srael the Boycot

Israel has definitely done many things wrong and has brutalised both itself and the Palestinians of the occupied territories. HOWEVER it is the only country in the Middle East with a free press and its citizens (both Arab & Israeli) have more political and civic freedom than in any of the Arab states. Jordan slaughtered thousands of Palestinians during the Black September pogrom, Syria, Iran & Iraq have murdered untold thousands of their own citizens (especially Kurds) and have minimal civil rights (plus terribly oppress women). This is why I find the demand from the UCU (academics trade union) to boycott Israel to be so hypocritical.

You expect the far right to be Anti Semitic, you expect the UK Muslims to be Anti Semitic (although Arabs are themselves Semites) but what I find disturbing, given European history, is the blatant anti Semitism of the liberal Guardianistas and the left. This is leading to a very unholy alliance of neo fascists, Islamofascists, liberals and the left who seemingly have nothing in common apart from their hatred of Jews.

Ken Livingstone has displayed his bias many times; for example calling for two Jewish property developers of Iranian descent to be sent back to Iran to learn a lesson, for daring to argue with him over land for his Olympic project. He has invited speakers to City Hall who advocate suicide bombing in Israel and the murder of Gays for ‘abomination’, he likening a Jewish reporter to a Nazi guard even after he had been told the reporter was Jewish and objected to his comments (would he have made a similar jibe to a Muslim reporter about Camp X ray or likening him to one of the Government sponsored ethnic cleansers in Sudan?). His left wing cronies similarly see Israel as the new South Africa and lose no opportunity to criticise the ‘Jewish State’ however they never criticise the treatment of Kurds or other minorities in Arab countries, the treatment of women in Muslim states or the 400,000 black Africans that have been slaughtered by Muslim Arabs in Sudan. Nor do they criticise the treatment of Christian or Hindu minorities in Pakistan, Indonesia etc. They are also dumb on the brutal treatment of women in Muslim communities in the UK, preparing to see every fault in Israel but are blind to any Muslim action.

The Guardianistas are the same; they scream about British illiberalism but ignore Muslim actions. To them every Muslim death in the Middle East is caused by ‘The West’ and they ignore the fact that 99%+ of the current deaths in Iraq are from either Sunni or Shia actions and that Muslim & Arab states have happily been killing their own citizens and denying them rights long before the Iraq debacle (ask the Armenians or the Marsh Arabs). To Guardianistas, Iraq was a Nirvana before the invasion, with a liberal Saddam overseeing a garden of paradise. To Guardianistas every Muslim radical in the UK is really a Guardian reader who wants multi culturalism and believes in free speech and gender equality. On the other hand every policeman is really a BNP supporter who is a closet racist and potential murderer. They never comment on Darfur or the actions of the Taliban in slaughtering thousands of their own citizens and taking the country back to the stone age in a new Pol Pot regime where even Kite Flying is ‘Un Islamic’ and a capital offence. Where women can have their toes chopped of for going out of the house without a man to accompany her or even worse for showing any hair (what weird psychological problem do Muslim men have with women’s hair?). The Guardianistas have a wonderful way of calling for gender and sexual equality (which I believe in totally) and yet absolving Muslims from the need to treat others as equal. They call for free speech but agree with the Islamofascists that a prominent British Author should not get a knighthood because it is an insult to ‘Islam’. They however do not object to the leader of the un elected ‘Muslim Council’ calling for the death of a British Citizen or when Muslims burn the English flag in Regents Park (presumably that does not cause offence to the 97% of British people who are not Muslim).

However academics I thought were a little more rational. Let’s look at this particular case, the logic behind it and the implications.

• Firstly academics are very poorly paid and have lousy working conditions, most are on temporary contracts, do not have security of tenure and many are hourly paid and part time. You would have thought that maybe the union would have been spending its time fighting for their own member’ interests rather than political posturing.
• The academic union bases its boycott on Israeli violence to the Palestinians but no condemnation or boycott is proposed for China or Russia, or for the many African or Arab countries (not to mention Cuba or Venezuela) which persecute their own citizens and deny them academic freedom. Is violence only wrong if it is by Jews?? (or by non Muslims to Guardianistas)
• They want to deny dialogue with Israel and of course deny BNP speakers on campus BUT support Muslim extremists rights to speak e.g. Hizb ut Tahrir who call for suicide bombings against Jewish and Western targets, send people to terrorist training camps abroad, want to introduce Sharia law to the UK, do not want Muslims to vote or participate in Western democracy and advocate separation of Muslims from ‘Infidels’, as well as believing in the inferiority of women and non Muslims (Kuffars).
• The call for the boycott has engendered huge negative publicity abroad and will affect academic links with the US. Please note that most research is collaborative and the US undertakes by far the most academic research in the world and the income for Harvard alone is more than the entire UK university sector earns. The UK university sector would be devastated by a drop in US links. A number of prominent US academics have called for US academics to register with Israeli Universities which means they would be subject to a boycott and will then in return call for an academic boycott of UK universities.
• The NUS (hardly a reactionary body) have called it Anti Semitic and are opposing it. They know the rise of anti Semitism on campus and the rising attacks on Jewish students on campus.

Given the irrationality and Anti Semitic nature of the left and the Guardianistas; and the sheer hatred of the Islamists in the UK to everyone who is not ‘Of their kind’ I presume the boycott will be passed and the UK will continue its downward drift towards Muslim enclaves living totally separate lives from the majority community. If they get their Sharia paradise, we may even see areas for public stoning and specific places for book burning and destruction of musical instruments. Female fashion shops will sell only Burkas in Ford Black. Schools will only run Koranic studies (for men) and women will be forced to stay at home and be ‘stupidified’ and beaten to put up with the nonsense. The Morality police will wonder the streets with canes to beat any men who do not have a beard or women unaccompanied by a male relative or in ‘UnIslamic Dress’. Welcome to Islamistan coming to your neighbourhood soon courtesy of the Guardianistas.