Dr McGoldrick you are right on the money. It won't happen if the Republicans win the next Presidential election, but we can only hope that does not happen.

David

Nethanyahu is right to worry about the Number of Arabs turning up at polling booths; given they will if they organize and unite/speak with one voice, eventually decide all Israel elections!?

And Nethanyahu's nightmare, and the reason why he won't stop encouraging Jewish migration and even more new settlements!

There is only one language that the Jews will understand and force this to end! And that is commercial boycotts, that will need to continue until the settlements are wound up and the peace process begins anew!

And that commercial boycott must be the strongest and hardest in America where much of the money, military support and new Jewish migrants are coming from.

And the Jewish hip pocket has to continue to hurt until the two state solution is an on the ground reality, rather than something promised and then reneged on by this or that Israeli Leader.

I mean the Jewish hard line aggression would end tomorrow, if America wasn't their best friend and protector; and only then because of American Jewry and their powerful influence!

Money talks and it talks the loudest when properly organised commercial boycotts threatens the most powerful players with both literal bankruptcy; and or penury!

However, even if the peace process works and we eventually get the much vaunted two state solution, there will always be groups on either side, who will never be able to let go of their hate!

Q: Why do you Jews always answer a question with a question?

A: Why shouldn't we?
Rhrosty.

Annabel is more moderate and reasoned than many proponents of BDS, but I still think her arguments are flawed.

The analogy with an abusive relationship seems strained; and if it is appropriate, then surely the better comparison would be with a relationship where both partners are violent. Israel certainly has more capacity to hurt Palestinians than vice versa, but Palestinians’ violence is no less egregious simply because it is less effective. Annabel says: “Just as the therapist setting a boundary around a violent man’s behaviour empowers a woman in a violent relationship, that the third party will not tolerate the violence, she can then trust the process.” But Israel also needs to trust the process, and that she will not be attacked. Israel is not usually the first to break ceasefires or fire rockets.

Abbas says that Israel perpetrated genocide, but that does not make it true. Israel’s actions may have broken international law, but if they really wanted to kill all the Palestinians, the death toll in their recent attacks would be far higher. To describe this accusation as a “moderate voice” is absurd.

Annabel claims that she is an equal opportunity boycotter, opposing Morocco’s occupation of Western Sahara, and Armenia’s occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh. But I see no evidence of concerted boycott campaigns against these occupations. The semi-rhetorical question at the start of Annabel’s article – "why pick on Israel?” – remains to be answered. Countries with worse human rights records attract little or no attention from the BDS crowd.

Sanctions and boycotts almost never work, and are often counter-productive. The USA has sanctioned Cuba for more than 50 years, with no discernible effect on the Castros’ grip on power. Sanctions caused untold misery to Iraqis but seemed to actually bolster Saddam’s position: he could blame his people’s suffering on foreign enemies. The only case where sanctions seemed to have an effect was South Africa, where their effectiveness depended crucially on the support of the ANC and the black majority.

Making Israelis feel isolated and threatened is going to make them more extreme, not less.

Has everyone forgotten that the Jews were there first, a thousand
years and more earlier than the Arab invasion of the area.
That is what the crusades was all about, "Get the Invaders out!".

Allah tells the Arabs they have to kill the jews, no tolerance is
allowed.
Until the Koran is rewritten there cannot be peace in the area.

It really is as simple as that.
Because it is so simple how do you make an agreement with someone who
says he is going to kill you ?

I found this to be a well balanced and thoughtful article, which rightly draws upon the writer's own experience as a therapist. The post-article discussion is also helpful. Are boycotts effective? We have the positive example of South Africa, and the less than successful example of Cuba. However the value of this article is that writer, correctly I think, points out the importance of confronting those in power in Israel with the truth of their actions. BTW, I note that the writer cites Rabbi Michael Lerner, one of the more progressive Jewish leaders today, and a courageous advocate for Palestinian rights. It's well worthwhile checking him out in your search-engine.

How does a therapist handle someone who has been told that on the
orders of Allah they are to be killed ?
Turn the other cheek perhaps ?

Why do you think there is such a panic over Iran and nuclear weapons ?

This whole mess is not just a playground for therapists, Councillors,
do gooders of various shades, it is a brutal faceoff in which the
loser ends up dead.

The first step is for reform in Israel's enemies. Israel is merely behaving rationally. Once Israel can be confident that its neighbors will treat it with respect and not as some mind of demonic regime can it afford more concessions.

The greatest act of peace that could occur in the Middle East is for Palestinians to attack their own despotic rulers in Gaza and declare their solidarity with Jewish Palestinians and the state of Israel.

Palestinians both Arab and Jewish have common cause in a common enemy - Hamas and the anti-democrats and bigots that want endless war.

The problem is rogindon, that to do so would mean denying the Koran
and they would be declared apostates and the prescribed penalty is death.
A majority of moslems would do nothing about it, but they would be
denounced by the mullahs and shunned by their community.
A few mentally challenged sons of cousins would kill them and the rest
of the community would just look on.

You can see this behaviour in any number of videos on the TV.
The whole situation is disastrous and sooner or later will end up in
a full out war. It will be one of these wars that have been
occurring every hundred years or so for the last 1400 years.

It is annoying that they have to be so difficult to get on with but
it is their nature moulded by their religion.

I wanted to criticize Israel too
But I am too scared

BDS is simply sanitized antisemitic racism.