Viewpoint:Debunking the BDS Myths

SAMUEL SHRAGO

This past Monday, Rami Faraj authored an article titled “An unsafe campus climate,” in which he dismissed the barrage of insults targeted at pro-Israel students and death threats received by CSG officials. He went on to accuse Jews (codeword: Zionists) of theft: “you have taken our lands, taken our rights, and are now taking our seats in classrooms.” These accusations are based on gross distortions of historical facts. Sadly, they also manifest an underlying philosophy of hatred and intolerance, which seems to be a common trait running throughout the Arab world – hatred of Sunnis or Shiites or Christians or Hindus or Jews or any human being who does not subscribe to a particular set of beliefs.

For centuries, there has always been a Jewish presence in Israel, particularly in the holy cities of Jerusalem, Hebron, Safad, and Ashkelon1,2. This was long before the Romans conquered Judea and renamed it “Palestine” to dejudaize it3. Contrary to Mr, Faraj’s assertions, the Jews of the First and Second Aliyot (1882-1903 and 1904-1914) lawfully and openly purchased land from Arab landowners4,5,6. They fertilized what was said to be non-arable land, established peaceful Kibbutzim and were happy to employ hundreds of Arabs looking for work.7

Aggressive wars initiated by Arab countries that vehemently rejected the two state solution in 19378,9, 194710, 200011,12,13 and 2008 not only took land from the Palestinians, but also created the first and second refugee problems14,15,16. Jordan (like Egypt) actually

1 Palestine Royal Commission Report (Peel Report) (London: His Majesty’s Stationary Office, 1937), pp. 44-452 The research of a French geographer, Vital Cuinét are relied on for this conclusion. Quoted in Joan Peters, From Time Immemorial (Chicago: JKAP Publications, 1984), p. 156.3 Clayton Miles Lehmann, “Palestine,” http://www.usd.edu/erp/Palestine/history.htm4 Buber to Gandhi, quoted in Arthur Hertzberg, The Zionist Idea (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1997), p. 464 5 Edward Said and Christopher Hitchens, eds., Blaming the Victims (London: Verso, 2001).6 Benny Morris, Righteous Victims (New York: Vintage Books, 2001), p. xiv.7 A. Druyanow, Ketavim Letoldot Hibbat Zivyon Ve-Yishshuv Erez Yisra’el (Odessa, Tel-Aviv, 1919, 1925, 1932), vol. 3, pp. 66-67.8 Ibid., p. 394-395.9 Ian Bickerton and Carla Klausner, A Concise History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict (Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2002), p. 56 10 Alan Dershowitz, The Case for Israel (Hoboken, N.J., 2003), p. 65.11 Ibid.12 Faisal Bodi, “Israel Surely Has No Right to Exist,” The Guardian, January 3, 2001. This view is also reflected in the Palestinian National Covenant of 1968.13 Morris, p. 219.14 Ibid., p. 214.15 Dershowitz, p. 79.16 Ibid., p. 204.

rescinded citizenship of all its refugees17,18,19, ultimately leaving Israel to absorb the refugee crisis created by their wars. Jordan even booted the PLO out of Jordan several years after the 1967 War20. Even today, the catastrophic war in Syria – another Arab war that Mr. Faraj ignores even though it is right in our faces and has created (and continues to create) enormous human suffering – has given rise to a massive refugee problem for Turkey. The suffering of Palestinian Muslims has been the direct result of actions by tyrannical leaders of the Arab states – which have practiced discrimination against Palestinians for decades and which have used the conflict in the Middle East to divert the attention of their own subjects from the sorry state of their own condition.

In contrast, Israel has treated its Muslim and Christian residents in a manner that would be unheard of in Arab states. Indeed, Muslim residents of Israel vote and serve as members of the Knesset (the Israeli parliament), justices on the Supreme Court and soldiers in the army. Palestinian students comprise 20% of Israeli university students and many pursue successful careers in medicine, law and business. If Mr. Faraj still believes in a mythical Israeli plot to debase the status of Palestinians, he is welcome to contact the Technion Medical School’s valedictorian of 2013, Mais Ali-Saleh, a Muslim Palestinian woman and staunch opponent of BDS.

Israel has gone to great lengths to reach an agreement with the Palestinians on a two-state solution. Not too long ago, that proposal was rejected by the Palestinian leadership under Yasser Arafat21,22,23 (who stole many millions of dollars from the Palestinian people and deposited the money in offshore bank accounts for the benefit of his family24,25), which then embarked on an intifada against Israel that accomplished nothing but misery that has been disproportionately borne by the Palestinians26.

Mr. Faraj’s claim that the Jews do not qualify as an “oppressed people” is, in a word, absurd. Perhaps he should study a little bit of modern European history and become acquainted with the activities of Adolf Hitler. His actions were the subject of open trials at Nuremburg and caused displacement, torture and execution of millions of human beings. Or perhaps Mr. Faraj should focus on the openly hostile and violent discrimination practiced by Sunni Muslims against Shiite Muslims and vice versa and the executions of, and destruction of property belonging to, Christians and Buddhists in places like Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Libya and Syria. How many millions of human beings have died because of this hatred and intolerance over the last 30 years in wars with

17 Peters, p.1618 “Abu Mazen Charges that the Arab States are the Cause of the Palestinian Refugee Problem,” Wall Street Journal, June 5, 2003.19 Peter Dodd, River Without Bridges (Beirut: Institute for Palestine Studies, 1969), p. 43; as quoted in Peters, p. 445 n. 21.20 Dershowitz, p. 8921

Dershowitz, pp. 110-111.22

Phyllis Chesler, The New Anti-Semitism (John Wiley & Sons, advance proof), p. 117.23

Karen Bichard, “Hep B Case Makes Suicide Bombers an Infection Risk,” Medical Post, MacLean Hunter Ltd., September 10, 2002.24

Tricia McDermott, "Arafat's Billions." CBS News. CBS Interactive, 07 Nov. 2003. Web. 25

"Arafat Diverted $900 Million to Private Account, IMF Says." Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg, n.d. Web. 08 May 2014.26

Alan Dershowitz, Why Terrorism Works (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2002), 9.79. Khaled Abu Toameh, “How the War Began,” Jerusalem Post, September 20, 2002.

Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Libya and Syria? This is a very clear historical record of hatred, intolerance and yes, discrimination, but these facts inconveniently require Mr. Faraj and the BDS movement to look in the mirror.