Much credit is due those faculty who responded (Sept. 30 letter) to the BDS bullies (Sept. 23 letter), by standing up for the “open exchange of ideas” on campus. Nevertheless, they didn’t go nearly far enough in exposing BDS’s insidious aims, lies and practices. Its proponents would expel all but highly-negative opinion about Israel, and forbid any associations with Israeli institutions or individuals. In so doing, they attack the very essence of the university, heedless of any concomitant  impoverishment of students’ educational opportunities.

What BDS is not about is actually helping ordinary Palestinians. It vehemently opposes any “normalization” between Israelis and Palestinians, essential steps toward the eventual establishment of peace. Nor is it at all concerned about gross mistreatment of Palestinians in neighboring Arab countries. Massive violations of human rights elsewhere across the globe hardly faze. Its real mandate is the defamation and delegitimization of Israel, ultimately leading to the destruction of the sole Jewish State. It employs tactics of harassment and intimidation towards suppression of any opinion favorable to Israel.

“Apartheid” is its favorite shibboleth slur, one wholly divorced from reality.That term is particularly aimed at the security barrier, built after an horrific spate of Second Intifada Palestinian suicide bombings at restaurants, religious gatherings and discos. It has unquestionably saved countless Israeli and Palestinian lives. As applied to Israeli public spaces, “apartheid” is even more absurd. Jews and Arabs freely mingle everywhere, whether it be in universities, as instructors and students, in hospitals, as health workers and patients, or in all sorts of other workplaces. There is an Israeli Arab presence in all sectors, at all levels, of society. Arabs sit on the Supreme Court and are posted abroad in the diplomatic service. Ordinary Israeli Arab citizens enjoy rights and opportunities that those subject to despotic Palestinian Authority or Hamas rule can only dream about.

Those demanding the banishment of everything Israeli from campus probably fear that BDS movement’s positions could not withstand serious debate. Instead they cling to a sham document, Palestinian Campaign for Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), utterly bereft of any legitimacy whatsoever. Their stance epitomizes George Orwell’s long ago lament: “There are some things so stupid that only an intellectual could believe in them”. Just so, BDS.

Sincerely yours,
Richard D. Wilkins, ’58, ’61