The BDS movement against Israel has accomplished less than nothing
The student union at York University in Toronto has voted, by a margin of 18-2, to endorse the “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” (BDS) movement against Israel — a gesture that follows on BDS votes by several other Canadian university student unions. The result is entirely symbolic: The student union has no power to compel the university (or any other entity) to boycott Israel — and York, properly, has no plans to do so. Nevertheless, the decision by York’s Federation of Students has succeeded in bringing the whole issue of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions back into the news, if only for a day or two.
And so, before York’s student-federation activists go back to debating issues that actually affect the lives of the students they purport to represent, let’s indulge them by asking the question: What exactly is the state of the anti-Israel BDS movement?
As it happens, there is a web page that exhaustively tracks BDS achievements. It contains such triumphal entries as “Andreas Oberg, Swedish guitarist, cancels gig in Tel Aviv, heeding BDS activists’ appeals,” and “Ten talented young harpists bow out of the International Harp Contest.” But for the most part, the entries consist of gestures similar to the York student-federation vote, which is to say: rhetorical attacks from activist groups, unions and academic organizations with no power to influence trade policy.
From the slogans emitted by BDS champions (including, at times, Canada’s own Naomi Klein), one would think that BDS was on the cusp of bringing Israel to its knees. Yet since 2004 — the period corresponding to the lifespan of the BDS movement — Israel’s economy generally has been booming, especially in the areas of telecommunications, computer technology, aviation, specialty medical equipment, military hardware and natural gas.
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2013/04/04/jonathan-kay-the-bds-movement-against-israel-has-accomplished-less-than-nothing/
