Israel's boycott law: The quiet sound of going fascist

[Scurrilous]

This is the one. This is where the slope turns nowhere but down. When the Knesset passed the boycott law, it changed the history of the state of Israel.

<snip>

"This is the one. Don't let what we like to call the relative calm here, fool you. When the Knesset passed the boycott law Monday night, it changed the history of the state of Israel.

In real time, a tipping point of great magnitude can sound a lot like nothing at all. But if the Boycott Law makes it past challenges filed by human rights and pro-peace organizations in Israel's High Court of Justice, then anything goes, beginning with democracy itself.

Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak and 10 other cabinet ministers already know this. That's why they failed to show up for the vote.

They stayed away because they know that this is the stain that may prove indelible. The Boycott Law is the litmus test for Israeli democracy, the threshold test for Israeli fascism. It's a test of moderates everywhere who care about the future of this place.

This is the one. This is where the slope turns nowhere but down."

http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/a-special-place-in-hell/israel-s-boycott-law-the-quiet-sound-of-going-fascist-1.372881

[damntexdem]

1. Well, further fascist.

It has been a long, long down slope.

But it makes one thing perfectly clear: it is absolutely essential to boycott Israel, all of its products, everything. A two-state solution might be possible with a very different Israeli government; but that is not in the offing. The only answer is the destruction of the state of Israel as a religious state, and as an ethnically-exclusive state.

[LeftishBrit]

3. Israel isn't a predominantly religious state, and it isn't ethnically exclusive

25% of Israelis are *not* Jewish. By contrast, in the UK, generally regarded as a multi-ethnic country, only 15% of people are *not* White British by origin.

And what's all this crap about 'destroying the state'? How do you propose doing that? War?

[provis99]

5. Israel is a Jewish state BY DEFINITION.

It is in their constitution. You don't have a clue what you're talking about.

[Shaktimaan]

6. Jeez.

Israel is a Jewish state BY DEFINITION.

OK, THIS part you got right. Sorta. Because it being a Jewish state still doesn't make it ethnically exclusive. Israel's actually pretty diverse, ethnically. Nor is it a religious state.

It is in their constitution.

Actually, Israel does not have a constitution.

You don't have a clue what you're talking about.

Yeah, you seem to have your shit really wired here yourself, lol. Seriously, that's really funny. Michelle Bachmann probably thinks the same thing about Howard Zinn.

[LeftishBrit]

8. Firstly, Israel doesn't have a Constitution at all. Secondly, no 'definitions' alter the fact that

only three quarters of Israelis are Jewish: a smaller proportion than those who belong to the predominant ethnic group in several countries regarded as multi-ethnic.

[Shaktimaan]

7. um, it is neither of those things though. np

[leveymg]

2. Author's Synopsis of the Boycott Law:

Q. What is wrong with the law?

1. The measure curbs political freedom of expression in Israel in a number of ways, setting potentially significant – and dangerous – precedents. It allows any individual to, in effect, become a private law enforcement agency, empowered to bring lawsuits against anyone or any group the plaintiff accuses of having taken part in or even simply supported any action the plaintiff construes as a boycott against Israel, against the settlements, or even any individual Israeli, for any reason.

2. The measure erases the legal differentiation between settlements and Israel proper, regarding targeted boycotts against goods from the settlements as actions harmful to the state of Israel itself.

3. The Knesset's apolitical Legal Advisor Eyal Yinon has ruled that the law's broad definition of "boycotting the state of Israel", coupled with its "civil wrongdoing" or anyone-can-sue clause, may compromise freedom of expression where it comes to public debate over the fate of the West Bank. Prior to the Monday vote, Yinon stated that the law could be brought to bear against targeted boycotts "whose goal is to influence the political debate in connection with the future of Judea and Samaria, a discussion which has been at the heart of political debate in Israel for more than 40 years now."

4. The effect of the law could be crippling to the efforts of all organizations and many individuals working for Israeli-Palestinian peace and enhanced freedoms and human rights within Israel and the territories. The rabid anti-NGO campaigns of Im Tirtzu and other groups could escalate into a full-bore "lawfare" offensive, hauling them repeatedly into court and costing them prohibitive legal fees.

This reminds me of the food libel law in Texas. Cheezitz.

[LeftishBrit]

4. Israeli McCarthyism. Many who helped establish democracy in Israel are turning in their graves today

[Scurrilous]

9. American Jews rally against boycott law

Controversial legislation sees Jewish community in US unite in denouncing it as affront to freedom of expression

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4094680,00.html

<snip>

"American Jewish organizations from the Left and Right have come together to fight an unexpected "evil," as they call it: The newly inducted anti-boycott law.

According to a Wednesday report in JTA, the US Jewish community seems remarkably united in deeming the measure an affront to freedom of expression.

“We're disappointed that they passed the law,” Rabbi Steve Gutow, director of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the umbrella body for the Jewish public policy groups, said.

“We don't support boycotts… The law does challenge democracy in a way, and hopefully the Supreme Court will respond.”

A prominent figure in the community hedged that "Not since 'Who is a Jew?' has there been a controversy that could seriously strain relations between Israel and American Jews. Who needs it?"