@ggreenwald: “New Zealand’s largest newspaper, @nzherald, eloquently editorializes in defense of @lorde’s decision to cancel her Tel Aviv concert, in the process obliterating the most common arguments made against the boycott against Israel - things are changing ...”
Editorial: Lorde’s stand on Israel does her credit
NZ Herald, le 28 décemnbe 2017
What rubbish. It is perfectly possible to oppose Jewish settlements on the West Bank, as indeed many Jews do, in Israel and outside, without being guilty of bigotry and prejudice.
The suggestion Israel should not be singled out when countries such as Russia are guilty of something similar is an argument New Zealanders often heard from defenders of South Africa in the apartheid era. It is the weakest argument a nation’s defenders can make. It says the nation is guilty, but so are others. It is an admission Israel’s settlements are wrong. Not even the Israeli Government endorses them, though it does little to stop them. The further the settlements go and the more entrenched they become, the more difficult a two-state solution will be.
Sporting and cultural boycotts and campaigns for business disinvestment and international sanctions against Israel are a way of reminding public opinion in Israel the world needs Israel to keep striving for peace in its region.
Peace almost certainly requires a Palestinian state on the West Bank of the Jordan — one that acknowledges Israel’s right to exist. The alternative is for Israel to survive in a permanent state of siege, a prospect which perhaps too many Israelis now find preferable to a Palestinian state they would not trust. Hence the settlements.
But unresolved tensions in the Middle East are not simply Israel’s concern. Such tensions impose themselves on the world through wars, threats to oil supplies, nuclear ambitions and terrorism.
No peace is imaginable without Palestinians being treated fairly, not driven from their homes by bulldozers. Cultural figures such as Lorde are in a privileged position to give that message and New Zealand can be proud of her for doing so.
#Lorde #Palestine #Boycott #BDS #Boycott_culturel #Nouvelle-Zélande