10-Sep-06: Kauft Nicht Bei Juden

The American philosopher George Santayana famously observed: "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it."

Coming on top of wave after wave of anti-Israel academic and economic boycotts in the UK (examples here), yet another Israel-bashing campaign is reported in today's Jerusalem Post. What this one achieves in terms of "justice for Palestine" (to borrow the organizers' slogan) is anyone's guess.

The silliness and ignorance of it would be nauseating even if the ambition and scope of the campaign were less important. But the fact is there's a tsunami of Israel-hating activity of this sort, comparable only with the events of Europe of the late 1930's.

Sep. 9, 2006 23:19 | Updated Sep. 9, 2006 23:49
UK designers: Ban Israel from expo
By JONNY PAUL - LONDON

A UK-based group of design professionals has petitioned the organizers of an architecture exhibition in Venice to withdraw an Israeli entry, expressing "dismay and concern" that the prestigious event has agreed to host Israelis.

In the petition, Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine (APJP) called on the organizers of Biennale Architettura, which begins Sunday and runs until November 19, to withdraw Israel's entry. They said, "We request that the Biennale committee consider withdrawing the Israeli entry as being provocative and counterproductive to the aims of the Biennale, and particularly distasteful in the context of the aftermath of an ugly and unnecessary war in neighboring Lebanon, and a continuing one-sided war in Gaza."

The Israeli entry, "Life Saver: Typology of Commemoration in Israel," depicts 15 structures established in the memory of those who died in Israel's wars and the Holocaust.

The APJP argues that the entry "totally excludes the Palestinians, who are the target and real victims of the seemingly unending series of wars being memorialized, and awards Israel the sole position of victim and victor."

The Anti-Defamation League praised world renowned architect Lord Richard Rogers for opposing the proposed ban of Israel.

Abraham H. Foxman, ADL national director, said the British group's call for the ban, "was yet another attempt to hijack a cultural event in order to exclude one country and one country only: Israel, and conforms to a recurring pattern of unrepresentative activist groups trying to remove Israeli professionals from participation in the international academic, cultural and sporting arenas. Rogers said, "I firmly believe that Israel has the right to memorialize their dead just as the Americans, and indeed the entire world, are memorializing the terribly tragic loss of lives at Ground Zero - the victims of 9/11."

The Israeli exhibitor, Dan Daor, said the message of memorial structures was that "there are no heroes - all there is, is the eternity of Israel. All of the country is on the front, and all of us are victims."

The petition also claims the Israeli exhibit serves "propaganda purposes" and ignores the Palestinian's role as "the primary victim of the conflict with Israel."

Israeli architect Tula Amir said, "Justification of Israel's wars provides legitimization of the blood that has been spilled and is liable to be spilled in the future."

The picture above illustrates a previous boycott protest against Zionist interests. We called them Jews in those simpler times. We remember where that led. The ring-leaders of the APJP don't, or they don't care.

In a similar vein, Friday's Hebrew-language "Kol Ha-ir" newspaper (one of Jerusalem's local papers) reports on an Irish decision to prevent drivers of the new light-rail project in Jerusalem from coming to their country to undergo training. We have not seen this mentioned in any other media so far. We'll wait to see if an English translation of the report turns up. If not, we'll translate it ourselves and publish it here.

The rising tide and growing influence of these economic and academic boycotts of Jews and Israelis by Europe-based organizations, reminiscent of the events acccompanying the Nazi's rise to power in the thirties is a deeply worrying phenomenon. The bald-faced hypocrisy of the organizers, mouthing pseudo-liberal slogans while clutching action plans straight out of fascist play-books, is appalling, shameful and dangerous.

But what's far, far more appalling is the silence that greets it.