Scandalous:

US Government Demands Hurricane Harvey Victims Not to Boycott Israel!

Rasa - Residents of one city in the US state of Texas are being forced to sign a loyalty oath to Israel if they want to receive funds for Hurricane Harvey relief, an approach that civil liberties experts say is illegal.

News ID: 433316

Date: 21 October 2017 - 22:53

RNA - Under pressure from the Trump White House, the city of Dickinson, a suburb of Houston, is requiring residents to sign a no-boycott pledge in order to receive disaster aid to recover from Harvey, a devastating hurricane that made landfall in August. City officials are following a Texas law that prohibits state agencies from contracting with or investing in companies that boycott Israel. The so-called Anti-BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) law was signed in May and took effect on September 1.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has sharply criticized the provision, calling it a violation of free speech rights. The ACLU has also pushed back on anti-BDS measures, filing a lawsuit challenging anti-BDS legislation in Kansas. Obviously, the US government has a zero-tolerance approach to the global BDS movement including in rhetoric towards Israel, and attempts to delegitimize Israel. This is not surprising:

- The BDS movement was initiated in 2005 by over 170 Palestinian organizations to initiate various forms of boycott against Israel until it meets its obligations under international law. Thousands of volunteers worldwide have joined the BDS to help promote the Palestinian cause, including scores of international trade unions, NGOs, scientific institutions, academic societies, business associations and cultural figures. The BDS campaign is also gaining momentum on US college campuses and in many cities and towns, including the city of Dickinson.

- The US government refuses to develop real institutions that can deliver basic rights and guarantee fundamental freedoms to its own people. Like in Israel, there are no mechanisms in the US that provide effective remedies for deficit of service and human rights violations for the citizens.

- The US government at times brings BDS supporters and activists up on charges of hate crimes. The country has long been openly aiding and abetting Israel, while the current Trump Administration has been one of the staunchest supporters, even trying to relocate the US embassy to Jerusalem, Al-Quds.

- In addition to cutting aid to the natural disaster victims on its soil, the US government has undermined or pulled financial support of NGOs which advocate for Palestinian rights. It even withdrew its funding from UNRWA which is committed to Palestinian refugees.

- The US Congress has already passed a law to combat the BDS movement and anti-Semitism at which most presenters conflated anti-Semitism with criticism of Israel.

- Washington and Tel Aviv have signed a secret deal which pledges to combat BDS. As the deal proclaims, the signatories are deeply concerned by calls for a boycott of Israel, for the divestment of investments, and for sanctions to be imposed on Israel.

Despite widespread criticism, President Donald Trump, who claims the US government is an honest broker in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, is criminalizing criticism of Israel by cutting aid to hurricane victims. This preposterous policy troubles many Americans, including critics of the policies of Israel, as it demonstrates blind support for Tel Aviv and its crimes against humanity in occupied Palestine. This is while the Americans who decline to buy Israeli goods are not Jew-haters and since Jews are also members of boycott-Israel groups, this particular policy has to put Americans, including American Jews, on trial in the US for anti-Semitism as well.

Zero tolerance against those who wish to boycott a regime whose army violates the basic rights of the Palestinians is criminal and scandalous per se. The dark little catch in all this is that not buying Israeli goods may now be classed as statements against Jews - even though American Jews are often behind such movements!

As is, boycotting a usurper regime for its crimes against humanity is a non-violent way to protest. It is a powerful way to express moral outrage at a time when the United Nations Security Council and some cowardly UN member states refuse to represent the anger of the international civil society and voters.

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