Sorry, this is not antisemitism

To the editor:

(re: “It’s North Bronx groups vs. Dinowitz on BDS,” June 2)

Councilman Eric Dinowitz denounces groups campaigning for boycott, divestment and sanctions of Israel due to its current policies toward Palestinian Arabs.

He refers to “antisemitic tropes” and somehow connects BDS to antisemitic hate crimes. 

This is an attack on the CUNY Law School student government and some professors, and also on North Bronx Racial Justice and Jewish Voice for Peace, which recently held a demonstration in Riverdale.

He does not cite one statement by any of these groups which actually denigrates or attacks Jews — that is, anything antisemitic. Nor does he cite a single statement by any of these groups saying that Israel should not exist.

In short, these charges of antisemitism are simply made up.  He is making a demagogic appeal for future votes.

Those who support the BDS campaign are against Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians.

The Israeli state has turned the Gaza Strip into a vast prison camp. It has continued to take land from Palestinians. It has made no serious effort to negotiate a two-state agreement. It has supported Jewish settlers in attacking local Palestinians. It has brutally repressed Palestinian people.

When young Palestinians react with demonstrations — and sometimes by throwing stones — it has beaten them and shot them down. Recently it killed a prominent woman journalist, a Palestinian-American, who was unarmed and in an unarmed group. 

These are the things which the BDS movement opposes. 

Opposing such criminal behavior does not make one “antisemitic” any more than opposing police or vigilante killings of African-Americans makes you “anti-white” or “anti-American.” 

Wayne Price