Daphne Anson: Pro-Boycott SNP Councillor Calls Anti-Boycott Protesters "Extremists"

Eretz Israel is our unforgettable historic homeland...The Jews who will it shall achieve their State...And whatever we attempt there for our own benefit will redound mightily and beneficially to the good of all mankind. (Theodor Herzl, DerJudenstaat, 1896)

We offer peace and amity to all the neighbouring states and their peoples, and invite them to cooperate with the independent Jewish nation for the common good of all. The State of Israel is ready to contribute its full share to the peaceful progress and development of the Middle East. (From Proclamation of the State of Israel, 5 Iyar 5708; 14 May 1948)

With a liberal democratic political system operating under the rule of law, a flourishing market economy producing technological innovation to the benefit of the wider world, and a population as educated and cultured as anywhere in Europe or North America, Israel is a normal Western country with a right to be treated as such in the community of nations.... For the global jihad, Israel may be the first objective. But it will not be the last. (Friends of Israel Initiative)

Wednesday, 25 May 2011

Pro-Boycott SNP Councillor Calls Anti-Boycott Protesters "Extremists"

Well, the Boycott Derangement Syndromers who've got their iron grip in West Dunbartonshire Council (see
http://daphneanson.blogspot.com/2011/05/swastika-underthe-snps-sporran-snp-led.html) may or may not have a swastika under their sporran, but whatever they wear under their kilts is evidently in a twist.

As a result of all the adverse publicity in the press at the weekend and in blogs over the last few days, which has provoked indignant e-mails to council officials, the Council has posted a clarification on its website:

"West Dunbartonshire Council utterly refutes recent media claims that it has ‘launched a boycott on Israeli books’.

The Council’s boycott only relates to goods ‘made or grown’ in Israel. The vast majority of mainstream books by Israeli authors are published in the UK and are therefore not affected by this boycott. Only books that were printed in Israel and transported to the UK for distribution would be potentially boycotted...."

And the Council has reproduced the motion concerned, which, it turns out, was passed in 2009 following a proposal by Councillor Jim Bollan, who appears to be a dyed-in-the-wool Socialist:

"This Council deplores the loss of life in Palestine which now numbers well over 1,000. This Council also recognises the disproportionate force used by the IDF in Palestine and agrees to boycott all Israeli goods as a consequence. Officers should immediately cease the purchase of any goods we currently source, which were made or grown in Israel. Officers should also ensure we procure no new goods or produce from Israel until this boycott is formally lifted by WDC."

They've been frightfully earnest about that "made or grown" clause, it transpires: hence the decision to interpret it to the very letter (no pun intended) by including Israeli printed matter - and thus intellectual property.

On Modernity Blog, there's a rather delicious, perceptive post concerning this issue. It points out that since there are in practice likely to be few if any such books in West Dunbartonshire libraries, the boycott is mere "posturing" ... "political posing".

What the council really needs to do, to display its commitment to the cause, suggests Modernity wryly, is to throw out all the useful equipment in its offices originating in Israel.

(In short, to put its money where its mouth is, like Marrickville, the BDS Council in inner Sydney, meant to do, until its humiliating climbdown when it found how much jettisoning Israeli products would actually cost it!)

Writes Modernity, inter alia:

"If they were truly serious then they would stop using all of that sophisticated Israeli medical equipment, computer technology and finally Google, which uses a search algorithm developed by an Israeli.

The Council could stop using all of that computer technology from Intel and Microsoft, all developed with Israeli know-how, but they won’t, because it would be a hindrance to them. West Dunbartonshire Council’s supposed boycott is just a pose, a piece of political theatre as they won’t inconvenience themselves, really, for the sake of their alleged principles."

Modernity's post has flushed out a retort in the Comments section from Councillor Jonathan McColl (SNP, pictured) who's Deputy Leader of the Council, Spokesperson for Educational Services, Chair of Education & Lifelong Learning, andChair/Vice Chair of Local Negotiating Committee for Teachers.

Says he:

"You do realise this is really REALLY old news?

We’ve had this boycott in place since January 2009!"

To which Modernity bluntly replies:

"The fact in two years that you’ve manage to do nothing, really, concerning Israeli products shows what a pile of political trite it is.

If you weren’t such a bunch of hypocrites, then you’d stop using your PC, never use Google, and probably buy a different processor for your computer.

Then when you went to hospital you could deliberately ask to avoid all of those sophisticated medical techniques that the Israelis have developed recently.

But you and the Council won’t.

You won’t inconvenience yourself, you will posture, play petty politics, but not inconvenience youself.

Will the Council have a motion on boycotting products from the rest of the Middle East? All of unsavoury dictatorships which are shooting their own populations (Yemen, Syria, Mauritius, etc) or helping to put down legitimate protests (Saudi Arabia and Bahrain)? Unlikely.

...."

Councillor McColl responds:

"You think we should replace all of our computers and stop using medical services?

You clearly have a screw loose somewhere. [My emphasis]

....

To cease to use medicine and kill ourselves to make a point is also a ridiculous suggestion. I’m getting flashbacks from ‘Monty Python’s The Life of Brian’ and the ‘Judean People’s Front crack suicide squad! Suicide squad’.

As a Local Authority, our primary responsibility is to our own citizens and I could not vote to spend tens of millions of pounds replacing computer systems.

This was a private member’s motion from an Independent Councillor who wanted support to express his feelings on Israel’s military policy.

As a small Council, we are well aware that a boycott will have little actual impact in the Israeli economy, but it’s about taking a position on the issue.

You call it “posturing”, I call it standing up and saying, “We think what you are doing is wrong.”

If you really believe that’s such a terrible thing to do then we’re going to have to agree to disagree.

I supported Jim’s motion two years ago and I’d support it again were the vote today".

It seems to yours truly that the councillor really had no idea of all the essential and everyday items that originate in Israel, or he would not have responded as he did, so I decide to help him learn by recommending to him this post of mine: http://daphneanson.blogspot.com/2011/01/boycotting-israel-your-essential-bds.html

Another commenter takes aim:

".... Gaza elected the overt homophobes and anti-semites of Hamas – people who do not hide the facts and rather seem to proud of them. Why not boycott them too?"

As does Modernity:

".... It is purely a gesture....

But like many politicians you are oblivious to history and obviously won’t know of the historical resonance of boycotts and Jews, because if you did you probably wouldn’t go there, assuming you had an ounce of common sense.

I’m pointing out as well that Israelis do many wonderful things (and yes, their government does make major mistakes), they contribute to the wealth of human knowledge, whereas you and your council come across as small-minded and unaware of the issues.

Could you ask Cllr Jim Bollan if he is so aggrieved at the conduct of China in Tibet? Been going on for 60+ years.

Or perhaps Cllr Bollan feels the conduct of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain deserves a boycott too?

.... Please ask Cllr Bollan if he has any motions on Syria forthcoming or do you and him judge their rulers by a lower standard?"

Adds somebody else:

'Perhaps you should read your own resolution - the one you voted for. It says: “This Council also recognises the disproportionate force used by the IDF in Palestine and agrees to boycott all Israeli goods as a consequence.” ....

So according to that plain text of your resolution, you have to boycott all (ALL) Israeli goods – and that includes microchips. You voted for this piece of nonsense so it appears you are the one with a screw loose. Or did you not understand the implications of what you were voting for?

With so much evil in the world today (from Zimbabwe to Tibet to Syria to Libya), you single out the Jewish state of Israel for a boycott. That is not anti-Zionism; it is anti-semitism."

This proves all too much for the worthy Councillor McColl:

"I'm not going to comment on here any more.

It’s occurred to me that by responding to these ridiculous posts from people who are clearly extremists and don’t care, let alone understand how Council’s operate, is futile and only spawns more mince from your keyboards. [My emphasis]
....

From now on you can waffle amongst yourselves."

Oy!

As Corporal Jones used to say in Dad's Army, "They don't like it up 'em!"

Read the entire thing here: http://modernityblog.wordpress.com/2011/05/23/west-dunbartonshire-council-israel-and-political-posturing/

6 comments:

Juniper in the Desert25 May 2011 at 08:05
The Romans couldn't stand the Scots either!! They built Hadrian's Wall to keep them out - or rather in.
ReplyDelete
Replies
Daphne Anson25 May 2011 at 08:20
Er - wasn't the target the Picts?
I actually admire the Scots - with obvious exceptions.
ReplyDelete
Replies
Daphne Anson26 May 2011 at 23:02
In the tit for tat spirit, a suggestion from

http://muqata.blogspot.com/2011/05/scotch-whiskey-boycott.html:

Its only fitting for people who believe that Israel is entitled to self defense ... that we boycott Scottish whiskys from the areas in Scotland (West Dunbartonshire, Dundee) that are boycotting Israeli products.

The whisky's I've found so far:

- Ballentine's
- Auchintoshan
- Chivas

If you find more...please let me know in the comments section. Once we have a definitive list, I will present it the Duty Free people in Ben-Gurion airport and will make the case for them to remove those whiskys from their shelves.

Boycott these whiskys, people! They don't deserve your money...though I wonder how much support they would get from Gaza.
ReplyDelete
Replies
Anonymous2 June 2011 at 04:48
Sadly, I live here across the Clyde from Dumbarton and have lived in Scotland for over 22 years..the country is rife with sectarianism particularly in the West part and pockets of extreme poverty,addictions and crime throughout..it would have been better for the council in question to deal with those issues
ReplyDelete
Replies
Daphne Anson2 June 2011 at 05:39
Thanks for your comment, Anon.
There's a similar boycott by a council in Sydney, and the same goes for them!
ReplyDelete
Replies
Anonymous6 June 2011 at 05:25
The WDC boycott is stupid and if they were serious about it, or even thought for a moment, it would be only one of hundreds they would have to have - of China, of Bahrain, of Saudi Arabia, of Syria, Iran, Azerbijan.... etc., etc.

There are actually only two distilleries in their region, Auchentoshan which is owned by Suntory, a Japanese company and Loch Lomond, which is almost impossible to buy as a single malt, as almost 100% goes into blended whiskies, so almost every blended whisky coming out of Scotland has the possibility of containing Loch Lomond.

Ballantines is a blend owned by French drinks giant, Pernod Ricard and is not blended in WDC's area, but the company do own a bonded warehouse there, registered in the old name of Ballantines. Chivas is also owned by Pernod Ricard and is not blended there. Chivas Bros (so, Pernod Ricard) own about 20 distilleries across Scotland. Their presence in WDC's area is little more than a nameplate outside the Ballantines warehouse.

Hope that clears up the whisky details.

Only 42% of the WD electorate voted in the election for this council and only about 40% of those voted for the main party, so you are talking maybe 17,000 supporters, most of whom will have absolutely no idea about the boycott.

Please don't target the rest of Scotland because of WDC's stupidity.
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.

'For as long as these antisemites wrap themselves up in the Palestinian flag, too many people are willing to turn a blind eye. Only against Jews is this type of racism openly tolerated. It is flourishing in schools, colleges, universities, unions and in city councils. In fact, so rampant is the disease now, in some settings you can be ostracised if you do not partake in the frenzy yourself. Bashing Jews has becomes a trendy position for the ignorant social justice warrior. "Palestinianism" is a viral "ponzi scheme" and as it spreads, it carries antisemitism in the undergrowth.' David Collier (2017)

'This new rise in antisemitism, which I had thought long dead, was not shaven-headed white imbeciles from the far right. It was Muslims, a large chunk of it.... Suddenly I grasped that the British far left didn’t want people to know about antisemitism because it pointed the finger at people they really, really liked. From that moment on, it all fell into place.... Time and again the same tropes emerged, the same sort of stuff that Streicher and Goebbels would have commended – and uttered.... And from that a whole bunch of other stuff emerged: the old blood libel business (a favourite of the repulsive Jenny Tonge).... Nice, avuncular, Jeremy Corbyn, with his peace badges, happily laying a wreath at the graveside of Palestinian terrorists who murdered innocent Jewish athletes, oh, and much much more.... It is the same antisemitism, exactly the same: the obsession with Israel to the exclusion of everything else, the conspiracy theory paranoias, the derangement.... Here’s the test – if you cannot see the flagrant racism in the BDS movement, and if you are obsessed with the perfidy of the Middle East’s only democracy to the exclusion of all else, you are an antisemite. That means a good proportion of the Labour Party, including the leader, and almost all of Momentum: no brown shirts, no marching bands, but the same old filth, dressed in the clothes of a polytechnic geography lecturer.'
Rod Liddle (2018)

'Before the June 1967 Six Day War, there were no such things as "settlements". Palestinians were trying to destroy and displace Israel anyhow. The core problem is not, and never was, "settlements," but the right of Israel (or any non-Muslim nation) to exist inside any borders in that part of the world.
If you take a stand that is based on a lie, then that stand cannot succeed. If you try to oppose antisemitism but pretend it is the same thing as "Islamophobia," then the structure on which you have made your stand will totter and all your aspirations will fail. If you try to make a stand based on the idea that settlement construction rather than the intransigence of the Palestinians to the existence of a Jewish state is what is holding up a peace deal, then facts will keep on intruding.' Douglas Murray (31 December 2016)
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9685/britain-little-lies

'Islamophobia does NOT come from the same wellspring of hatred as antisemitism. Antisemitism is a true prejudice because the hatred and demonisation it promotes derive entirely from lies and a repudiation of rationality itself.
Islamophobia is a false allegation of prejudice which is deployed to silence rational criticism based on actual facts about attitudes and practices within the Islamic world.
[L]ethally compromised even-handedness is to misunderstand, and thus minimise, antisemitic attitudes and behaviour while shutting down legitimate and necessary discussion of the threat from the Islamic world – even to demonise as “Islamophobic” anyone who draws attention to the extent and consequences of Muslim antisemitism.' Melanie Phillips (14 December 2016)

Jews have re-assumed the role of the canary in the mine and are the first to be targeted, but the world would face the same threat if Jews did not exist. Israel has been at the front lines confronting Islamic extremism but has received scant support... For Jews, the writing has been on the wall for a long time. The virulence of the antisemitic hatred closing in on Jews in Europe (and elsewhere) is horrifying...
Europe is today facing a crisis as serious as the confrontation with Nazism. If Western leaders continue behaving like Chamberlain and fail to stand up to this global threat, it could usher in a new Dark Age in which the Judeo-Christian culture is subsumed by primitive barbarism. The writing is on the wall Isi Leibler (12 January 2015)

Expose The Lies!

There is a war of lies and deceit on the internet generating unbelievable hate by denigrating and delegitimising the legal rights conferred on the Jewish people by the League of Nations in 1922 and the United Nations in 1945. The idea that there are two narratives on the Arab-Jewish conflict is rubbish. There is only one – the factual truth that details the return of the Jewish people to reconstitute the Jewish National Home in its ancient biblical, ancestral and historic homeland after 3500 years of dispersion with the unanimous endorsement of the nation states then comprising the League of Nations.... Generals can’t fight a war without soldiers. Jews around the world need to join the fight or vacate the internet to the Jew-haters and their lies that repeated often enough eventually become accepted as truth. David Singer (2016)

The "Apartheid" Slur

The division of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) into three separate areas “A”, “B” and “C” was agreed on by Israel and the PLO pursuant to the Oslo Accords.
95% of the West Bank Arabs live in Areas A and B and their daily lives are under the total administration and control of the PLO since the Palestinian Authority was disbanded by Abbas in January 2013. The PLO has total security control in A and shares security control in B with Israel. Israel has total administrative and security control in C.
Israel is entitled to and will continue to take responsibility for the security of Jews living in the West Bank.
Jews were given the legal right to settle in the West Bank under article 6 of the Mandate for Palestine and article 80 of the UN Charter. They did so for decades until they were driven out in 1947 and not able to return there until 1967.
There are Arab roads only in the West Bank that Jews are not allowed to use. Jews are also forbidden from entering Area “A”. Selling land to Jews is forbidden by the PLO under pain of death. The PLO runs the daily lives of 95% of the West Bank Arabs and Hamas runs the daily lives of 100% of the Gazan Arabs. They have been under occupation – and subjugation – by these two evil groups for the last ten years and given no say in their future or any opportunity to elect others to lead them following the disastrous political decisions of their leaders over the past ten years. Hamas and the PLO do not accept the continued existence of a Jewish State and call for its disappearance.
The narratives did not begin in 1948 – they began in about 1917. How do you make peace with an enemy that has been obsessed with not recognising any Jewish national rights in former Palestine for the last 100 years? David Singer (2016)

The Jews of the Holy Land ... are surrounded by hostile states 650 times their territory and sixty times their population. Yet their last, best hope of ending two millennia of international persecution - the State of Israel - has somehow survived. When, during the Second World War, the island of Malta came through three terrible years of bombardment and destruction, it was rightly awarded the George Cross for bravery. Today, Israel should be awarded a similar decoration for defending democracy, tolerance and Western values against a murderous onslaught that has lasted twenty times as long. Andrew Roberts (historian)

Israel is understandably obsessed with security, but its greatest security lies ultimately not in the Israeli Defence Forces, but in political warfare.... Most of the world is not deeply interested in what happens in Israel, and probably does not want to be deluged with legalistic defences of particular actions. What it wants is a clear, calm, repeated case. It is a case – aimed more at public opinion than at foreign ministries – about freedom, democracy, a Western way of life and the need for the whole of the free world to fight terrorism. Sometimes you hear Israelis say: “It doesn’t matter what we say. The whole world is against us.” You can see why they say it, for they are indeed unfairly treated. But when they say it, they are uttering a self-fulfilling prophecy. If they won’t say what needs saying, no one else will say it for them. Charles Moore (2010)

Once again the armies of the Arab nations are coordinating their military efforts to destroy Israel - whatever they say about wishing merely to regain the lost territories.... [I]f the present Arab offensive had been launched at the pre-1967 frontiers, then the Israelis would indeed have been fighting to avoid annihilation. It seems now that the Israelis were right to maintain the ceasefire lines gained in 1967, and that to do so is the only guarantee of their continued safety.
Alan Sillitoe (The Times, 11 October 1973)

Iran and ISIS are competing for the crown of militant Islam... In this deadly game of thrones, there’s no place for America or for Israel, no place for Christians, Jews or Muslims who don’t share the Islamist medieval creed, no rights for women, no freedom for anyone... [T]he greatest danger facing our world is the marriage of militant Islam with nuclear weapons. To defeat ISIS and let Iran get nuclear weapons would be to win the battle, but lose the war. We can’t let that happen...[T]he days when the Jewish people remained passive in the face of genocidal enemies, those days are over. We are no longer scattered among the nations, powerless to defend ourselves. We restored our sovereignty in our ancient home. And the soldiers who defend our home have boundless courage. For the first time in 100 generations, we, the Jewish people, can defend ourselves....Even if Israel has to stand alone, Israel will stand. But ... I know that America stands with Israel... You stand with Israel, because you know that the story of Israel is not only the story of the Jewish people but of the human spirit that refuses again and again to succumb to history’s horrors. Bibi Netanyahu (12 Adar 5775; 3 March 2015)

The Jews are a peculiar people: things permitted to other nations are forbidden to the Jews. Other nations drive out thousands, even millions, of people, and there is no refugee problem.... [N]o one says a word about refugees. But in the case of Israel displaced Arabs have become eternal refugees.... Other nations - when they are defeated - survive and recover, but should Israel be defeated it would be destroyed.... [A]s it goes with Israel, so it will go with all of us. Should Israel perish the holocaust will be upon us. Eric Hoffer (1968)

Most of the present Arab countries were given their freedom after the 1914-18 War, or after the 1939-45 War.... Yet to listen to Arab spokesmen one might think that they had been cheated ... because they have not also got Israel. Israel is only .2 per cent of the land where Arab States have been established. Surely no fair-minded man can begrudge the Jews their own promised land when it is remembered that for every 2 acres that went to make up Israel, 1,000 acres became Arab.... Why is there an Arab refugee problem? The oil-rich countries have the money. There is no shortage of land, and the Israelis have the technical knowledge to show how it could be developed and made fertile. Bring those things together and the problem could be solved. 3rd Earl of Balfour (1968)

January 7, 2015 has already its place in the history of infamy, but also will be the date when the defenders of freedom and democracy will rise and pay tribute to those who died for their freedom and ours. Therefore, we must not forget on which side we are and who are our allies in the defense of the West and its values. Whether we admit it or not, the West is at war with an enemy who will not stop to destroy us...
The State of Israel boasts a commandment that, in one of the darkest hours in the fight for liberty Winston Churchill taught: "Never give up". Israel has proven to be a key ally in the fight against Islamism and also an example of how a liberal democracy can resist the jihadist stake and thrive as a Western nation ... Not only France but also all the West should look to Israel to defeat Islamism...
friendsofisraelinitiative.org

[I]t’s impossible to believe that an active antisemite wouldn’t – if only opportunistically – seek out somewhere to nestle in the manifold pleats of Israel-bashing, whether in generally diffuse anti-Zionism, or in more specific Boycott and Divestment Campaigns, Israeli Apartheid Weeks, End the Occupation movements and the like....[T]ell me that not a single Jew-hater finds the activity congenial, that criticising Israel can “never” be an expression of Jew-hating, not even when it takes the form of accusing Israeli soldiers of harvesting organs... Howard Jacobson (The Independent, 27 May 2013)

For Western countries to side with those who question Israel's legitimacy, for them to play games in international bodies with Israel's vital security issues, for them to appease those who oppose Western values, rather than robustly to stand up in defence of those values, is not only a grave moral mistake, but a strategic error of the first magnitude. Israel is a fundamental part of the West. The West is what it is thanks to its Judeo-Christian roots. If the Jewish element of those roots is lost and Israel is lost, then we are lost too. Jose Maria Aznar

Israel is, for us, a normal and a special country. A normal country, because it is just like any other democracy. A special country, because the Jewish culture, which eventually became the Judeo-Christian culture of the dignity of man, is the conceptual foundation of liberalism and democracy. This is why attacking Israel is tantamount to attacking Europe and the West. This is also why disputing Israel's legitimacy and its right to existence means questioning democracy. And this is why we are Friends of Israel. By defending Israel, we are defending ourselves. Marcello Pera

Israel ... is beset today by a unique combination of threats. It must defend its people from attack while defending its very right to exist. No other nation in the world faces this dual challenge. To deny Israel's right to confront some of the world's most vicious terrorist groups in order to ensure the safety of its citizens is to corrode international norms from within ... The assault on Israel is one part of a more general assault on the West, on democracy, and on the moral and cultural heritage that grew from the fruitful interaction of Jerusalem, Athens, and Rome ... Should these efforts succeed, similar efforts will certainly be turned against other western democracies. George Weigel

Apart from America itself, Israel still stands as the world's brightest model of national self-liberation based on ideals of individual responsibility and human freedom. Israel's ability to withstand Arab attempts to destroy it in one of the longest and most lop-sided wars ever fought serves as an indelible testimony to the strength of democratic culture.... We know from the past that the West paid dearly for ignoring Hitler's war against the Jews. One can only hope it will not pay as dearly for having ignored or underestimated for so long the Arab war against Israel and the Jews. Ruth Wisse

I am duty-bound to defend freedom, culture, peaceful coexistence, the civic education of children, and all the principles that the Tablets of the Law have rendered universal. Principles which Islamic fundamentalism systematically destroys. This means that, since I am a Gentile, a journalist and a leftist, I have a triple moral commitment to Israel. Because, if Israel were to be vanquished, modernity, culture and freedom would also be crushed. Even though the world has failed to wake up to this fact, Israel's struggle is the world's struggle. Pilar Rahola

DISCLAIMER

Commenters are kindly requested to avoid posting material which violates or infringes the rights of others (including their privacy and publicity rights, or which is unlawful, threatening, abusive, defamatory, invasive of privacy, vulgar, obscene, profane or which may harass or cause distress or inconvenience to, or incite hatred of, any person.
The opinions expressed by posters of comments on the Daphne Anson blog are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Daphne Anson. Daphne Anson is not responsible for the content of the comments.
This blog's posts sometimes include links to other websites. Such linked websites will have their own terms and conditions of use and commenters are advised to familiarise themselves with them.
The Daphne Anson blog
* does not sponsor, endorse or necessarily approve of any material posted on this website or on websites linked from or to this website;
* does not make any warranties or representations regarding the quality, accuracy, merchantability or fitness for purpose of any material on websites linked from or to this website;
* does not make any warranties or representations that material on other websites to which this website is linked does not infringe the intellectual property rights of any person anywhere in the world;
* does not authorise the infringement of any intellectual property rights contained in material in other websites by linking this website to those other websites.