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Saturday 18 February 2012

Anti-Israel Boycott Campaign ‘Sickening, Dishonest, Cult’–Norman Finklestein

 

It’s a wonderful co-incidence and one worth sharing:

As video clips of last year’s Manchester “Big Tent for Israel” advocacy conference become  available (http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5828274701A64CEA) comes another containing an extraordinary admission from US-Jewish anti-Israel academic, Norman Finklestein.

While he continues to spout his customary anti-Israel rhetoric ad nauseum, Finklestein also admits that he is sick of  Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions measures which he describes as ‘dishonest’ and a ‘cult’. The original clip was more than 30 minutes in length and has been shortened by the editors of the Huffington Post Monitor. The revised transcript below was published by Adam Levick at CFI Watch: It is fortunate that the editing was done so swiftly as for some strange reason, the owners of the original have now made it unavailable to view!

This is the HPM/CFI Watch version:

I've earned my right to speak my mind, and I'm not going to tolerate what I think is silliness, childishness, and a lot of leftist posturing.

I mean we have to be honest, and I loathe the disingenuous. They don't want Israel. They think they are being very clever; they call it their three-tier. We want the end of the occupation, the right of return, and we want equal rights for Arabs in Israel. And they think they are very clever because they know the result of implementing all three is what, what is the result?

You know and I know what the result is. There's no Israel! And if you don't want the same framework then stop talking about the law and stop trying to be so clever. Because you're only so clever in your cult. The moment you step out you have to deal with Israeli propaganda. And here they have a case.

They say no they're not really talking about rights. They're talking about how they want to destroy Israel. And in fact I think they're right I think that's true. I'm not going to lie. But this kind of duplicity and disingenuous, "oh we're agnostic about Israel." No you're not agnostic! You don't want it! Then just say it! But they know full well: If you say it you don't have a prayer reaching a broad public. Because that's where the public is right now.

I support the BDS. But I said it will never reach a broad public until and unless they're explicit in their goal. And their goal has to include the recognition of Israel or it's a nonstarter. It won't reach the public because the moment you go out there Israel will start to say what about we and they won't recognize our right and in fact that's correct. You can't answer the Israelis on that because they're making a statement that's factually correct. It's not an accidental and unwitting omission that BDS does not mention Israel. You know that and I know that

It's not like they're "oh we forgot to mention it." They won't mention it because they know it will split the movement. Cause there's a large segment of the movement that wants to eliminate Israel.

You talk about BDS they make all these claims about their victories. All their claims. You know what? You use these ten fingers? These more than suffice to count all their victories. There are superfluous fingers here to count all their victories. It's a cult! Where the guru says we have all these victories and everyone nods their head and no one sits down to do the arithmetic on their own.

Yes it's had some victories no question about it. But the way people promote it as if it's proven itself and we're on the verge of a victory of some sort. It's just sheer nonsense. It's a cult. And I personally am tired of it.

There's no Israel. That's what it's really about. And you think you're fooling anybody. You think you're so clever that people can't figure that out for themselves? No they understand the arithmetic perfectly well. Are you going to reach a broad public which is going to hear the Israeli side 'they want to destroy us?' No you're not. And frankly you know what you shouldn't. You shouldn't read a broad public because you're dishonest. And I wouldn't trust those people if I had to live in this state. I wouldn't. It's dishonesty.”

 

 

Palestinian refugees in Lebanon suffer real ‘apartheid’; without work, education or health care

But if readers want to learn more about the real and continuing ‘apartheid’ suffered by Palestinians outside Israel, they should watch the above clip produced by ‘Stand With Us’. It contains graphic, personal accounts by Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon  who are forbidden to work in more than 70 professions and are denied access to education or basic healthcare.

(If the clip won’t work, due to a missing plug-in, please use the following link via Aish.com: (http://www.aish.com/jw/me/Apartheid_in_the_Middle_East.html#.TxPJPk4aKyg.facebook).

Whatever the legion problems encountered by Arab Israeli citizens, they have equal rights under the law and many have risen to the top of Israeli society, in the army, politics, medicine and much else.

Moreover, the Israeli authorities are as anxious about the welfare of Arab citizens as of their Jewish counterparts.

I’ve lost count of the number of Arab patients I’ve seen in Haifa and Jerusalem hospital waiting rooms and chuckled dryly when I read that the government no longer had the funds to distribute gas masks to everyone. When we collected ours last year on the top floor of the Haifa Cinemall, we queued alongside a local Arab family whose members were served by the same clerk as us.

Huh! I could go on – and believe me, I shall!

msniw

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