The illustrious author of the Harry Potter books has recently signed a letter, alongside numerous celebrities, denouncing the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, calling it ‘divisive and discriminatory’.
The BDS movement is attempting to increase economic and political pressure on Israel to comply with the stated goals:
- The end of Israeli occupation and colonisation of Palestinian land
- Full equality for Palestinian citizens of Israel
- Respect for the right of return of Palestinian refugees
The movement calls for “various forms of boycott against Israel until it meets its obligations under international law”.
How on earth does Ms Rowling suppose international muggle politics works?
When you jump a red light, you get fined. This is an uncontroversial policy, unanimously agreed upon by all nations from Sweden to Qatar.
We modify behaviours by incentivising conducts that help maintain peace and order, as well as using punitive measures against those who threaten it.
The letter that Ms Rowling signed advises that we use “cultural bridges” instead of punishment. But boycotts, divestment, and sanctions have always been used to deter violation of international law.
After all, the United States did not build “bridges” with Iran to get it to comply with the rules of IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) or other international bodies on scaling back its nuclear programme; instead, it slapped economic sanctions on Iran that are only marginally less brutal than a full trade embargo.
Most of those who now argue that the BDS movement is an attack on ordinary Israelis rather than their establishment, were tellingly silent about the effects of the aforementioned sanctions on the Iranian people.
The Iranian Riyal fell by half its value in a year, unemployment rose dramatically, and hundreds of thousands of Iranians had their access to life-saving drugs restricted. Iran was well on its path to becoming a beggar state, to remain forever reliant on humanitarian aid from its own punishers, when it finally entered a deal with the United States in July.
Meanwhile, Denis Rodman – American celebrity and former basketball player – was unrelentingly chastised for his visits to North Korea and social engagements with Kim Jong-un. The criticism to his attempts at building “cultural bridges” with North Korea was so intense, he was forced to promise never to visit that country again saying, “I don’t want people to look at me as the devil.”
For critics of the BDS movement, the opposition often stems from the imagined internecine nature of the Israeli-Palestine conflict, and the naturally succeeding idea that it would be “discriminatory” to punish Israel with BDS, and not Palestine.
We expect Israel and Palestine to be criticised equally even when the devastation is atrociously uneven. The distribution of power is so unsymmetrical, the entire “conflict” may be summarised in one iconic image of a young boy lobbing a rock at an Israeli tank.
Palestine already has its imports, exports and regular civilian movements heavily restricted. But, who restrains Israel, as its settlements and industries on Palestinian lands continue to expand?
Considering the statistics of destruction on each end, the demand for ‘equal’ condemnation is in line with the ‘All Lives Matter’ ideology of the American right – an exquisitely ignorant response to the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement – implying that all suffer equally, and no one selectively faces systemic oppression.
Why do some countries face destructive economic sanctions, while others get sat down and politely talked to for overstepping their bounds?
For the same reason, it seems, that some boys are saved from punishment merely for sitting at the right table in the international cafeteria, while the kids at the ‘loser’ table have tomatoes chucked at them for acting out of place.
Israel can neither be expected to roll back its illegal settlements, nor tone down its aggression, until the politico-economic penalties of doing so, start to outweigh the advantages. And as long as powerful governments refuse to take action – as they do with any third-world country violating international law – then the burden is transferred to ordinary citizens of the world.
It is the artists, teachers, small businessmen who would have to do whatever it is in their limited power, to get Israel to negotiate. And the only pragmatic way for them to do so non-violently, is through the BDS movement.
The world isn’t rigged for the inevitable triumph of good, like in childrens’ story books. If giants won’t stand up to giants, the little ones would have to join hands and do their part.