Last June, two thousand Israeli and Palestinian indie rock fans were left high and dry as Devendra Banhart, a popular folk rock musician, canceled two scheduled performances at the last minute. Her cancellation, like Elvis Costello’s, was announced after the artist promised not to cancel for political reasons or pressure. Globally popular bands such as the Pixies and the Gorrilaz canceled scheduled shows as well, effectively leading to the cancellation of a planned music festival. For a moment there, it seemed that BDS, short for ‘Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions’, was gaining a toehold.
BDS, the movement spearheaded by activists and intellectuals such as Omar Bhargouti and Naomi Klein, aims to end the occupation of the Palestinian territories via nonviolent means. Utilizing methods like campus activism and trade union pressure, it seeks to isolate Israel on the global economic, political, and cultural stages. That the movement’s goals are malevolent and that it is technically illegal should surprise no seasoned observer of Middle Eastern realpolitik. Its rhetoric, when carefully parsed, clearly calls for a single state solution, with that state being Palestine. BDS is a movement that essentially calls for the destruction of Israel.
Recent events serve to both alarm and reassure that seasoned observer. The University of Johannesburg announced on March 23rd that it would be officially severing ties with Ben Gurion University, even though the universities’ partnership was currently focused on cleaning the drinking water of South Africa. Other major events include the announcements of a Bob Dylan show in Tel Aviv as well a public denouncement of BDS by Gene Simmons, the frontman for arguably the world’s most popular rock band, KISS. These highlight two realities. First, an academic boycott of Israel, while defeated time and time again in the U.S and Great Britain, may yet gain some traction from the colleges in South Africa. Second, a cultural boycott – a boycott in the arena that most speaks to youth – seems to be losing traction: if the world’s arguably most respected musician and the beacon of the American civil rights movement would deign to play in Israel, a boycott by those who respect them seems unlikely.
The look and tone of BDS may not echo the blood splattered mein kampf-isms of Hamas or Hezbollah, but, as stated earlier, the goals remain the same. It is up to all thinking and moral observers of the Middle East political situation to stand with Israel and thwart those who would harm her in any way: with the gun, or with the book.