1.
ROBERT FREEDMAN: Well, I think the
governor did the right thing. I would have preferred it to go through the
Legislature, if possible. But because of the goals of BDS, which are
particularly ugly, I think it was something that had to be done. Let me just go
over with you very quickly, Rebecca, if I could, what the goals are of the BDS
movement. If you look at them, one is allegedly to end Israeli occupation and
colonization of Palestinian territory. There, the Israelis—in 1948, there was a
chance for a Palestinian state; Palestinians rejected it. Clinton parameters
offered a peaceful solution for a Palestinian state and an end to occupation;
the Palestinians rejected it. In 2008, then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
offered a peace plan; Arafat—Arafat’s successor, Mahmoud Abbas, rejected it.
So, the end to occupation is not just one-sided.
Secondly, they call
for, quote, “full equality of Arab Palestinian citizens in Israel.” Certainly I
support that, but according to Israel’s Declaration of Independence, there is
equality. There are Arab judges. Fifteen percent of the student body in Israeli
universities are Arab. Forty percent of Israeli doctors are Arab. So this is
not apartheid South Africa. It’s a very, very different situation.
But the worst
element to BDS, in my view, is their call for the so-called right of return of
Palestinian refugees. What that would mean—some 5 million refugees and their
descendants—that’s the end of Israel as the nation-state of the Jews, something
recognized by the U.N. And this comes very close to being anti-Semitism.
Indeed, Omar
Barghouti, who is the father of the BDS movement, is all for a one-state
solution, where the Arabs would be the majority. So, I have a real problem with that. Basically, it says that all
other nations—the Germans, the French, the English—can have their own
nation-state ethnically, but Jews cannot. And I think that’s the problem. Even worse, if you look at what the history of the
refugee problem was, in 1938, the Germans moved into the—
2.
ROBERT FREEDMAN: OK, I want to come
back to these points.
3.
ROBERT FREEDMAN: It’s quite possible. I
just would like to refer you to the statement
of the American Association of University Professors of May 2013, which opposed
the BDS movement. And let me quote it for you. “In view of the Association’s
long-standing commitment to the free exchange of ideas, we oppose academic
boycotts. On the same grounds, we recommend that other academic associations
oppose academic boycotts.” Now, BDS is at the heart of the effort to
academically boycott Israel. There’s no question about that. There have been
attempts in a number of associations. The American Studies Association voted
for the boycott. The American Anthropology Association just voted against the
boycott. There’s very strong feelings on campuses about this. But if you
believe in the free change of—exchange of ideas, then you cannot boycott
universities. If you want change in Israel, the universities are the agents of
change, and boycotting them is self-defeating. You cannot blame universities in
a country for the actions of their government any more than you could blame
American universities for the U.S. intervention in Iraq, invasion of Iraq in
2003. But that is what BDS is doing. And it opposes the free exchange of ideas.
It’s self-defeating.
And to make matters
worse, Israel, among 196 nations of the world, is picked out by itself for this
kind of discrimination. You have what’s going on in Syria with 300,000 people dead, the
Russians actively supporting it, the Chinese supporting it at the U.N. But do
you hear anything about boycotts of Russian universities or exchanges between
Russian universities and American universities, or Chinese universities and
American universities? What about the crackdown on free expression in Turkey—
4.
ROBERT FREEDMAN: —where a number of
universities—
5.
ROBERT FREEDMAN: —you know, you have
this? Why is—
6.
ROBERT FREEDMAN: Yeah, but answer the
question: Why is Israel being singled out?
7.
ROBERT FREEDMAN: Well, we heard from
Rebecca—and I’m quoting now—it was a “response to a call by Palestinian civil
society.” The call was from
Omar Barghouti, not particularly known as a democrat even in Palestinian
society. And basically he calls—
8.
ROBERT FREEDMAN: —openly for a one-state
solution. Period.
9.
ROBERT FREEDMAN: And
who is the leader of that—who is the Palestinian leader of that movement?
10.
ROBERT FREEDMAN: Omar Barghouti. Do you
deny that?
11.
ROBERT FREEDMAN: Do you deny that Omar
Barghouti is the leader of this?
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