Ten years ago, notes Sohrab Ahmari, many friends of the Jewish state reasonably saw the boycott, divest, and sanction movement (BDS) as one of the gravest threats to Israel, at least after the more obvious physical threats from Iran and elsewhere. The recent normalization agreement between Jerusalem and Rabat, together with those that preceded it, marks the neutralization of that danger, Ahmari argues:
Was Israel’s economy ever in serious peril? Probably not. Europe remains the Jewish state’s biggest trade partner, though boycotts and labeling could bite if widened to include firms that operate in Israel or Palestinian territories. The real danger, however, was moral-cum-political. If BDS succeeded, it would make permanent Israel’s status as an abnormal country, rather than a normal fixture of the Mideast map. That would demoralize the Israeli people and compound the hostility they already face in global forums like the United Nations.
Well, so much for all that. Today . . . you can find Israeli products—prominently displayed, sometimes with Israeli flags to promote them—on the shelves of grocery stores in the United Arab Emirates. How far can BDS go in a world where once-sworn enemies of the Jewish state enjoy Israeli citrus products and myriad cultural exchanges? Whom exactly do Western champions of the Arabs represent, when the Arabs themselves want to live peacefully alongside Israel and accept the Jewish state’s fundamental legitimacy? Isn’t it more than a bit condescending for, say, [the BDS-promoting rock musician] Roger Waters—place of birth: Great Bookham, Surrey, England—to tell Arabs whom they can do business with?
To be clear, I’m not suggesting BDS will disappear tomorrow. The wider Arab world is making peace with Israel, but Palestinian leaders aren’t about to give up what is admittedly a very nice grift: billions of dollars in international aid in exchange for refusing to accept reality. BDS helps lend a veneer of global credibility to their rejectionism. And fanatic college professors and students can always use “anti-Zionism” to mask old-fashioned hatred, singling out one state and one state only—the one that happens to be Jewish—for opprobrium.
More about: Abraham Accords, BDS, Moroccan, Roger Waters