Hillary Clinton Pledges to Defend Israeli Apartheid and Fight BDS Movement
in Letter to Mega-Donor
Published on
Tuesday, July 07, 2015
by
FireDogLake
Hillary Clinton Pledges to Defend Israeli Apartheid and Fight BDS Movement
in Letter to Mega-Donor
by
Kevin Gosztola
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Hillary Clinton at campaign event in Des Moines, IA, on June 14, 2015.
(Photo: Gregory Hauensteinand/Flickr/cc)
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton sent a letter to media
mogul Haim Saban, a mega-donor, assuring him that she would make countering
the global Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel a
priority. She invoked a recent terrorist attack against Jews in Paris to
condemn BDS and specifically sought Saban's advice on how to fight back.
"I am writing to express my alarm over the Boycott, Divestment, and
Sanctions movement, or 'BDS,' a global effort to isolate the State of Israel
by ending commercial and academic exchanges," Clinton wrote [PDF]. "I am
seeking your advice on how we can work together-across party lines and with
a diverse array of voices-to reverse this trend with information and
advocacy, and fight back against further attempts to isolate and
delegitimize Israel."
Clinton expressed serious concern over comparisons between Israel and South
African apartheid.
"Israel is a vibrant democracy in a region dominated by autocracy, and it
faces existential threats to its survival," Clinton asserted. "Particularly
at a time when anti-Semitism is on the rise across the world-especially in
Europe-we need to repudiate forceful efforts to malign and undermine Israel
and the Jewish people. After all, it was only six months ago that four Jews
were targeted and killed in a Kosher supermarket in Paris as they did their
Sabbath shopping."
The invoking of a terrorist attack against Jews in Paris is a nasty attempt
to cast the growing nonviolent BDS movement as anti-Semitic. In fact, to
read Clinton's letter in its entirety, one has to believe Israel is engaged
in no acts of occupation or oppression against the Palestinians and a
movement is mobilizing out of hatred or baseless assumptions about Israel.
In a column for the Los Angeles Times published in May 2014, Saree Makdisi,
a UCLA professor and author of Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation,
explained that apartheid is not merely used to inflame tensions. It very
specifically has legal meaning, as outlined by the International Convention
on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid. (Note: The UN
General Assembly adopted the convention in 1973 and most UN member states
except for Israel and the United States have ratified the convention.)
From Makdisi's column:
According to Article II of that convention, the term applies to acts
"committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one
racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons and
systematically oppressing them." Denying those others the right to life and
liberty, subjecting them to arbitrary arrest, expropriating their property,
depriving them of the right to leave and return to their country or the
right to freedom of movement and of residence, creating separate reserves
and ghettos for the members of different racial groups, preventing mixed
marriages - these are all examples of the crime of apartheid specifically
mentioned in the convention.
Israel engages in all of these actions against Palestinians. In fact, as Gil
Maguire has shown, Israel "created an apartheid system and became an
apartheid state at the end of the 1967 war."
One of Clinton's arguments in her letter is that BDS seeks to "punish Israel
and dictate how the Israelis and Palestinians should resolve the core issues
of their conflict." She indicates she supports a two-state solution and that
can only be achieved through "direct negotiations between Israelis and
Palestinians-it cannot be imposed from the outside or by unilateral
actions."
If anything, it is Israel which seeks to unilaterally impose a resolution
and that resolution is protect and even expand apartheid.
Former President Bill Clinton shared in 2011 the reason why the "peace
process" failed. According to Foreign Policy, Clinton claimed it was because
of the reluctance of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's administration to
"accept the terms of the Camp David deal" and a "demographic shift in
Israel" that made the Israeli public "less amenable to peace."
What BDS is doing is building a worldwide consensus that seeks to force
Israel to stop killing, torturing, detaining, abusing, and repressing
Palestinians through its inhumane policies. It increasingly has more support
than the resolution Israel seeks to impose against Palestinians.
The letter's conclusion is rather nauseating.
.It was more than three decades ago when Bill and I took our first trip to
Israel, walked the ancient streets of Jerusalem's Old City, and fell in love
with the country and its people. Israel became a special place for us, and
I'm lucky to have had many opportunities to return and to make any dear
friends there over the years. The Jewish state is a modern day miracle-a
vibrant bloom in the middle of a desert. We must nurture and protect it.
[emphasis added]
Clinton fervently expresses this belief that Israel is a "vibrant democracy
in a region dominated by autocracy, and it faces existential threats to its
survival." However, being surrounded by countries with dictatorships should
not insulate a government from having to address their own systematic human
rights violations.
Finally, Clinton wrote this letter to help re-solidify Saban's support for
her presidential campaign. It is largely a public relations ploy against
right wing groups. Saban has always been close to Clinton and the Democratic
Party.
Saban supports increased exports of US military equipment to Israel. He
zealously opposes statehood for Palestine and any UN Security Council
resolution against illegal Israeli settlements.
In 2006, Saban declared, "When there is a terrorist attack, I am [Avigdor]
Lieberman. Sometimes to the right of Lieberman. For two days I really love
Lieberman. But afterward I come back to reality. Look, I don't see a
solution today."
For those unfamiliar with Lieberman, he is Israeli foreign minister. In
March, he said, "Anyone who's with us should be given everything - up to
half the kingdom. Anyone who's against us, there's nothing to do - we should
raise an axe and cut off his head; otherwise we won't survive here." He also
has expressly made statements in support of ethnic cleansing Palestinians.
Saban has teamed up with casino mogul Sheldon Adelson to raise millions to
fight BDS. The two mega-donors hosted a closed-doors summit in June that
could be used to challenge campus campaigns. Only those "willing to pledge
at least $1 million over the next two years" were allowed to participate.
Morton Klein, the national president of the Zionist Organization of America,
called for all groups to come together and "demonize the demonizers."
Everyone needs to demonize the "racists by telling the truth about the
Palestinian Authority and giving examples of what it does as a racist terror
organization."
This is what Hillary Clinton's campaign is pledging to join forces and
support. However, it will be extraordinarily difficult to beat back the
momentum of the BDS movement. There are increased efforts in states and the
federal government to criminalize the movement yet the BDS movement
continues to win victories. Recently, the United Church of Christ pledged to
boycott and divest from companies involved in Israeli occupation.
"For Palestinians living under occupation or facing systematic
discrimination as citizens of Israel, enduring the destruction of their
homes and businesses, the theft of their land for settlements, and living
under blockade and siege in Gaza, this action sends a strong signal that
they are not alone, and that there are churches who still dare to speak
truth to power and stand with the oppressed," Rev. Mitri Raheb, a Christian
Palestinian and Pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the
Holy Land, declared after the Church passed its divestment resolution.
This letter from Clinton is destined to become an artifact of history that
will forever remind the world of which leaders were on the wrong side.
Clinton may be elected the first woman president in November 2016, but, just
as President Ronald Reagan will forever be remembered as a fervent supporter
of South African apartheid, Clinton is now on a path to potentially becoming
a US president, who aligned herself with militant defenders of Israeli
apartheid.
C 2014 FireDogLake
Kevin Gosztola
Kevin Gosztola is a journalist who writes The Dissenter blog at FireDogLake
and co-host of the weekly Unauthorized Disclosure podcast. Follow him on
Twitter: @kgosztola
Hillary Clinton Pledges to Defend Israeli Apartheid and Fight BDS Movement
in Letter to Mega-Donor
Published on
Tuesday, July 07, 2015
by
FireDogLake
Hillary Clinton Pledges to Defend Israeli Apartheid and Fight BDS Movement
in Letter to Mega-Donor
by
Kevin Gosztola
. 22 Comments
.
. Hillary Clinton at campaign event in Des Moines, IA, on June 14,
2015. (Photo: Gregory Hauensteinand/Flickr/cc)
. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton sent a letter to
media mogul Haim Saban, a mega-donor, assuring him that she would make
countering the global Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions (BDS) movement against
Israel a priority. She invoked a recent terrorist attack against Jews in
Paris to condemn BDS and specifically sought Saban's advice on how to fight
back.
. "I am writing to express my alarm over the Boycott, Divestment, and
Sanctions movement, or 'BDS,' a global effort to isolate the State of Israel
by ending commercial and academic exchanges," Clinton wrote [PDF]. "I am
seeking your advice on how we can work together-across party lines and with
a diverse array of voices-to reverse this trend with information and
advocacy, and fight back against further attempts to isolate and
delegitimize Israel."
. Clinton expressed serious concern over comparisons between Israel
and South African apartheid.
. "Israel is a vibrant democracy in a region dominated by autocracy,
and it faces existential threats to its survival," Clinton asserted.
"Particularly at a time when anti-Semitism is on the rise across the
world-especially in Europe-we need to repudiate forceful efforts to malign
and undermine Israel and the Jewish people. After all, it was only six
months ago that four Jews were targeted and killed in a Kosher supermarket
in Paris as they did their Sabbath shopping."
The invoking of a terrorist attack against Jews in Paris is a nasty attempt
to cast the growing nonviolent BDS movement as anti-Semitic. In fact, to
read Clinton's letter in its entirety, one has to believe Israel is engaged
in no acts of occupation or oppression against the Palestinians and a
movement is mobilizing out of hatred or baseless assumptions about Israel.
In a column for the Los Angeles Times published in May 2014, Saree Makdisi,
a UCLA professor and author of Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation,
explained that apartheid is not merely used to inflame tensions. It very
specifically has legal meaning, as outlined by the International Convention
on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid. (Note: The UN
General Assembly adopted the convention in 1973 and most UN member states
except for Israel and the United States have ratified the convention.)
From Makdisi's column:
According to Article II of that convention, the term applies to acts
"committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one
racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons and
systematically oppressing them." Denying those others the right to life and
liberty, subjecting them to arbitrary arrest, expropriating their property,
depriving them of the right to leave and return to their country or the
right to freedom of movement and of residence, creating separate reserves
and ghettos for the members of different racial groups, preventing mixed
marriages - these are all examples of the crime of apartheid specifically
mentioned in the convention.
Israel engages in all of these actions against Palestinians. In fact, as Gil
Maguire has shown, Israel "created an apartheid system and became an
apartheid state at the end of the 1967 war."
One of Clinton's arguments in her letter is that BDS seeks to "punish Israel
and dictate how the Israelis and Palestinians should resolve the core issues
of their conflict." She indicates she supports a two-state solution and that
can only be achieved through "direct negotiations between Israelis and
Palestinians-it cannot be imposed from the outside or by unilateral
actions."
If anything, it is Israel which seeks to unilaterally impose a resolution
and that resolution is protect and even expand apartheid.
Former President Bill Clinton shared in 2011 the reason why the "peace
process" failed. According to Foreign Policy, Clinton claimed it was because
of the reluctance of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's administration to
"accept the terms of the Camp David deal" and a "demographic shift in
Israel" that made the Israeli public "less amenable to peace."
What BDS is doing is building a worldwide consensus that seeks to force
Israel to stop killing, torturing, detaining, abusing, and repressing
Palestinians through its inhumane policies. It increasingly has more support
than the resolution Israel seeks to impose against Palestinians.
The letter's conclusion is rather nauseating.
.It was more than three decades ago when Bill and I took our first trip to
Israel, walked the ancient streets of Jerusalem's Old City, and fell in love
with the country and its people. Israel became a special place for us, and
I'm lucky to have had many opportunities to return and to make any dear
friends there over the years. The Jewish state is a modern day miracle-a
vibrant bloom in the middle of a desert. We must nurture and protect it.
[emphasis added]
Clinton fervently expresses this belief that Israel is a "vibrant democracy
in a region dominated by autocracy, and it faces existential threats to its
survival." However, being surrounded by countries with dictatorships should
not insulate a government from having to address their own systematic human
rights violations.
Finally, Clinton wrote this letter to help re-solidify Saban's support for
her presidential campaign. It is largely a public relations ploy against
right wing groups. Saban has always been close to Clinton and the Democratic
Party.
Saban supports increased exports of US military equipment to Israel. He
zealously opposes statehood for Palestine and any UN Security Council
resolution against illegal Israeli settlements.
In 2006, Saban declared, "When there is a terrorist attack, I am [Avigdor]
Lieberman. Sometimes to the right of Lieberman. For two days I really love
Lieberman. But afterward I come back to reality. Look, I don't see a
solution today."
For those unfamiliar with Lieberman, he is Israeli foreign minister. In
March, he said, "Anyone who's with us should be given everything - up to
half the kingdom. Anyone who's against us, there's nothing to do - we should
raise an axe and cut off his head; otherwise we won't survive here." He also
has expressly made statements in support of ethnic cleansing Palestinians.
Saban has teamed up with casino mogul Sheldon Adelson to raise millions to
fight BDS. The two mega-donors hosted a closed-doors summit in June that
could be used to challenge campus campaigns. Only those "willing to pledge
at least $1 million over the next two years" were allowed to participate.
Morton Klein, the national president of the Zionist Organization of America,
called for all groups to come together and "demonize the demonizers."
Everyone needs to demonize the "racists by telling the truth about the
Palestinian Authority and giving examples of what it does as a racist terror
organization."
This is what Hillary Clinton's campaign is pledging to join forces and
support. However, it will be extraordinarily difficult to beat back the
momentum of the BDS movement. There are increased efforts in states and the
federal government to criminalize the movement yet the BDS movement
continues to win victories. Recently, the United Church of Christ pledged to
boycott and divest from companies involved in Israeli occupation.
"For Palestinians living under occupation or facing systematic
discrimination as citizens of Israel, enduring the destruction of their
homes and businesses, the theft of their land for settlements, and living
under blockade and siege in Gaza, this action sends a strong signal that
they are not alone, and that there are churches who still dare to speak
truth to power and stand with the oppressed," Rev. Mitri Raheb, a Christian
Palestinian and Pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the
Holy Land, declared after the Church passed its divestment resolution.
This letter from Clinton is destined to become an artifact of history that
will forever remind the world of which leaders were on the wrong side.
Clinton may be elected the first woman president in November 2016, but, just
as President Ronald Reagan will forever be remembered as a fervent supporter
of South African apartheid, Clinton is now on a path to potentially becoming
a US president, who aligned herself with militant defenders of Israeli
apartheid.
C 2014 FireDogLake
/author/kevin-gosztola
