Pro-Palestinian campaigners have launched a campaign to stop Bob Geldof from visiting Israel next month on the basis that going there would damage the singer's "credibility as a defender of the rights of the dispossessed".So not only are the BDSers trying to convince people to boycott Israeli products, but also to boycott Israeli charitable organizations that help thousands of people worldwide!
The former Boomtown Rats singer is to make his first trip to the country to accept an honorary degree from Ben Gurion University (BGU) in recognition of his anti-poverty work.
But Raymond Deane, the cultural and academic boycott officer for the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Camp (IPSC) has demanded that the star reject it and also pull out of a conference the same week on Israel's humanitarian aid work in Africa.
He also said Mr Geldof should consider whether it was "appropriate" to attend the IsraAid conference because "the criminal actions of the Israeli state have resulted in the Palestinians being more dependent on humanitarian aid than any people on earth".
Mr Deane went on to add that if his appeal was ignored, the singer "may well stand accused of placing the oppressor's flattery above the victim's plea for solidarity."
He wrote: "You will have lent yourself heedlessly to exploitation by a rogue state that has mastered the art of propaganda and whitewash".
IsraAid coordinates Israeli charity responses to disasters and other needs around the world. Part of its mission statement is:
To provide humanitarian assistance to people in need, regardless of religion, race, gender, nationality, age, disabilities.The conference that Geldof will attend is about how to most effectively help people in Africa in need.
To provide aid with full respect to culture and custom of the beneficiaries, while building on local capacities and involving program beneficiaries in the process.
BDS advocates hate Israel so much that they would rather hurt thousands of people in need worldwide than allow Israel to help them! They would rather see Africans starve than have them accept any aid from those awful
BDSers don't give a damn about helping people. Their entire purpose is simply to slander a single state as the worst human rights violator on the planet. A state that, by sheer coincidence, just happens to be the only nation that is meant to support the human rights of Jews to self-determination.