consolidated by the Protection and Shelter clusters based on preliminary information, and is subject to change based on further verifications."

 

There has been some research suggesting that men in general are more likely to die in conflict than women, although no typical ratio is given.

 

Nonetheless, if the Israeli attacks have been "indiscriminate", as the UN Human Rights Council says, it is hard to work out why they have killed so many more civilian men than women.