When an argument relies upon fictions and fabrications — as does the opposition to BDS (boycott, divest, sanction) by Philipp Gollner, Andrew Elias Ramer and James Regier — there is no valid argument. The writers of “Resolution on Mideast Harms Efforts for Peace for All Faiths” (Oct. 26), find injustices in the Holy Land “abhorrent” but fail to specify that Palestinians alone are denied justice: for dispossession, subjugation under illegal occupation and blockade and massive state violence against their rightful resistance.
More “relevant voices” and “different stories” are needed? Americans have heard six decades of disinformation from Israel; only recently have Palestinian voices become audible. Most important, it is not “stories” but objective facts that are now known from multiple sources, including Israel’s own historians. As Israel’s longtime enabler of human rights violations, it is time for U.S. taxpayers and justice advocates to be heard.
“BDS is antithetical to restorative justice”? Nonsense. Restorative justice has been blocked 43 times by U.S. vetoes in the U.N. Security Council. This is precisely why civil nonviolent BDS is a necessary roadblock bypass mechanism. BDS has a “questionable success rate”? Really? In South Africa? In Montgomery? In Gandhi’s India?
Palestine had no “troubled legacy of Jewish-Christian-Islamic relations” for many centuries before disruption by the Zionist project. Improvement is likely only when Israel is brought into compliance with international law. Moreover, Palestinians are not obliged to pay for past Christian persecutions.
All investment decisions of collective resources are inherently coercive. Continued investment in the targeted companies would coerce all investors into supporting injustice, human rights violations and asymmetrical violence.
Jack Dresser
Springfield, Ore.
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