Op-Ed: Vem är egentligen bakom BDS? Vi kan stänga BDS vid kranen
Hur kan vi bekämpa flödet av finanserna för BDS?Publicerad: Fredag 5 juni, 2015 08:44
David Bedein
Författaren är chef för Israels Resource News Agency & The Center ...
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Tusentals unga människor är nu sysselsatta på campus runt om i världen, väl finansierade och välorganiserade, i en aldrig tidigare skådad satsning som utmanar mycket legitimitet i Israel på alla möjliga akademiska och ekonomiska plan.Författaren är chef för Israels Resource News Agency & The Center ...
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De kallar sin rörelse: BDS - Bojkott, Avyttring och sanktioner.
Under de närmaste dagarna har Mr Sheldon Adelson och Mr. Haim Saban kallat till ett krismöte med berörda organisationer om BDS för att svara på två frågor.
Varifrån kommer finans- och organisatoriskt stöd för BDS?
Hur kan BDS stoppas?
Svaren kan vara lättare att fastställa än man skulle förvänta sig. Nyligen tog officiella representanter för den palestinska myndigheten, PA, som bedriver en internationell insats som nästan sparkade Israel ut ur FIFA, den mest prestigefyllda internationella idrottsföreningen, ett steg som skulle ha förnekat alla Israels sportlag från att konkurrera i någon idrottstävling, var som helst i världen.
Den direkta inblandningrn av PA i denna massiva BDS-aktivitet avslöjade vad som hade varit känt i flera år, vilket är att den palestinska myndigheten i Ramallah som organiserade BDS "rörelsen" år 2005. hemsidan för BDS talar för sig själv, http: // www. bdsmovement.net/, och är inte mer än en front för PA.
BDS har verkligen skapat en bild som gör att det verkar som om det är en spontan gräsrotsrörelse.
"BDS" låter bättre till den moderna örat än "bojkott" eller "svarta listan".
Men det tar inte mycket forskning för att urskilja att BDS inte finns någonstans som en oberoende organisation, inte heller innehar eller äger BDS ett bankkonto ens, någonstans i världen. Det är tänkt att främja en gräsrotsbild, men pengar inblandade måste komma någonstans ifrån.
BDS fungerar i själva verket som ett dotterbolag till den palestinska myndigheten, i samarbete med PLO:s Negotiations Department, som arbetar med den officiella Arabförbundets bojkott av Israel som har bekämpat Israel ända sedan den judiska staten kom till år 1948. (Hur många av er minns de dagar då amerikanska judar skydde Pepsi Cola eftersom det hade dukat under för det arabiska bojkott--trycket och vägrade sälja till Israel?)
Efter att ha förlorat kampen för att utrota den nya staten Israel inledde Arabförbundet ett fullskaligt ekonomiskt krig, som fortsätter än i dag, rekryterar varje arabiskt land för att främja en bojkott av alla företag som gör affärer i Israel.
Arabförbundets bojkott kräver att all import till arabiska hamnar visar ett "negativt ursprungsintyg" - en handling som visar att produkterna inte tillverkades i Israel, och deras komponenter inte heller kommer från den judiska staten.
Arabförbundet via en central Bojkott Office (CBO), grundades 1951, och har genomfört denna sedan dess. CBO fick i uppdrag att skapa en "svart lista" över företag och institutioner med handelsförbindelser till Israel, och gäller för alla arabländer, med undantag för de två arabiska länder som undertecknat fredsavtal med Israel-Egypten och Jordanien, som undertecknade den arabiska bojkotten. PLO förväntades också lämna den arabiska bojkotten efter 1993 Osloavtal.
Men PLO har aldrig slutat att främja den arabiska bojkotten av Israel, även om en av de explicita klausulerna i "principdeklarationen" i Oslo var att PLO inte längre skulle stödja Arabförbundets bojkott av Israel.
Varför? Vad har undgått allmänhetens uppmärksamhet är att PLO ratificerade aldrig "principdeklarationen", det mest grundläggande dokumentet av Israel-palestinska Osloavtalet, inte heller har PLO någonsin avbrutit sina stadgar att förgöra Israel, vilket var en annan viktig klausul i denna överenskommelse .
Artikel (12) Fullständig befrielse av Palestina, och utrotande av den sionistiska ekonomiska, politiska, militära och kulturella existensen.
Artikel (19) Väpnad kamp är en strategi och inte en taktik, och det palestinska arabiska folkets väpnade revolution är en avgörande faktor i befrielsekampen att utrota den sionistiska existensen, och denna kamp kommer inte att upphöra innan den sionistiska staten rivs och Palestina är helt befriat.
Bara tre veckor efter Osloavtalet lästes upp på Vita Husets gräsmatta den 13 september 1993, i avvaktan på ratificeringen av båda sidor, rapporterade en framstående vänsterjournalist, Pinchas Inbari, i rapportering för Mapam (Meretz)-tidningen Al Hamishmar från PLO högkvarter i Tunis, rapporterade att PLO-ledaren Yassir Arafat tillkännagav att på dagen för den planerade PLO ratificeringen den 6 oktober 1993, kunde PLO ledaren inte eller inte ville sammankalla den nödvändiga gruppen för beslutsfattande för ratificering. Som en följd av detta har Osloavtalet aldrig blivit ratificerat fram till i dag.
Jag ringde Arabförbundets bojkottskontor på Arabförbundets kontor i Washington, DC. och frågade om PLO stöder nuvarande Arabförbunds bojkott.
Arabförbundet talesman bekräftade att PLO faktiskt stöder den arabiska bojkottskampanjen mot israeliska produkter. Utan påtryckning fortsatte Arabförbundets talesman med att säga att "Vi kallar det BDS nu" -
"BDS" låter bättre till den moderna örat än "bojkott" eller "svarta listan".
Arabförbundet talesman bekräftade att alla uppgifter om Arabförbundets bojkott och Arabförbundets svarta lista har nu överförts till BDS, som arbetar under kontroll av varje PLO legation i mer än 100 länder, under överinseende av PLO:s Förhandlingsavdelning, som samordnar aktiviteter med centralbyråerna i den palestinska myndigheten.
Det innebär att PA nu har de bästa av alla världar. PA importerar för 30 miljarder shekel per år av israeliska produkter, medan PLO hjälper Arabförbundets kampanj att bojkotta israeliska produkter, med den nya terminologin i BDS.
BDS aktivister, främst från campus utomlands, beställer nu tid för besök i PA i Ramallah, där kontanter tilldelas för ett oräkneligt antal BDS aktivister i kontanter för all BDS-verksamhet
Eftersom tillsynen av medel för palestinska humanitära tjänster i PA eller UNRWA knappast existerar, och eftersom mer än en nation ger kontant för var och en av de palestinska humanitära tjänsterna, som innebär att ett kassatillskott existerar som PA kan fördela för BDS aktivister för att finansiera sin verksamhet .
Det är lätt att bevittna BDS hårda arbete i Jerusalem.
BDS-aktivister från utlandet sammanträffar på American Colony Hotel regelbundet med högre tjänstemän i den palestinska myndigheten och återvänder hem till sina campus med buntar av kontanter i sina fickor.
Hur kan du slåss flödet av finanserna BDS?
Håll det enkelt. Fråga varje donatornation som finansierar palestinska humanitära tjänster att göra ett rimligt krav på öppenhet för de medel som varje nation anslår till den palestinska myndigheten eller till UNRWA.
BDS kranen kan torka upp, mycket snabbt.
Och så finns det en diplomatisk väg. PLO ambassaden i Washington, DC, som samordnar BDS-aktiviteterna i USA, öppnades i maj 1996 med tillstånd av den amerikanska regeringen med det förbehållet att PLO skulle ändra sina stadgar för att förstöra Israel.
PLO charter är oförändrad.
Den icke-annullering av PLO charter kan nu åberopas för att strypa PLO kontoret i DC, balanspunkt för stöd för BDS.
Sist men inte minst, har Israel Legal Forum distribuerat exemplar av en stark anti-bojkottlag som antogs för fyra år sedan i Israel, http: //www.nevo.co.il/law_word/law14/law-2304.pdf som mandat att någon eller någon organisation som bedriver en bojkott av Israel eller israeliska företag kan arresteras och dömas för ett brott, och, vid fällande dom, kan tjäna tio års fängelse och få böter som kommer att sätta dess organisation i konkurs.
Tiden kan vara rätt att uppmuntra Israel att åtala de israeliska medborgare och besökare i Israel som aktivt främjar BDS arabiska bojkott av Israel.
Op-Ed: Who is Really Behind BDS? We Can Cut Off BDS at the Spigot
How can we fight the flow of finances to BDS?
Thousands of young people are now employed on campuses around the world, well financed and well organized, in an unprecedented effort that challenges the very legitimacy of Israel on every possible academic and economic front.
They call their movement: BDS – Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions.
Over the next few days, Mr. Sheldon Adelson and Mr. Haim Saban have called an emergency meeting of organizations concerned about BDS to answer two questions.
The direct involvement of the PA in this massive BDS activity revealed what had been known for years, which is that the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah organized the BDS “movement” in 2005. The BDS web site speaks for itself.http://www.bdsmovement.net/, It is no more than a front for the PA.
BDS has indeed fostered an image that makes it seem as if it is a spontaneous grass roots movement.
“BDS” sounds better to the modern ear than “boycott” or “blacklist”.
Yet it does not take much research to discern that BDS is not listed anywhere as an independent organization, nor does BDS even hold or own a bank account, anywhere in the world. That is meant to foster the grass rootsimage, but the money involved has to come from somewhere.
BDS, in fact, acts as a subsidiary of the PA, in coordination with the PLO Negotiations Department, working with the official Arab League boycott of Israel that has fought Israel ever since the Jewish state came into being in 1948. (How many of you remember the days when American Jews shunned Pepsi Cola because it had succumbed to the Arab boycott pressure and refused to sell to Israel?)
After losing the battle to eradicate the new state of Israel, the Arab League launched a full-scale economic war, which continues to this day, recruiting each Arab country to promote a boycott of all companies that do business in Israel.
The Arab League Boycott requires all imports into Arab ports to produce a "negative certificate of origin" - a document indicating that products were not manufactured in Israel, and their components were also not sourced from the Jewish state.
The Arab League via a Central Boycott Office (CBO), established in 1951, has implemented this ever since. The CBO was tasked with creating a "blacklist" of companies and institutions with trade ties to Israel, and applies to all Arab countries, except for the two Arab nations that signed peace treaties with Israel- Egypt and Jordan, which signed off from the Arab boycott. The PLO was expected to also sign off from the Arab boycott after the 1993 Oslo Accords.
However, the PLO has never stopped promoting the Arab boycott of Israel, even though one of the explicit clauses of the “declaration of principles" in Oslo was that the PLO would no longer support the Arab League boycott of Israel.
Why? What has escaped public attention is that the PLO never ratified the "declaration of principles", the most fundamental document of the Israel-Palestinian Oslo Accords, nor did the PLO ever cancel its charter to destroy Israel, which was another major clause in that accord.
Only three weeks after the Oslo Accords were initialed on the White House lawn on September 13, 1993, pending ratification by both sides, a prominent left wing journalist, Pinchas Inbari, reporting for the Mapam (Meretz) newspaper Al Hamishmar from the PLO headquarters in Tunis, reported that PLO leader Yassir Arafat announced that on the day of the scheduled PLO ratification, October 6, 1993, the PLO leader could not or would not convene the necessary quorum for ratification. As a result, the Oslo Accords have gone unratified to this day.
I called the Arab League Boycott office at the Arab League office in Washington, DC. and asked if the PLO supports the current Arab League boycott.
The Arab League spokesman confirmed that the PLO indeed supports the Arab boycott campaign against Israeli products. Without any prodding, the Arab League spokesman went on to say that “We call that BDS now”-
“BDS” sounds better to the modern ear than “boycott” or “blacklist”.
The Arab league spokesman confirmed that all data of the Arab League boycott and Arab League blacklist has now been transferred to BDS, working under the control of each PLO legation in more than 100 countries, under the supervision of the PLO Negotiations Department, which coordinates activities with the central offices of the Palestinian Authority.
That means that the PA now enjoys the best of all worlds. The PA imports 30 billion shekels a year of Israeli products, while the PLO helps the Arab League campaign to boycott Israeli products, using the new terminology of BDS.
BDS activists, mostly from campuses abroad, now make timely visits to the PA in Ramallah, where cash is allocated for an untold number of BDS activists to profit in cash for their BDS activities
Since supervision of funds for Palestinian humanitarian services in the PA or UNRWA hardly exists, and since more than one nation provides cash for each of the Palestinian humanitarian services, that means that a cash surplus exists which PA can allocate for BDS activists to finance their operations.
It is easy to witness BDS hard at work in Jerusalem.
BDS activists from abroad meet at the American Colony Hotel on a regular basis with senior officials of the PA and return home to their campuses with bundles of cash in their pockets.
How can you fight the flow of finances to BDS?
Keep it simple. Ask each donor nation that funds Palestinian humanitarian services to make a reasonable requirement for transparency for the funds that each nation allocates to the PA or to UNRWA.
The BDS spigot may dry up, very quickly.
And then there is a diplomatic avenue. The PLO embassy in Washington, DC, which coordinates BDS activity in the US, was opened in May 1996 with the permission of the US government on the proviso that the PLO would cancel its charter to destroy Israel.
The PLO charter remains unchanged.
The non-cancellation of the PLO charter can now be invoked, to choke off the PLO office in DC, the fulcrum of support for the BDS.
Last but not least, the Israel Legal Forum has distributed copies of a strong anti-boycott law that was passed four years ago in Israel,http://www.nevo.co.il/law_word/law14/law-2304.pdf which mandates that anyone or any organization that engages in advancing a boycott of Israel or Israeli firms can be arrested and tried for a felony, and, upon conviction, can serve ten years in prison and face fines that will put their organization out of business.
The time may be right to encourage Israel to prosecute those Israeli citizens and visitors in Israel who actively promote the BDS Arab boycott of Israel.
They call their movement: BDS – Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions.
Over the next few days, Mr. Sheldon Adelson and Mr. Haim Saban have called an emergency meeting of organizations concerned about BDS to answer two questions.
- From where does the finance and organizational support for BDS emanate?
- How can BDS be stopped?
The direct involvement of the PA in this massive BDS activity revealed what had been known for years, which is that the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah organized the BDS “movement” in 2005. The BDS web site speaks for itself.http://www.bdsmovement.net/, It is no more than a front for the PA.
BDS has indeed fostered an image that makes it seem as if it is a spontaneous grass roots movement.
“BDS” sounds better to the modern ear than “boycott” or “blacklist”.
Yet it does not take much research to discern that BDS is not listed anywhere as an independent organization, nor does BDS even hold or own a bank account, anywhere in the world. That is meant to foster the grass rootsimage, but the money involved has to come from somewhere.BDS, in fact, acts as a subsidiary of the PA, in coordination with the PLO Negotiations Department, working with the official Arab League boycott of Israel that has fought Israel ever since the Jewish state came into being in 1948. (How many of you remember the days when American Jews shunned Pepsi Cola because it had succumbed to the Arab boycott pressure and refused to sell to Israel?)
After losing the battle to eradicate the new state of Israel, the Arab League launched a full-scale economic war, which continues to this day, recruiting each Arab country to promote a boycott of all companies that do business in Israel.
The Arab League Boycott requires all imports into Arab ports to produce a "negative certificate of origin" - a document indicating that products were not manufactured in Israel, and their components were also not sourced from the Jewish state.
The Arab League via a Central Boycott Office (CBO), established in 1951, has implemented this ever since. The CBO was tasked with creating a "blacklist" of companies and institutions with trade ties to Israel, and applies to all Arab countries, except for the two Arab nations that signed peace treaties with Israel- Egypt and Jordan, which signed off from the Arab boycott. The PLO was expected to also sign off from the Arab boycott after the 1993 Oslo Accords.
However, the PLO has never stopped promoting the Arab boycott of Israel, even though one of the explicit clauses of the “declaration of principles" in Oslo was that the PLO would no longer support the Arab League boycott of Israel.
Why? What has escaped public attention is that the PLO never ratified the "declaration of principles", the most fundamental document of the Israel-Palestinian Oslo Accords, nor did the PLO ever cancel its charter to destroy Israel, which was another major clause in that accord.
Only three weeks after the Oslo Accords were initialed on the White House lawn on September 13, 1993, pending ratification by both sides, a prominent left wing journalist, Pinchas Inbari, reporting for the Mapam (Meretz) newspaper Al Hamishmar from the PLO headquarters in Tunis, reported that PLO leader Yassir Arafat announced that on the day of the scheduled PLO ratification, October 6, 1993, the PLO leader could not or would not convene the necessary quorum for ratification. As a result, the Oslo Accords have gone unratified to this day.
I called the Arab League Boycott office at the Arab League office in Washington, DC. and asked if the PLO supports the current Arab League boycott.
The Arab League spokesman confirmed that the PLO indeed supports the Arab boycott campaign against Israeli products. Without any prodding, the Arab League spokesman went on to say that “We call that BDS now”-
“BDS” sounds better to the modern ear than “boycott” or “blacklist”.
The Arab league spokesman confirmed that all data of the Arab League boycott and Arab League blacklist has now been transferred to BDS, working under the control of each PLO legation in more than 100 countries, under the supervision of the PLO Negotiations Department, which coordinates activities with the central offices of the Palestinian Authority.
That means that the PA now enjoys the best of all worlds. The PA imports 30 billion shekels a year of Israeli products, while the PLO helps the Arab League campaign to boycott Israeli products, using the new terminology of BDS.
BDS activists, mostly from campuses abroad, now make timely visits to the PA in Ramallah, where cash is allocated for an untold number of BDS activists to profit in cash for their BDS activities
Since supervision of funds for Palestinian humanitarian services in the PA or UNRWA hardly exists, and since more than one nation provides cash for each of the Palestinian humanitarian services, that means that a cash surplus exists which PA can allocate for BDS activists to finance their operations.
It is easy to witness BDS hard at work in Jerusalem.
BDS activists from abroad meet at the American Colony Hotel on a regular basis with senior officials of the PA and return home to their campuses with bundles of cash in their pockets.
How can you fight the flow of finances to BDS?
Keep it simple. Ask each donor nation that funds Palestinian humanitarian services to make a reasonable requirement for transparency for the funds that each nation allocates to the PA or to UNRWA.
The BDS spigot may dry up, very quickly.
And then there is a diplomatic avenue. The PLO embassy in Washington, DC, which coordinates BDS activity in the US, was opened in May 1996 with the permission of the US government on the proviso that the PLO would cancel its charter to destroy Israel.
The PLO charter remains unchanged.
The non-cancellation of the PLO charter can now be invoked, to choke off the PLO office in DC, the fulcrum of support for the BDS.
Last but not least, the Israel Legal Forum has distributed copies of a strong anti-boycott law that was passed four years ago in Israel,http://www.nevo.co.il/law_word/law14/law-2304.pdf which mandates that anyone or any organization that engages in advancing a boycott of Israel or Israeli firms can be arrested and tried for a felony, and, upon conviction, can serve ten years in prison and face fines that will put their organization out of business.
The time may be right to encourage Israel to prosecute those Israeli citizens and visitors in Israel who actively promote the BDS Arab boycott of Israel.
