After the school year BDS suffered losses in academic organizations and in colleges, where votes, trustee decisions, and lawsuits have pushed back strongly against discrimination. But on the political scene the situation is more mixed, especially in Britain, where a court decision and the election results bode ill for restraining the BDS movement. Most ominous were cultural incidents, particularly in Chicago where an LGBTQ march excluded Jewish participants. The Chicago incident shows that BDS and pro-Palestinian support is an intersectional litmus test for progressive Jews whose terms are intrinsically antisemitic. While the institutional environment for opposing BDS is improving, the cultural environment is worsening,
Analysis
With the school year over, the focus of BDS activity has moved to other parts of the academic ecosystem. One of the most important developments was the adoption of a resolution by the membership of the Modern Language Association (MLA) calling on the organization to “refrain from endorsing the boycott” of Israeli universities. The resolution, which passed by a large margin, calls on the organization to refrain from anti-Israel activities including endorsement of BDS. BDS supporters expressed outrage at the results and claimed the resolution ‘suppressed debate.’
Pushback against BDS was also evidence at Pitzer College, where the student government passed a BDS resolution this year. The college’s board of trustees, however, has now issued a forceful statement rescinding the decision. The trustees also directed the student government to be neutral regarding BDS, particularly with respect to funding student groups, finding the resolution “applies a particular point of view on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in restricting the use of Student Activities Funds by all Student Senate-approved student groups. In so doing, [the amendment] inappropriately curtails the funds usage rights of all such groups, including those that may have a different perspective.” Trustee control over student government expenditures, and the explicit equation of BDS with viewpoint discrimination, has broad application.
Discrimination against Jewish and pro-Israel students is also at the center of a lawsuit against San Francisco State University officials and trustees. Filed on behalf of former and current Jewish students, the suit alleges the university has tolerated harassment from BDS, Muslim, and pro-Palestinian students, creating a ‘hostile environment.’ Among recent incidents were the shouting down of Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat in 2016 by BDS protestors and the denial of access by Jewish groups to university events.
The university has denied the allegations. A response from the pro-BDS group ‘Jewish Voice for Peace’ (JVP) claimed the lawsuit was a “frivolous” effort to “stifle organizing for Palestinian rights.” San Francisco State University has a long radical tradition and was where Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) originated out of the long-established General Union of Palestine Students and Muslim Student Association.
Allegations that pro-BDS students were the victims also appeared at the University of California at Irvine, where the SJP chapter accused visiting Israeli soldiers of making sexist and racist remarks during a May visit. The SJP chapter had physically and verbally harassed the soldiers, necessitating a police escort from the building where they had been speaking. The university administration at Irvine has failed to respond to complaints regarding the May incident.
Alleging harassment and interference by pro-Israel elements was not restricted to student groups. After a failed search for the ‘Edward Said Professorship in Middle East Studies’ at Fresno State University, pro-BDS faculty accused Jewish and pro-Israel groups of carrying out “vicious and discriminatory attacks” to destroy the search and thwart Palestinian scholarship. The university denied the allegations and noted serious procedural failings. Blaming Jewish and pro-Israel groups usefully served to motivate pro-BDS groups in a transparent effort to cover up a biased search for a polemic candidate.
Elsewhere in academia, BDS campaigns at Chilean universities brought about the cancellation of talks by a visiting Israeli scholar. Leading BDS and Islamist activist Linda Sarsour was also cheered during her controversial commencement speech at a City University of New York campus.
The most profound BDS incident was in the cultural sphere. At the annual Chicago Dyke March a Jewish participant was forced to withdraw after complaints that her colorful striped Jewish Pride flag containing the Star of David made others feel “unsafe.” The participant, a representative of the group A Wider Bridge that works to bring together North American and Israel LGBTQ communities, complained that she had marched with the flag in the past but on this occasion was told that “This march is pro-Palestine and explicitly anti-Zionist.” Despite claims that the march was ‘intersectional,’ only Palestinian flags were permitted.
In its official statement, the organizers complained that the Star of David on a flag made participants feel unsafe and that “Zionism is an inherently white-supremacist ideology.” In an interview the organizer later claimed that Jewish participants were deliberately antagonizing Palestinian participants and the Star of David issue was a fabrication. She also alleged the story was part of a “well-funded, highly coordinated and use [of] media tools to stifle any criticism of the State of Israel.”
For its part, the Chicago branch of JVP supported the organizers’ decision to exclude the Jewish group. In a statement they pointed A Wider Bridge’s connection with Israel and blamed the “destructive impact of the State of Israel’s appropriation of Jewish symbols and identity.”
The remarkable incident produced a firestorm of responses excoriating the organizers for their overt antisemitism. At least one commentator, however, equated what was he claimed was the intolerance of pro-Israel groups with that of the march’s organizers.
The incident demonstrates that elements of the progressive movement now explicitly demand Jews renounce support for Israel as the cost of participation or even recognition, and that Jewish nationalism has been anathematized as ‘white supremacy.’ The judgment of what constitutes acceptable Jewish symbols, or Jewish presence, now depends on others’ sense of ‘safety.’
The targeting of Jewish LGBTQ individuals by BDS forces has become a pattern. At the Israel Day parade in New York City a group from JVP posed as part of a Jewish LGBTQ group but then disrupted the parade with anti-Israel protests. JVP members were arrested and then expressed surprised at the hostile response.
There were a number of important political developments, particularly in Britain, where the Labour Party’s strong showing in the recent elections nearly elevated Jeremy Corbyn to Prime Minister. Jews and others were outspoken regarding the vocal support for BDS and anti-Israel bias from Corbyn and his associates. The election results, however, showed that these concerns, and Labour’s positions, were irrelevant to voters.
Also in Britain, the High Court ruled that the government could not forbid local councils from adopting BDS policies, finding that a ban overstepped statutory power. Pro-BDS groups that brought the lawsuit promptly hailed the decision. Whether legislative solutions are possible in the current political climate is unclear.
Internationally, Spanish courts in Madrid and Barcelona struck down BDS policies that forbade the municipalities from having commercial or other contacts with Israel until Palestinian self-determination was realized. More than 50 Spanish have adopted such policies, which have been the subject of numerous lawsuits by pro-peace organizations.
In the US, a showdown is emerging between various elements within the Democratic Party. New York City mayor Bill De Blasio stated his strong opposition to BDS, as did House Minority leader Chuck Schumer. The Massachusetts Democratic Party also rejected a plank addressing Israeli ‘settlements.’
But the California Democratic Party adopted a resolution decrying the “Israeli occupation” and the proposal to move the US embassy to Jerusalem. BDS supporters describe the resolution as a significant shift in party policy that foretells a shift at the national level away from support for Israel. Such a shift may already be underway, as seen by the sponsorship by Wisconsin Democrat Mark Pocan of a BDS presentation on Capitol Hill. Pocan had anonymously sponsored the event but his identity was later revealed after pressure from other lawmakers. A similar incident took place in 2016 when Texas Democrat Sheila Jackson Lee anonymously reserved a space for an anti-Israel presentation that was later moved off Capitol Hill.
Legislation preventing states from investing in companies that boycott Israel was signed in Nevada and Kansas, approved by the North Carolina legislature, and has been introduced in Ohio.
Finally, in the cultural sphere, as a result of its Israeli star, Gal Gadot, the film ‘Wonder Woman’ has been banned from Tunisia, Jordan, and Lebanon, as well as criticized by BDS activists. At present the film has earned over $325 million domestically.
The British band Radiohead also responded forcefully to BDS criticism of its upcoming appearance in Israel, calling it “divisive.” BDS protestors at the Glastonbury music festival also heckled Radiohead during their performance over the group’s upcoming appearance in Israel. And after protests from lyricist Sir Tim Rice, a New Zealand production restored the word ‘Israel’ in a children’s production of “Joseph and His Technicolor Dreamcoat.” The show’s local producer, who wanted to avoid ‘trouble,’ had removed the word.