Definitely avoid companies that are profiting from activity in the West Bank, but not all of Israel. Israel includes many ethnic minorities that would be harmed all the same.
The thing is: The idea is to economically isolate Israel until they stop their occupation of Palestine. It’s the same idea as the sanctions on Russia. Just boycotting actively guilty companies isn’t enough to get them to stop.
Also, Israel doesn’t for example, distinguish between produce made in Israel proper and in West Bank settlements unless they’re forced to (like the EU did); otherwise it’s all written as “made in Israel”. That means you can’t avoid settlement products unless you avoid Israeli products as a whole.
I get that, but I have had the opportunity to talk to several people from Israel. They’ve grown up surrounded by this conflict. Inflicting collective punishment on them doesn’t sit well with me. This is a more multi-dimensional situation than the apartheid of South Africa or the invasion by Russia. This is as much a string of failures of leadership in Israel and Palestine as anything else.
This is a more multi-dimensional situation than the apartheid of South Africa or the invasion by Russia.
It’s not really, though. If anything it’s worse because at least the Apartheid didn’t go as far as attempting genocide (which Israel has shown consistently to be their long-term goal in Palestine. They’ve grown up surrounded by this conflict because the brutal occupation of Palestine has gone on for more than 50 years.
Definitely avoid companies that are profiting from activity in the West Bank, but not all of Israel. Israel includes many ethnic minorities that would be harmed all the same.
The same applied to apartheid South Africa, but the boycotts still happened and benefitted the oppressed far more than it harmed them.
The thing is: The idea is to economically isolate Israel until they stop their occupation of Palestine. It’s the same idea as the sanctions on Russia. Just boycotting actively guilty companies isn’t enough to get them to stop.
Also, Israel doesn’t for example, distinguish between produce made in Israel proper and in West Bank settlements unless they’re forced to (like the EU did); otherwise it’s all written as “made in Israel”. That means you can’t avoid settlement products unless you avoid Israeli products as a whole.
I get that, but I have had the opportunity to talk to several people from Israel. They’ve grown up surrounded by this conflict. Inflicting collective punishment on them doesn’t sit well with me. This is a more multi-dimensional situation than the apartheid of South Africa or the invasion by Russia. This is as much a string of failures of leadership in Israel and Palestine as anything else.
It’s not really, though. If anything it’s worse because at least the Apartheid didn’t go as far as attempting genocide (which Israel has shown consistently to be their long-term goal in Palestine. They’ve grown up surrounded by this conflict because the brutal occupation of Palestine has gone on for more than 50 years.