No doubt BDS is antisemitic

To the editor:

(re: “Sorry, this is not antisemitism,” June 9)

I am writing in support of Councilman Eric Dinowitz and Councilwoman Inna Vernikov’s call for a hearing to investigate antisemitism in CUNY campuses, and to object to Wayne Price’s falsehoods about boycott, divestment and sanctions, and Israel.

CUNY Law School’s student government support for BDS is indeed cause for alarm.

BDS funding has been traced to Iran, the nation that would gladly eradicate Israel if it could. BDS supporters vilify Israel with the aim of isolating her from world commerce and international exchange.

BDS supporters claim that Israel is an “apartheid state” like the one that existed in South Africa.

A large percentage of Israel’s population consists of people of color. Many are from families that were among the 899,000 Jews driven from their homes across the Arab world in 1948 after surviving orchestrated attacks and being stripped of their property and possessions. Unlike Blacks under Apartheid, Arabs in Israel participate in every level of society, including the supreme court. Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East.

Zionism is the love for the ancient Jewish homeland of Israel embedded in Judaism.  It permeates Jewish prayers, festivals, sacred texts, and the traditional Jewish way of life that predates Islam. Defamation of the Jewish state foments attacks on Jews, and is included in the current internationally accepted definition of antisemitism.

Blanket defamation based on falsehoods is different from expressing objections to Israeli government policies. BDS puts Jewish students in danger of being targeted, ostracized and attacked.

Bravo to our leaders who are willing to expose, investigate, and put a stop to antisemitism in all its guises as it erupts on CUNY campuses and beyond.

Alisa Eilenberg