By Rachel Hirshfeld
In a surprising and atypical interview last week, controversial political scientist and Israel-bashing ‘Palestinian’ rights activist, Norman Finkelstein, called the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel “a cult.”
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Finkelstein's comment sparked outrage within the BDS movement and other, like-minded, anti-Israel groups. The video, which had been spreading widely on the Internet, was soon removed by 'Palestinian' activists who clearly were dismayed with Finkelstein for defending Israel’s right to exist.
Renowned MIT linguist Professor Noam Chomsky, a radical leftist and avid 'Palestinian' activist who met with Hizbullah leader Nasrallah, has voiced similar criticism of the BDS movement, citing the “hypocrisy [that] rises to heaven,” and questioning why other countries haven’t been the targets of such boycotts due to “human rights” concerns. Chomsky even “went so far as to suggest the movement was calling for the ‘destruction of Israel,’” Campus Watch reported.
“While no one can gauge individual motivations for persons in the BDS movement, the movement as a whole is going about its activism all wrong. Urging the self-determination of Palestine isn't innately anti-Semitic. But cutting off, and in essence damning, the whole of the Israeli people because of the policies of the current (or past) administration(s), ignores and inflames an issue of great complexity. A crisis of this magnitude will never find itself bettered without an approach that is sensitive, subtle, and mindful,” Campus Watch stated.
“Lumping the entire Israeli people together through calls for a wide-sweeping boycott is not the answer… such categories are feeble in their ignorance,” it continued.
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To Find out more about Norman Finkelstein and Noam Chomsky, please read this article:
Analysis: The Anti-Israel Self-Hating Jew
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Source: Gallup Politics
A Gallup Poll released on Feb. 16 asked Americans if they felt favorably or unfavorably toward several countries. The results for Middle Eastern countries were:
Israel: 71% favorable, 24% unfavorable; Egypt: 47-47; Saudi Arabia: 42-54; Libya: 25-66; Iraq: 24-72; Palestinian Authority: 19-72; Syria: 17-72; Iran: 10-87
Israel's "very favorable" rating (29%) was the highest in the past 23 years, while its overall favorable rating was the highest since 1991 (when it was 79% just after the First Gulf War).
- Dan Friedman
