Update: Knesset passes anti-democratic BDS law, with many members absent, including Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak.
Israel has the most vibrant democracy in the Middle East, with the Knesset (parliament) including representatives from Jews and non-Jews alike. However, once more, extremists in the Knesset are trying to use the democratic process to stifle the very values inherent to the democracy.
The Knesset is poised to consider legislation, already approved by the cabinet, that would impose sanctions on any group that called for a boycott of Israeli goods. The right-wing extremists pushing this bill are targeting a vile, biased and hate-filled practice, but their tactic is equally as one-sided and bigoted.
The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement has long singled out Israel in a biased manner. Work of Israeli academics are not cited or reproduced in certain publications and goods from Israel are not sold in many venues, despite that Israel is not solely to blame for the lack of Palestinian sovereignty. The BDS movement also vilifies Israel, while not acknowledging that other countries in the region conduct far more atrocious human rights violations and face far less scrutiny.
To combat these anti-Israel boycott efforts, the bill would impose sanctions on groups or Israelis that get funding from the government when these organizations call for a boycott of Israeli goods.
While the actions of Israelis promoting boycotts are deplorable, the government should not be in the business of muzzling speech it finds distasteful.
A major tenet of democracy is that the government can be criticized and citizens can protest government actions in non-violent and legal means that they deem fit. Democracies are not clean and citizens will call the government names, oppose major policies and view certain actions as inherently opposing to their country’s values.
Boycotting goods is a form of protest to government actions. This is a form of social change that is inherently protected under a democratic government. Removing citizens’ ability to freely advocate against government policies and to muzzle their speech through outright censorship or economic censorship is inherently anti-democratic.
While not supporting the BDS movement principles, this new legislation would strip the region’s only democracy of some values inherent to that moniker.
The government should not be in the business of only funding propaganda. If a democratic government has economic programs to promote social welfare, the government should not decide what to allow based solely on whether those programs are critical of the government or not.
Continued policies like this boycott measure run the risk of creating an Israel that is more like its neighbors than a light unto the nations. Sadly, right-wing extremists appear to continue to push their anti-democratic policies that are slowly watering down the values that bind Israel, the United States and other democracies and provide exceptionalism to those governments.
