Boycott Of Israeli Products Doesn’t Include Possible Coronavirus Vaccine Says BDS Founder
It’s always important to stick to your principles–unless there’s a global pandemic.
On Sunday, the founder of the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, Omar Barghouti, said that if Israel produces a vaccine for the coronavirus, it’s fine for BDS supporters to take it. The remarks were made on the BDS Arabic Facebook page during a webinar titled, “BDS and Anti-normalization: The most important strategies to fight against the deal of the century, even in the time of COVID-19.”
Barghouti says that there should be no “normalization” of Israel, even in the midst of a pandemic. He also says that using Israeli-made medical equipment or medication doesn’t count as normalization, however.
The BDS founder warned that coronavirus cannot be a “honeymoon” for Israel and questioned why the Palestinian Authority hasn’t stopped security cooperation with Israel.
At the same time, he said “if you use medical equipment from Israel – it’s not a problem. Cooperating with Israel against the virus – to begin with, we didn’t consider it normalization.
“The BDS announced normalization criteria long ago,” Barghouti said. “If Israel finds a cure for cancer, for example, or any other virus, then there is no problem in cooperating with Israel to save millions of lives.”
However, Barghouti added, “up until now, we have not been in a situation where we need Israel urgently and no one else can save us but Israel. If that will happen, saving lives is more important than anything else.”
Source: Jerusalem Post
How quickly Barghouti’s principles flee when faced with a global pandemic. It seems that a producing vaccine is just the thing to make you forget that you think that the opposing side is evil and should be economically punished for their mere existence. What a completely selfish worldview!
I have a strange feeling that this guy would want Israel excluded from using a vaccine if he could.
But don’t worry, the BDS movement isn’t slouching on the antisemitic hate–the webinar was promoted by anticipating a “humanitarian disaster” in Gaza or among Palestinians as Israel would allow the coronavirus to spread amongst those communities. They also accused Israel of exploiting Palestinian workers and not providing protection against the virus, and of looting of land, arrests, oppression, and killing during the pandemic.
The United Nations, not know for being quick (or even slow) to praise Israel for anything, has repeatedly praised the joint effort between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority in the measures taken to reduce the spread of coronavirus.
The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov, called the cooperation “excellent.”
In a statement released on Friday, the coordination and cooperation established between Israel and Palestine, with regard to tackling COVID-19, was described as “excellent”.
The Israeli and Palestinian authorities are continuing to coordinate their responses closely and constructively, the statement said, which is a major factor in the level of disease containment achieved so far.
The Israeli government has reportedly approved measures to limit the movement of people and trade, including closing schools and banning mass gatherings, whilst the Palestinian Prime Minister is reported to have ordered a lockdown on Sunday night.
Source: UN News
As a refresher, Israel has been the single country world that has been condemned by the United Nations.
The total number of condemnations adopted at the @UN General Assembly during 2018, according to @UNWatch:
🇮🇱 Israel 21
🌍 Rest of the World: 6
Watch this report by @CNN's @jaketapper from last year and see how the bias against #Israel at the UN hasn't changed. pic.twitter.com/NjFRYxXiir— Elad Strohmayer (@EladStr) December 31, 2018
When even the United Nations has managed to praise Israel on their handling of the pandemic, maybe you’ve made a mistake and are just desperate to make Israel the bad guy to reinforce your hatred.
Just a thought.
