[noemon]

You have a point but you are confusing civilian activism with state's. EU states should be a lot more strict with Turkey but then again Israel just got this victory in Britain. Activists have nothing to throw at Turkey as Turkey is not abusing anyone human rights in Cyprus. Greeks are not suffering expulsion, when they did, the US and the EU embargoed Turkey, something they have not done to Israel.

[wat0n]

So if Israel kicked all Palestinians out of the West Bank and just sat tight afterwards, then eventually it would be accepted in the West and everything would be forgiven and forgotten?

I somehow doubt so.

[noemon]

It does not compute. Turkey was embargoed when she abused foreign nationals. Israel has not been embargoed by the US and the EU for abusing Palestinian human rights.

[wat0n]

For 3 years, until it was shown to be a hopeless business. Turkey just had to sit tight until the embargo ended, basically.

It should be noted that Israel did not expel almost all the potentially hostile population from the territory it came to occupy in 1967, like Turkey did with regards to Cyprus. But hey, maybe if it had done so, then sat tight after some shitty embargo was put in place for a couple of years it would enjoy a customs union with the EU? That's what I get from your reasoning regarding the treatment Turkey has gotten, honestly.

And I very much doubt it'd have been the case.

[skinster]

UK Union leaders, MPs, and artists speak out against the moves against BDS

The usual deflection

What was that about Turkey and Cyprus in this thread about UK actions re: BDS?


In related news, Israel Apartheid Week starts in the UK on Monday.

[wat0n]

It's a legit comparison, but of course BDS supporters like yourself avoid it like the plague because it does not suit your claims.

After all, if their outrage is shown to be selective, then their claim that any and all struggle against oppression must include boycotting Israel because of intersectionality is heavily undermined because, taken to its logical conclusion, if they truly believed in intersectionality then they would also boycott those who behave and enjoy good relations with the West like Israel does, like Turkey. And of course they become open to be attacked for the double-standards.

Since this is not in the interests of the BDS movement, it's supporters prefer to avoid debate altogether, hence why some of them support for so-called safe zones and the heckling of those who disagree with their position (even traditional darlings of anti-Israel types like Finkelstein).

Or, instead, trying to claim lodging comparisons to assess the merits of the BDS movement is off topic and out of discussion here in your case.

[Pongo]

After $500 were spent in pizza in a Palestine talk, Harvard donor stops funding student events




A major donor of Harvard Law School has stopped sponsoring student events after its donation helped pay for food in a discussion supporting an independent Palestine, U.S. sources report.

In 2012, the international law firm Milbank , Tweed, Hadely & McCloy promised Harvard Law School, located near Boston in the northeastern U.S., $1 million over five years to pay for scholarly conferences organized by its Law students.

However, after $500 was used to support an event hosted by the student group Justice for Palestine regarding the Palestinian matter, the law firm asked Harvard Law School to use the money for other purposes.

Milbank asked the School to use the money elsewhere “to avoid creating any “misimpressions” that the firm endorses the viewpoints expressed by any particular student organization or journal,” according to a Harvard statement.

In October last year, the student group held a discussion called “The Palestine Exception to Free Speech: A Movement Under Attack.” It featured Palestine Legal staff attorney Radhika Sainath, Omar Shakir, a Bertha Fellow at the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), and Northeastern undergraduate Kendall Bousquet.

Event organizers used $500 of the Milbank funds to pay for pizza, and as required by funding rules, included Milbank’s name in promotional materials, including in a Facebook posting.

In their own statement, Harvard Law School said Milbank was “never involved in deciding which events to fund and that the School will now pay for student events with other resources.”

After Harvard Law declined to single out Justice for Palestine for censorship, Milbank pulled its $250,000 annual grant.

However, in a second statement, Harvard Law School defended Milbank:

“The law school and Milbank are committed to freedom of speech. We have an exceptionally strong relationship with Milbank, which has acted appropriately and with the highest integrity in all respects.”

The Israel advocacy group NGO-Monitor sent a letter to Milbank, demanding information “in advance of a report [they] are preparing on the event.”

Leaders of Justice for Palestine student group said they see the move as a political response to their message and added that the move is also an example of the free speech restrictions often placed on activist groups like it, which often support the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement – BDS.

“We expect this kind of thing. There’s always been a price to pay in America for being pro-Palestine,” said Collin Poirot, a first-year Harvard law student and a member of the organization.

Students at Columbia Law School in New York, which also receives money from Milbank for events, are worried that they might lose funding, too, said Katherine Franke, a law professor there.

“This kind of influence will have a chilling effect, to be sure, on the kinds of things students feel comfortable saying,” Franke said. “We should celebrate robust discussions about the most difficult issues of the day, including viewpoints that might make us uncomfortable.”

http://english.pnn.ps/2016/02/19/after- ... nt-events/

[skinster]

It's a legit comparison

No it's not, as has already been explained to you. You're off topic. I know zionists like to scream antisemitism or go into deflection mode - when accusations of racism don't work - to avoid discussing Israel's barbaric policies, but I will not waste time with it, and will continue to ignore you when you're off-topic (and boring).

[wat0n]

Considering you are the one avoiding even discussing the topic, the one deflecting here would be you, quote clearly.

It's no wonder, then, that the BDS movement is pretty much nonexistent outside the far left: The rest of the Political spectrum doesn't take their bullshit as if it were a sacred cow.

[skinster]

1. I'm not going to speak about Turkey and Cyprus in this thread which is about the U.K. government's laughable attempts at criminalizing something that can't really be criminalized. zionist deflection-tactics are noted once more.

2. You used to complain BDS was useless. Since you see all the organizations that endorse BDS, along with the Israeli govt. spending millions in an attempt to counter the movement, you kind of shut up about that. But I see you're going back to the 'BDS is useless' script. That's fine (and amusing).

[youtube]Bx0dZh6A3p4[/youtube]

[wat0n]

*Yawn*

It is largely useless and I don't even agree with limiting the right of their supporters to free speech.

Likewise, using that same right to free speech, I am free to keep criticizing its lack of merits based on comparisons with the stance of the movement in other similar cases (in this case Turkey, which currently has a pro-Palestinian stance so it is clearly against their interests to criticize it's government).