Seduction of the Regressive Left

The slogan of the "International Jewish anti-Zionist Network" is "Confront Zionism - Divest from Israel." MSU students at UC San Diego who rioted in support of a BDS resolution screamed, "Palestine is Free, from the River to the Sea." The ISM (International Solidarity Movement), the MSU (Muslim Students Union), the MSA (Muslim Students Association) the PACBI, Al-Awda ("the Return") and similar groups are behind the BDS movement. They are all out to destroy Israel as the state of the Jewish people. They all support "right" of return of Palestinian refugees, or a "one state solution" or both. [1]

The Carleton Pension Fund currently lacks any ethical guidelines, with its only mandate being the maximization of profit. SAIA has discovered that the Pension Fund, which provides retirement income for Carleton staff and faculty, currently has some $2,762,535 invested in five companies that are complicit in the oppression of the Palestinian people. [2]

Neofascist and white supremacist groups also reproduced antisemitic cartoons taken from Arab websites; they issued a call for White Nationalist Party members to phone the Malaysian embassy in London and express their support for Mahathir Mohamad after he claiemd that "Jews rule the world"; they reproduced boycott lists from Islamist or anti-Zionist websites of "Jewish controlled companies, used to prop up Zionism around the world," as one White Nationalist Party supporter put it; and they made frequent use of the logo of the Boycott Israeli Goods campaign, an Israeli flag in a red circle with a line through it.

These ultranationalist, racist and anti-Jewish groups saw in the Islamists something beyond their wildest dreams: a global force, armed and trained, committed to the destruction of both Jews and the Western political order. [3]

The formation of the Yozma Program, with its mission to create a viable venture capital industry, resulted in a dramatically positive change in the perception of foreign VC investors and their attitude towards investing in Israel. Under the Yozma Program 10 new venture capital funds were formed managing $20 million each, of which Yozma's share was 40% and the foreign investors' 60%. In the years since 1993, the Israeli VC industry has flourished and gained a leading position in the world, second only to the U.S. with the total capital raised to date in excess of $10 billion. [4]

While Israel continues to truck tens of thousands of tons of aid monthly to Gaza and the West Bank, leaving the left fringe--I like to call it the "New Old Now Old Left"--with a Potemkin-like cause whose potency derives from the confused hatred of the Jews and the establishment of open and yet ordered societies around the world founded on Judeo-Christian principles or with their influence integrated elsewhere, including in Islam, the Jewish state continues to grow, and not only for itself but for investors worldwide.

The success of capital in Israel has not been without regional consequences.  Through Qualified Industrial Zone (QIZ) programs involving Egypt, Jordan, Israel, and the United States, cooperating enclaves in both Egypt and Jordan have experienced dramatic economic growth in export income and job creation. [5]  Brands associated with the programs, which involve around 20 designated industrial sites in Egypt and Jordan, include Calvin Klein, Victoria's Secret, Nike, and Reebok. [6]

From search string "trade China Israel":

"The average annual growth rate of bilateral trade in the past 14 years is 40 percent. Last year, bilateral trade volume reached 3 billion U.S. dollars," she said, noting that "we expect the volume to reach 5 billion dollars by 2008." [7]

From search string "trade India Israel":

“The bilateral trade is evenly matched at about $2 billion. As per estimates, this trade volume will go up to $6 billion once the FTA is signed. Apart from engagement between the two Governments in various projects, the trade growth would be expanded through public-private participation projects and business to business ties,” he said. [8]

From search string "trade Russia Israel":

Russia and Israel are going to expand trade cooperation, particularly in agriculture and high technologies, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said during the meeting with his counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu. “Israel is our long-time partner in the Middle East, and we hold regular talks on the Mideast settlement”, Putin said. The Russian premier added that although in 2009 the trade turnover between the two countries decreased, there are still very good prospects for productive economic cooperation. Mr. Netanyahu confirmed Israel’s intention to deepen ties with Russia. Mutual trade turnover between Russia and Israel increased from $12 million in 1991 to $2.8 billion in 2008. [9]

In any one of the areas I've commented on in this post or in the blog overall, I could spend days to weeks to years (my time's for sale for doing so, that' is for sure), but you get the drift, and no pun intended in light of the Gaza Boat Show: Israel not only has friends too, it has firm obligations to them in two most telling dimensions: 1) as a trading partner -- from Japan to Jordan, there is no question about that, and 2) as a representative of the overarching international community engaged in economic development, free market capitalism, and, in its totality, a cooperative and environmentally and socially productive and responsible stewardship of the earth and her inhabitants.

That children may be intellectually seduced by academic brigands and a propaganda focused to demonize 13 million souls and their legacy worldwide while denying the crimes of those associated with their indulgence in a political adventure as romantic as it has been tawdry comes as no surprise.  However, the global establishment's lack of direct response to that propaganda and the quarters that harbor it as part of their inverted channel to power -- and it has been just that: a pursuit of raw intimidating power on the soapbox of a false cause -- has been abysmal and probably will result in some increase in the intensity and tempo of ersatz low-intensity armed conflict with heightened potential, especially this week with many military exercises and systems ready-alerts on deck in the region, for the onset of open state-to-state warfare.

Cited Reference

1. Isseroff, Ami.  "Are Boycotts, Divestments, and Sanctions Effective?"  ZioNation, May 28, 2010: http://www.zionism-israel.com/log/archives/00000739.html

2. Australians for Palestine.  "Canada: Carlton University Student Group launches Israel divestment drive 28Jan10": http://australiansforpalestine.com/17341

3. Phillips, Melanie.  The World Turned Upside Down.  P. 217. New York: Encounter Books, 2010.

4. Israel Venture Association (IVA). "VC In Israel - The Beginning": http://www.iva.co.il/content.asp?pageId=36

5. Israel Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Labor.  "Q.I.Z. - Qualifying Industrial Zones": http://www.moital.gov.il/NR/exeres/2124E799-4876-40EF-831C-6410830D8F02.htm

6. Halaby, Jamal.  "Business with Israel pays off in Jordan."  Associated Press via Boston.com, April 13, 2010: http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2010/04/13/business_with_israel_pays_off_in_jordan/

7. Xinhua. "Trade: China No 1 in Israeli Asian trade."  China Daily, November 9, 2006: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2006-11/09/content_729027.htm

8. Kumar, V. Rishi.  "India, Israel close to finalising free trade pact."  Business Line, May 17, 2010: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2010/05/17/stories/2010051751181300.htm

9. The Voice of Russia.  "Russia, Israel agree to boost economic ties."  February 16, 2010: http://english.ruvr.ru/2010/02/16/4497713.html

Other Reference

NGO Monitor.  "Boycotts, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS): NGO's involved in BDS and their funders (partial list)."  With additional links and related articles: http://www.ngo-monitor.org/article/ngo_leadership_in_boycott_and_divestment_campaigns

Wikipedia.  "Disinvestment from Israel": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disinvestment_from_Israel.  Includes overview and summaries of activity involving the Presbyterian Church (USA), World Council of Churches, United Church of Christ, New England Conference of the United Methodist Church, and others.

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