In response to the recent debate regarding the Palestinian civil society call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, we offer a view from a Jewish anti-Zionist perspective. We welcome debate as a part of the growth and success of an international movement deploying BDS against Israeli occupation, apartheid and colonization.

A claim has been made byDr. Norman Finkelstein (known for his condemnation of Israel’s use of the Holocaust to justify and perpetuate Israeli atrocities both historicand current) that the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign will not win over public opinion towards support of Palestinian rights because its goals imply destruction of Israel. This claim contradicts his own eloquent evocation of humanitarian and human rights law – which is precisely the basis for the Palestinian call for BDS.

South Africa was not ‘destroyed’ or ‘dismantled’ when apartheid ended; rather, the illegal nature of the state was transformed.  BDS does not call for the ‘destruction of Israel’; it calls for the enforcement of international law.

Meanwhile, a call has been made toZionist American Jews to implement a “Zionist BDS” that isolates and condemns Israeli expansion in the Occupied Palestinian Territories in order to “save Israel.” The Zionist “left” argues that Israel is a “flawed but genuine democracy” with an “ethnically-based non-democracy” beyond the green line (the land occupied in 1967), and that the latter threatens the existence of the former.

UnWelcome Peres to San Francisco from Intl Jewish Anti-Zionist Network on Vimeo.

OnMarch 6^th, IJAN and US Palestinian Community Network, with a lot ofsupport from the Arab Resource and Organizing Center, pulled together an"unwelcome" for Shimon Peres in San Francisco.

Securityfor the event had closed off all streets surrounding the synagogue hostingIsraeli Shimon Peres and had stopped traffic on the main thoroughfare to theout of the way destination. We heard news that people who were coming to theprotest were stopped and asked to either prove that they lived in the neighborhoodor were visiting family, and were turned away.

Asa result, the demonstration was much smaller than it would have been, andhappened at the entrance to the barricades where attendees entered to walk tothe event over a block away. Nonetheless, it was an extremely successful eventwith local, national and international media interviewing protesters. All thoseattending the event had to walk through the demonstration to enter. There werealso Zionist defenders/protesters present in small numbers, but ourdemonstration was powerful and successful with great energy and clarityopposing the presence of Peres in San Francisco and this war criminal speakingin a house of worship.

Over100 people, Palestinian, Arab, Jewish, Iranian and other Palestine solidarityactivists demonstrated together for peace with justice holding banners sayingsuch things as "Boycott Israel," "Confront Zionism,""Jews Say No to Apartheid" and various placards stating concern aboutIsrael's threats to Iran. Prior to the event Peres was dining in a localrestaurant and someone who had received the demonstration announcement stood upand identified him to the crowd as a war criminal.

Wesuccessfully sent a message that Peres or other Israeli criminals cannot cometo San Francisco without protest.

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