Help me understand this... about PA.. clear up some stuff...

[android fan]

I just wanted to be clear on a few things and will be open to correction...

1) We know Mahmoud Abbas is in his 10th year of a 4 year term. Why has he not called for a PA election?

2) Is BDS anti-Semitic or ineffective and harms the Palestinian cause? Why or why not?

[aranthus]

1. Some possible answers

1) About Abbas: I can't read his mind, but I think that he hasn't called for elections because he doesn't have to, and because he thinks he'd lose if he did.

2) What is the Palestinian cause? To end the Occupation? Gain a State? Get the best deal possible? Destroy the Jewish State of Israel? I believe it is the last in the list, though most Palestinians won't say that. They say that they want "justice." However, when you look at what they mean by justice it comes down to the Right of Return. That means the right of anyone who can claim to be Palestinian to return to Israel. That automatically turns Israel into an Arab State (though with a substantial Jewish minority). That means the end of the existence of the Jewish State of Israel.

BDS actually seeks three things. 1. End the Occupation. 2. End any discrimination against Arabs in Israel. however, the details of this amount to the end of any expression of Jewish identity in the Israeli state. That means in particular, the end of preferential treatment in immigration for Jews, among other issues. 3. Enforcement of the Right to Return. So BDS officially seeks the end of the Jewish State. That is antisemitic per se.

Is it ineffective or does it harm the Palestinian cause? That depends on what that cause is. If the cause is the destruction of the Jewish state, then I would say that BDS is mostly ineffective (it does radicalize Palestinians and their supporters, and that somewhat helps the cause). If the cause is anything else, then BDS harms the Palestinians because it makes the Israelis and their supporters believe that the Palestinians are irrevocably committed to Israel's destruction. Also, since BDS is antisemitic, it attracts antisemites to the movement. If the movement isn't really antisemitic, then BDS unnecessarily gives them a black eye.

[King_David]

2. BDS may have had altruistic aims and goals by its Palestinian founders , but it has been hijacked

by the worst type of antisemitic incidents by their new Western Leadership.

Every day there's an anti Jewish incident from posting extremist right wing hate on the net to putting severed pigs heads in kosher supermarkets to calling for the expulsion of Jews from universities to pasting Swastikas on Jewish university dorms to placing eviction notices on Jewish students dorm rooms at universities.... The list is endless.

[aranthus]

3. I'm a little surprised by your post. I disagree that the movement has been hijacked.

Everything I have ever read by Barghouti and the other founders of BDS belies any altruistic intent. Barghouti, in particular, has stated several times that the first and foremost goal of BDS is enforcement of right of return. He's admitted that there won't be an Israel if that happens. Not to mention that the movement claims to based on international law even though the entire concept of BDS violates the most foundational elements of international law. The reason there are so many incidents is that the inherent antisemitism of the movement invites them.

[King_David]

4. Yes that's the Palestinian version

The western armchair militants have different motives ..

People supporting BDS such as Greta Berlin have hatred of Jews as their prime cause.
David Duke supported the disinvestment actions of the Presbyterian church and that wasn't because of the injustice of the occupation.

There are so many incidents of antiSemitism by BDS "supporters" that their motives may legitimately be questioned.