Ben, Zionism & Jerry's

Ben & Jerry's, the world famous ice cream producer, announced on July 19, 2021, that it would no longer sell its ice cream in Palestinian territories occupied by Israel. Immediately the political right and the Israeli government lost it and called for sanctions against Ben & Jerry's, accusing them of racism and antisemitism...

One particular right wing hack, Ben Shapiro, is featured in the linked video; he went on Fox News (where else) to make known his anger about Ben & Jerry's decision and his support for "sanctioning the sanctioners." Ben called for states to invoke laws on racism and antisemitism to punish the popular ice cream makers. He'll most likely succeed; thirty-five states have already passed anti-BDS laws, executive orders and resolutions since 2005. The boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, known as the BDS movement, began in 2005, with the stated goal to punish and isolate Israel for its continued breaking of international law against Palestinians in the occupied territories. So, there's no trace of antisemitism to be found here. It's the same excuse as always, that criticizing Israeli policies or the Israeli state is the same as discriminating against Jews. It's not. Ben & Jerry's simply said that selling ice cream in the West Bank and Gaza "is inconsistent with our values." That's something to be celebrated and only the first major success for the BDS movement since its inception in 2005.

Painting critics of Israel as being antisemitic is not new, it's been done since the founding of the Zionist movement. What we're dealing with is an equation of antisemitism with anti-Zionism, which is nonsensical. Zionism is the political ideology that says that Jews have a right to their own state in the territory of of their ancient homeland. We may think so now, but it's far from self-evident that every ethnic (or religious) group has a right to their own country; there are some 5000 ethnic groups in this world, according to a 1998 study published in the Scientific American in only 195 countries. But Israel exists and has a right to exist. Palestinians have an equal right to exist however. Right now Israel does not respect their right to exist, not in their own designated territories and not as equal citizens in Israeli territories.

So, stop it already. Stop accusing everyone who criticizes Israel's anti-Palestinians policies of antisemitism. Are all the millions of Jews who criticize Israel also being antisemitic? Oh, wait, stupid question; those are called "self hating Jews"... If you want a very interesting debate on this topic, watch the above linked edition of the "Intelligence Squared" debates from two years ago; I promise it'll give you a clear understanding of the way the label "antisemitism" is weaponized in social and political discourse. And below we can all marvel at Ben Shapiro's dumb remarks regarding Ben & Jerry's admirable move.

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