The answer is - it is arbitrary.
In their "know what to boycott" page, they say, "The BDS movement calls for a boycott of all the products of all Israeli -- and international -- companies that are involved in Israel’s violations of Palestinian rights. Virtually all Israeli companies are complicit to some degree in Israel’s system of occupation and apartheid."
Except that they also say, on the same page, "We focus our boycotts on a small number of companies and products for maximum impact. "
OK, so that means that they call for everyone to boycott all products, but they only publicize a small percentage of them.
But do they actually call to boycott them, as they claim?
They might call for it, but they sure don't do it themselves!
Here's a partial list of companies that have R&D or other ties to Israel, from Deloitte and Touche:
Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft,Visa, PayPal, Snapchat, eBay, Samsung, Lenovo, GE - you know that not one of the BDSers telling you to boycott all these companies are doing it themselves! None of them choose their airlines, their cellphones, their social media, their email service or their credit cards based on whether those companies do business in Israel.
The BDS "Call" is not to boycott companies doing business in Israel, but to boycott companies that they determine that they can successfully bully!
That doesn't sound like such a principled position anymore, does it?
So, is The Crimson calling to boycott all Israeli companies or only the ones that some self-proclaimed leaders of BDS they think they can threaten? Because either they support targeted intimidation and threats - or they are hypocrites.
Pick one, oh moral giants of Harvard!
(h/t Irene)
