Barkan completely accepts and supports the goal of BDS, to destroy the Jewish state, as perfectly legitimate. The author is merely uncomfortable about its strategy and methods.
The goals of BDS are a blend of the pragmatic (Israel’s withdrawal from the occupied territories in compliance with international law) and the radical (gaining the right of Palestinian refugees and their descendants to return and claim the property they lost during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and 1967 Six-Day War). The radicalism of the latter goal lies not in whether it’s just — believers in pluralist, U.S.-style democracy should welcome the idea of a binational state that treats Palestinians and Israelis equally — but in the cataclysm it would likely unleash.To Barkan, the problem with BDS isn't that it is manifestly genocidal and antisemitic. It is that it is too polarizing to be accepted by mainstream liberals who, deep down, want to destroy Israel too.
I wrote this comment in a small effort to expose the truth that the BDS movement has managed to obscure about itself:
(h/t Melissa)What a disgusting and gaslighting article.BDS is an antisemitic movement. It is a direct descendant of the boycotts of Jews that were enforced by the Arab League since before Israel existed. It doesn't boycott Arab Israeli businesses - only Jewish-owned businesses. Its goal is the destruction of the Jewish state. It rewrites the history of Israel and Zionism to recast a national liberation movement for the most oppressed people in history - Jews - into a racist, genocidal fiction.This article accepts that fiction as truth.Moreover, while BDS presents itself as a liberal movement and one that cares about Palestinians, it is the opposite. It mercilessly attacks any Palestinian who wants peace. It is silent about both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas' decidedly illiberal policies - against women, against LGBTQ+, against abortion.Giving legitimacy to modern antisemitism is condoning it.
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