Sunday, May 20, 2012

Denmark and South Africa pile on BDS bandwagon

Both countries have announced they will no longer allow the import of West Bank products labelled "made in Israel".

This is as it should be. The West Bank is not Israel.

Already the usual suspects are crying "anti-semitism".

Government spokesman Yigal Palmor claimed this move has racist overtones and the South African ambassador would be called in for a spanking.

Why the South African and not the Dane is an interesting question. Perhaps with fellow whites one can be more discreet. The South African aspect did remind me of an interesting story though.

Many years ago I was scouting out opportunities in the furniture import business. A friendly retailer lent me his business licence which permitted me access to a couple of trade shows.

I found a nice line of occasional pieces that were supposedly sourced from Israel. Not being aware that Israel had a robust furniture export sector, I asked a few questions.

Turns out the Israeli furniture was actually from South Africa, which at the time was being slowly strangled by the anti-apartheid sanctions. As with all boycott and sanction regimes, some enterprising individuals had found opportunity in adversity.

Thirty years later much has changed. Majority rule is alive, and if not well, at least hobbling along in South Africa. Apartheid is dead.

Dead in South Africa, but according to the BDS movement, alive and well in Israel.

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