Opinion

Boycott punishes the innocent

Richard Lutz

The squirrels told me this week that they were boycotting me. This is a lot worse than it sounds, because my main business is in the pinecone trade. Whatis odd, though, is that their boycott is not for any personal dislike -- itis because of my ties to Israel.

You see, thereis this "academic boycott" of Israeli products, mainly in Great Britain. A pair of Jews who donit approve of the Israeli governmentis policy in the West Bank started it, which I suppose is relatively enlightened of them. However, the policy has the same basic flaw as everything else done by the Palestinian side: it targets the people of Israel rather than actually changing the governmentis policy.

As any fool can tell, terrorist attacks in Israel are targeted mostly at civilians. And if youive been following the news, itis plain that these attacks donit make Israelis any friendlier. Imagine how youid feel if American Indians were killing your friends for being on their land. If you understood, I would applaud you, but I would also think you were a bad friend. Would you want to defend yourself? I hope so. So you can see why the Israeli government is driven by these attacks to defend its people by whatever measure is necessary.

Similarly, the boycott can not create peace. It targets the Israeli economy and the intellectual community, which can only harm everyone who is involved.

For example, the first time I heard of this boycott was when a professor at a British university fired two scholars for no other crime than being Israelis. Well, she claimed that it was because they worked for an Israeli university, as if that makes it better. There was a ruckus for a while, but the two didnit get their jobs back. The bizarre part about it was that there was an actual debate over the merits of what she did.

For another example, a bookstore in Britain recently sparked another controversy when it announced that it would no longer carry books printed by Israeli publishers. The rationale was that an economic boycott against Israel would force it to reverse its policies in the territories, give the Palestinians a state and perhaps even sit quietly by while the Arab armies drove all the Jews into the sea.

The problem is, theyire not boycotting the Israeli government: theyire boycotting Israelis economic and intellectual sectors. Is Ariel Sharon likely to withdraw occupation forces in response to a printer losing business or academics losing their jobs? Of course not. The Israeli army is far more likely to leave the territories when Palestinian authority textbooks stop denying that Israel has a right to exist.

You, like the squirrels, have the right to oppose Israeli governmental policy. You have the right to boycott. But if you want to do the right thing, donit punish the innocent. And donit use boycotts to contribute to the worldwide economic depression thatis dragging us all down with it.

Lutz, a senior English and German major, can be reached at drahcir_j@hotmail.com.