The app for independent voices

I'll also add, just to be a little extra controversial, that, to me, this vindicates the strategy of BDS. From the beginning of that strategy, critics would say, why are you targeting universities or the Park Slope Food Coop or cultural institutions? Why aren't you targeting the state instead, as in the federal government? The response, which Omar Barghouti always set out, was that it's a three-step strategy. You start with the B, boycotts, focusing on cultural institutions, where you have some leverage and power, and you can build support among people who are not necessarily aware of the issue. You move from the B to the D: divestment. Start pushing for institutions to divest from companies doing business with Israel. You move from the D to the S: sanctions. Once you've amassed political capacity, you'll be in a position to start targeting the state, forcing it to sanction Israel, which is what even Gavin Newsome is now talking about. Palestinians and their supporters in the US have been organizing around this issue for a long time, but it would be a mistake to say that Israel alone brought the shift we're seeing among Democratic Party voters. Without organizing on the ground, Israel could easily sail by as just another vicious human rights abuser that the United States supports. It's taken a long time, and a lot of blood has been shed along the way, and the loss of Palestinian lives is too staggering to contemplate, but the organizing on the ground has put us into a position where one party will pay a price among its voters if it continuously ignores the opinions of those voters.

It's too little and too late, but as these four headlines from the last two days suggest, there is something happening among grassroots Democrats who are disgusted with the State of Israel. For the first time since I can remember, supporting Israel and saying bad things about Palestinians have become electoral liabilities, not just among…

Mar 4
at
9:22 PM
Relevant people

Log in or sign up

Join the most interesting and insightful discussions.