Oak Parkers will soon vote on an advisory referendum that “Yes” advocates say is about Free Speech. What they won’t tell you is that the referendum serves the global BDS movement, which for 20 years has discriminated against Jews and Israelis. Oak Parkers should reject BDS and the referendum that supports it, so Oak Park remains welcoming to all.
BDS’ tactics and goals are designed to prevent the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on any two-state model. BDS’ founder has said the movement’s goal is one state – Palestine – ensuring no remaining political entity called Israel, a U.N. member state. (1) Its “anti-normalization” guidelines call for a boycott of Israeli institutions and Israelis themselves unless they declare “co-resistance” against Israel. (2)
Because 46 percent of the global Jewish population lives in Israel, BDS is, in effect, discriminatory not only against Israelis but against half of the world’s Jews. The guidelines define the Israeli side as only “Jewish-Israelis” and “Jewish-Israeli institutions,” and require a boycott of most joint Israeli-Palestinian co-existence and peace initiatives, ensuring no open dialogue.
The movement has encouraged boycotts of Israeli professors and students and of activist organizations like Peace Now and Standing Together. This closed loop prohibits dialogue across the divide, a goal shared with Israel’s ultra-right parties, which prefer endless war to a negotiated resolution. As a former participant in a joint Israeli-Palestinian co-existence program, I know such connections are precisely how Israelis and Palestinians learn to recognize “the Other,” mourn together, and see a path forward. (3) BDS doesn’t want that. Nor has it altered its approach – this past year it prioritized a boycott of Disney simply because it made films with Israeli actresses Gal Gadot and Shira Hass. (4)
Oak Parkers know better. In 2017, our village passed a Welcoming Village Ordinance that “discourages unlawful discrimination and strongly supports the equal treatment of all individuals regardless of national origin.” My wife and I moved to Oak Park months later that year with our infant daughter, drawn by that promise. I hope voters live up to Oak Park’s reputation and reject the discriminatory BDS Movement by voting No.
Sources:
(1) See “BDS opposes the two state solution of the Arab-Israeli Conflict,” Jerusalem Post, at https://www.jpost.com/blogs/2nd-thoughts/bds-opposes-the-two-state-solution-of-the-arab-israel-conflict-364648
(2) The BDS Movement’s Anti-Normalization Guidelines Explained, at https://www.bdsmovement.net/news/bds-movement-anti-normalization-guidelines
(3) Lou Kanavati, “Organized by a group of Hamline professors, educators work to build hope,” The Pioneer Press, (June 23, 2007), at https://www.twincities.com/2007/06/23/organized-by-a-group-of-hamline-professors-educators-work-to-build-hope
(4) See https://bdsmovement.net/news/black-friday-don%E2%80%99t-buy-genocide
Michael Zamora
Oak Park