Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Rebranding a pro-Israel group to make it more palatable post-Gaza

Today's Australian newspaper contains an opinion piece authored by three union leaders who all have strong pro-Israel credentials. It's essentially an advertisement for a new organisation with the anodyne name Trade Unions Linking Israel and Palestine or TULIP. This title suggests that TULIP is an even-handed organisation striving for a just peace in I/P. 

However, TULIP is simply a pro-Israel  group whose main purpose is to undermine the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction (BDS) strategy that an increasing number of unions world-wide are adopting as a legitimate and non-violent way of putting pressure on Israel to end its brutal occupation of the Palestinian Territories. One of the authors, Paul Howes, the National Secretary of the right-wing Australian Workers' Union, invited Ofer Eini, the Histadrut General Secretary, to address the AWU conference on 5 February 2009. Eini was not able to attend but he did however address the conference by video and his speech can be seen here.

Eini's speech, delivered when the blood of innocent Palestinian civilians was barely dry after the Gaza blood bath, repeated the usual Israeli hasbara about Gaza: that it was a necessary operation against terrorists who only wanted to destroy Israel etc. It revealed the almost complete moral bankruptcy of the Israeli labour movement and its political wing, the Israeli Labor Party.

Unsurprisingly, the Australian article resorted to the usual tired tactic of smearing supporters of BDS as anti-semites and friends of terrorists. This slander reflects on their increasing desperation and recognition that rational argument alone is no longer sufficient for the pro Israel crowd to win the debate.