The email sent will contain a link to this article, the article title, and an article excerpt (if available). For security reasons, your IP address will also be included in the sent email.
By Paul LarudeeMP George Galloway is an advocate of and participant in BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) toward Israel.
Anyone who participates in boycotting, divesting from or sanctioning anything that supports Israel is part of BDS. It includes those who defend Israel itself but oppose and boycott Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and it includes those who oppose anything and everything that has to do with Israel, up to and including its very name. The critical Zionist's limited boycott of settlement products helps the rejectionist's total boycott and vice versa.
There is no single standard for BDS, no single person who speaks for the entire movement, no wrong way to practice BDS. No one can be excommunicated or found in violation of the movement's principles. All may participate in their own way. The error is to think that there is a formal apparatus or coalition that speaks for everyone.
To be sure, there is a group calling itself the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC). However, that group appears to speak less for Palestinians and more for western groups, with carefully crafted policies and statements designed to assure that Zionists critical of Israel are not offended by anti-Zionist statements. Thus, for example, this group was quick to issue a disclaimer that Galloway's refusal to debate an Israeli Zionist did not come within its BDS policies. However, this does not mean that Galloway's action is not a form of BDS and that he is not one of many advocates for this form of protest.
Return to Article
