Song of no Hope
 | By Joe Millis
July 15, 2011 | Share |
Anshel Pfeffer of this parish makes a very good point here about singing the national anthem and "patriotism".
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/singing-hatikva-every-morning-...
As will the new Boycott Law, an issue very similar to "Hatikva." I would like Israel's occupation of the West Bank to end tomorrow if possible, but I think boycotting goods produced on the settlements should be an individual consumer decision. In many cases it is an empty gesture, as most Jewish factories in the West Bank are just across the Green Line and could well be part of the settlement blocs that will eventually be part of Israel. But that is only my opinion.
The only effect of the undemocratic law will be to force people to choose sides. Just as forcing children to sing "Hatikva" will have an adverse and polarizing affect, so will forbidding the boycott of settlement products. Boycott and prohibition are both blunt instruments, human beings are much more nuanced. So is patriotism.
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Advis3r
15 July, 2011 - 09:44
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Trust a no hoper like you you head a blog like that. The next time tell Meretz to offer the elctorate more cogent arguments as to why they should vote for them, but bear in mind an opinion poll commisioned by the Palestinians of Palestinian adults living in Gaza and Judea and Samaria has found that over 60% reject a two state solution so you are going to have to convince them too. So having failed to convince the electorate by democratic means you now turn to undemocratic means and call on people to boycott Jews by hiding behind the pejorative "settlements and settlers" and only because they do not have the same ideology as you or in fact share your view that by withdrawing from Judea and Samaria we are actually going to have peace. But maybe you are not actually interested in peace but in a continuing state of war where Israel lives within truncated borders but the Jews are a majority so we can't be called an Apartheid State because you think that is the most important thing? Do you really think those who call Israel apartheid now will just shut up if a Palestinian State is formed?
Anyway I digress for a more sober view of the Hatikva proposal why don't you read Steve Linde in the Jerusalem Post, Anschel Pfeffer has lost the plot that's what happens unfortunately when you go to work for Ha'aretz.