Boycotts are Back – The Israeli Left’s Case for Boycotting the Occupation

 “A gross interference in the democratic elections of a sovereign nation” that apparently “will directly harm, unfortunately, Palestinians, robbing them of business and employment.”

So says President Herzog about the United Kingdom.

We are talking about international boycotts.

Twelve Western countries – historically strong friends of Israel – have just announced a range of sanctions on settlements.

Herzog’s words – presumably an unintended echo of the language once used by South African leaders to defend apartheid – cast the Palestinians in the role once assigned to Black South Africans: the people who will supposedly suffer if the world acts against the system that oppresses them.

The Israeli President went further, calling a boycott of the settlements “a grave miscalculation, a decision that will fall on the wrong side of history.”

“Wrong side of history” is a particularly interesting choice of words for a supposedly left-leaning president – and one that should, ironically, resonate with the Israeli left.

To boycott, or not to boycott, is more than just a hypothetical question; it is legally precarious – at least for Israeli citizens.

Should the Israeli left welcome a boycott of the Occupation?

The Israeli left should welcome a boycott of the Occupation.

Same 10 words.

The first is a political question. The second is a proposition perilously close to a thought crime in Israel today.

Under Israel’s 2011 Anti-Boycott Law, publicly calling for a boycott of Israel, including the occupied territories, can expose Israelis to civil penalties. So, as a new Israeli citizen, I chose my words more carefully than I would have as an Irishman writing from abroad.

I am not calling for any Israeli political party to champion a boycott of the Occupation before the election. Doing so would be politically suicidal, perhaps disqualifying, and arguably treasonous.

There is also a Pandora’s box problem here. Once opened, boycotts can become weaponized. Today, the settlements. Tomorrow, Israel proper.

But let’s be honest. International boycotts of Israel, whether limited to the Occupation or not, are not going away – no matter who wins the election. A pattern is emerging. Western governments are increasingly separating Israel from the Occupation

For Israel’s left, that distinction should matter. This is not to suggest that a two-state solution along the 1967 borders is on the horizon.

It is not.

Gadi Eisenkot recently made that clear – or perhaps fell into a trap – when he said two states will not happen under his watch. National election campaigns are one thing. International pressure is another.

But Israelis need to be shaken out of the stupor that has convinced us the Occupation can be contained, managed, and carried on indefinitely.

It cannot.

Ireland has enacted one of Europe’s most specific pieces of legislation targeting the settlements. Its so-called “Occupied Territories Bill” recently became law. It is now a criminal offense in Ireland to import goods produced in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.

With more Western governments following suit, an incoming centrist Israeli government could face more, not less, pressure. For many in Europe, Netanyahu — wanted by the ICC for alleged war crimes — is the convenient villain. Netanyahu may disappear politically by 2027. The Occupation and all that it entails will remain.

For years, Israel’s left has argued that Israel and the occupation are distinct. Israel is a democratic state. The West Bank is occupied territory. Settlements are an obstacle to peace. The Green Line matters.

So why oppose international action that makes that distinction clear?

Zahava Gal-On, when she led Meretz, put the principle rather neatly: “I buy blue-and-white, and for me that stops at the Green Line. I am not willing to buy settlement products. It’s a non-violent, legitimate way to protest.”

Ireland’s legislation does precisely that. It is one of Europe’s clearest attempts yet to draw a legal line between Israel and the Occupation. And that line could have a surprisingly long reach.

Critically, services are excluded from Irish law – a loophole that benefits Airbnb, a US company with European headquarters in Dublin. If services were included, Airbnb would face a stark choice: remove West Bank settlement listings worldwide or potentially risk criminal prosecution and fines in Ireland. Airbnb could, of course, simply walk away from Ireland and relocate its European headquarters. But doing so to defend settlement listings would carry a far greater cost: damage to its global brand.

There are an estimated 350 Airbnb listings in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. You can spend two nights in a five-bedroom villa in Kfar Adumin for 20,000 NIS ($6,700) – described in the listing as “Villa Binyamin in front of a stunning desert landscape”.

The irony is obvious. The Israeli right has spent decades blurring the line between Israel and the Occupation. The Israeli left must now choose: buttress the right under pressure or draw its own line in the sand.

And here’s a harsh truth for the Israeli left – you do not “own” the stories of the Occupation. You cannot decide when the distinction between Israel and the settlements is useful and when it is inconvenient to you. You can’t raise the Occupation flag one minute to expose its most egregious human rights violations, then rally around the Israeli flag the next when foreigners act on that very distinction.

For much of the Irish and European left, the momentum goes well beyond the settlements or the Occupation.

Zionism and the legitimacy of the Israeli state itself are up for debate.

Sinn Féin, the largest party on the island of Ireland and a champion of the Irish government boycott campaign, is emblematic of the European left. Lets not mince words. The virulent, obsessive anti-Zionists do not want the Israeli left — or, God forbid, middle Israel — to support BDS of the settlements.

The ‘Elephant in the room’ – or should that be ‘Donkey’ – is what faces Israel post-2028. It is highly likely a new US Democratic president will radically depart from past Democratic platitudes about the Occupation.

That era is over.

The Israeli left has just over two years to get ahead of the incoming political tsunami.

If an Irish, British, Canadian, or American administration wants to draw a line between Israel and the Occupation, the Israeli left should not rush to erase it. It should unapologetically draw its own.

As for Herzog and the “right”:  be careful what you wish for.

You may find yourselves on the wrong side of Zionist history.