Activism and BDS Beat 11 January 2014
Yair Lapid (Wikipedia)
Israeli finance minister Yair Lapid has become the latest senior official to warn about the serious impact of growing boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaigns targeting Israel.
“The world seems to be losing patience with us,” Lapid told the Hebrew edition of Ynet on 10 January.
“In the case of Horizon 2020 (a scientific collaboration with Europe), we managed to avert the damage, and then all of a sudden, a boycott in American academia. We haven’t managed to create an effect around the Iranian agreement, because our voice was not sufficiently heard, because our standing is not as it should be. If we don’t make progress with the Palestinians, we will lose the support of the world and our legitimacy.”
Lapid, leader of the Yesh Atid faction, is the senior coalition partner of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Things do not look good”
Lapid added: “We have formulated complete scenarios as to what will happen if the boycott continues and exports are hurt. In all scenarios, things do not look good. The status quo will hit each of us in the pocket, will hurt every Israeli. We are export-oriented, and this [export trade] depends on our global standing.”
Lapid was particularly concerned about further announcements by Israel of new tenders for houses in illegal Jewish-only colonies in the occupied West Bank.
Lapid’s frank comments come just days after Dutch pensions giant PGGM took the unprecedented decision to divest from all Israeli banks because of their role in the colonization program.
Interestingly, a 10 January report about Lapid’s comments on the English edition of Ynet by the same journalist mentions only Lapid’s criticism of the settlement tenders and omits his warning about the boycott.
String of warnings
Lapid, an alleged “centrist” who has habitually made anti-Arab comments, joins other senior politicians who have warned about the looming threat of boycott.
Recently, the chair of the governing coalition’s Habayit Hayehudi party said that boycott was the “greatest threat” Israel faced.
Justice minister and war crimes suspect Tzipi Livni also warned that “The boycott is moving and advancing uniformly and exponentially … Those who don’t want to see it, will end up feeling it.”
With thanks to Ofer Neiman.
Comments
BDS
Permalink Guy replied on
Finally ,the world is waking up and the message is hitting home.It is up to the government of Israel to do the right thing or go down in denial.
FANNY LOU HAMER---"KEEP ON KEEPIN' ON"
Permalink Peter Loeb replied on
Israel has not "already lost". Not at all. Those of us who support BDS
must prepare for a long battle, They have more money, more cards
to play with. We can never lose hope, determination, guts.
The title above is from Fanny Lou Hamer, an icon of the Civil Rights Movement in the USA in the 1960's, Mississippi.
In translation: Do not let down your guard for a second.
Now let's hope the Palestinian leadership doesn't sell out
Permalink Mairead replied on
There is no reason on Earth for Palestine not to have *at least* the area proposed by the illegal UN partition vote in '48. BDS should be sufficient to coerce at least that much if nobody weakens.