Meretz USA chair, Theodore Bikel, has asked me to post the personal statement he issued earlier today, in which he clarifies his position on BDS, in the wake of recent news reports on the subject:
Pete Seeger, the noted folksinger, announced his support for the BDS movement as reported on the internet and in the press. (BDS stands for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions with Israel as the target.)
My name is mentioned in the above-named article, and some readers may have been given the impression that I, too, support the BDS movement, despite the fact that even a cursory reading of the item makes it clear that I do not. Pete Seeger is a valued friend and colleague for whom I have great respect and admiration, notwithstanding the fact that I have disagreed with some of his positions over the years.
The matter of the recent Arava incident mentioned in the article is a case in point. Pete initially supported the Arava enterprise having been led to believe that he, the passionate environmentalist, was helping to save water in the Negev. I was opposed to Arava on the grounds that it entailed banishing Bedouins from their dwellings.Pete Seeger, the noted folksinger, announced his support for the BDS movement as reported on the internet and in the press. (BDS stands for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions with Israel as the target.)
My name is mentioned in the above-named article, and some readers may have been given the impression that I, too, support the BDS movement, despite the fact that even a cursory reading of the item makes it clear that I do not. Pete Seeger is a valued friend and colleague for whom I have great respect and admiration, notwithstanding the fact that I have disagreed with some of his positions over the years.
Let me make clear where I stand on the matter of boycott. Some months back I announced my support of Israeli artists’ refusal to perform in places beyond the Green Line. Like these artists, I believe the settlements to be a glaring obstacle to peace and any support of the settlers to be inimical to the interests of Israel.
At the time, some people chose to interpret my stand as support of the BDS movement. Nothing could be further from the truth. I am not, and never have been, in favor of boycotting Israel. (The settlements are not Israel, are not even in Israel.)
I am a life-long Zionist, an ardent supporter of Israel, its defender when I deem Israel to be right and its critic when I deem it to be wrong. While I do have legitimate objections to Israel’s role as an occupier of territories beyond its borders, I cannot for the life of me imagine that a broad boycott of all Israel and Israelis can possibly further the interests of peace.
--Theodore Bikel
1 comments:
Dear Ron and Theodore,
I think that as Meretz was dragged kicking and screaming and belatedly to boycott the settlements and to acknowledging the Palestinian popular struggle, conscientious Meretz members who really care about human rights will also eventually end up supportung the BDS movement. Israeli rights abuses don't end at the borders, wherever those might be, just as South Africa's repression was not limited to the Bantustans. Israel's discrimination is a state-sponsored policy that infuses all aspects of life in all locations, not just the settlements.
Meretz continues to follow rather than lead.
Ted
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