No Really, Most Divestment Campaigns Are De-Facto Anti-Semitic
It's not that all opposition or criticism of Israel is anti-Semitism. It's that obsession is the hallmark of pathology and anti-Zionist activists are clearly pathological:
In a move already sparking debate, the student government at the University of Michigan-Dearborn passed a resolution last week demanding the school stop doing business with Israel. The student Senate unanimously approved a resolution last Tuesday calling on the Board of Regents, which also sets policy for Michigan's campuses in Ann Arbor and Flint, to divest from companies that profit from the actions of the Israeli military in what the resolution claims are "illegally occupied territories." "We want the university to withdraw their investments so these companies think twice about selling their products or their services to the military," said Bilal Dabaja, 21, a senior political science major.
Illegally occupied territories in China? Not a problem. Illegally occupied territories in Africa? Not a problem. Illegally occupied territories in Southeast Asia? Not a problem. But for Israel - a country that has tried and tried and tried to give those territories back - nothing short of international pariah status will do.
Again: we have no problem in theory with people going after Israel for whatever they think they should go after Israel for. But when people (a) claim to have beliefs that could not have arisen through the presentation of good reasons ("genocide of Palestinians"... come on) and (b) obsess over those beliefs - then it's far to ask why they have those beliefs and why they are so obsessed. We think it's latent and not so latent anti-Semitism - but as always, we're willing to entertain other possibilities.
In a move already sparking debate, the student government at the University of Michigan-Dearborn passed a resolution last week demanding the school stop doing business with Israel. The student Senate unanimously approved a resolution last Tuesday calling on the Board of Regents, which also sets policy for Michigan's campuses in Ann Arbor and Flint, to divest from companies that profit from the actions of the Israeli military in what the resolution claims are "illegally occupied territories." "We want the university to withdraw their investments so these companies think twice about selling their products or their services to the military," said Bilal Dabaja, 21, a senior political science major.
Illegally occupied territories in China? Not a problem. Illegally occupied territories in Africa? Not a problem. Illegally occupied territories in Southeast Asia? Not a problem. But for Israel - a country that has tried and tried and tried to give those territories back - nothing short of international pariah status will do.
Again: we have no problem in theory with people going after Israel for whatever they think they should go after Israel for. But when people (a) claim to have beliefs that could not have arisen through the presentation of good reasons ("genocide of Palestinians"... come on) and (b) obsess over those beliefs - then it's far to ask why they have those beliefs and why they are so obsessed. We think it's latent and not so latent anti-Semitism - but as always, we're willing to entertain other possibilities.
