The Palestinians have been suffering brutal oppression under Israeli occupation for almost 80 years with no end in sight. Israel has been able to maintain that oppressive regime through the political and diplomatic cover of the US and the western governments and biased and slanted reporting by the western media
including the Wall Street Journal. The similarity between Palestine and apartheid South Africa is obvious and hence the BDS movement was formed with the anti-South Africa apartheid boycott movement as its inspiration. As the whole world can see, that movement proved successful in dismantling apartheid in South Africa. BDS is growing from strength to strength all over the world especially the US.
The actions of the Israelis themselves have ironically helped BDS. Human rights, civil and legal conditions in Israel, not least their Nation-State law, have led international human rights organisations and also Israeli ones to conclude that Israel is an apartheid country. I support BDS because as someone who is an objective observer of Middle East and Palestinian affairs for a long time, the inescapable conclusion I reached is that the Palestinians are the victims and the Israelis are the victimisers and BDS is the best means to end the injustices being inflicted on the Palestinians. The fact that BDS is a non-violent all-inclusive movement appeals to me and also its emphasis on winning hearts and minds through peaceful campaigns and programs is totally agreeable to a person whose profession is teaching such as myself. The founders of BDS have a clear vision and foresight on what can lead to a just peace in Palestine and that is a political solution, not a military one. Thus, winning hearts and minds is everything.
What we hope to achieve ultimately through our boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign is to pressure Israel to respect international law and meet the following three demands:
These are three basic rights without which the Palestinian people cannot exercise its inalienable right to self-determination. Within Malaysia, we want to win over more and more the hearts and minds of our fellow Malaysians to the Palestinian cause. The Malaysian government commendably has expressed its clear support for Palestine in the international arena and recognised the Palestinian state. However, in relation to the ongoing genocide in Gaza, it is imperative that the government take more substantive steps to pressure parties, either enabling or committing it, to cease and desist. And that means taking measures to boycott, divest and sanction. Those are the things we hope to achieve.
In December 2023, we successfully campaigned for Zim Shipping, an Israeli company, to be stopped from docking at Malaysian ports. McDonald’s Malaysia in May this year dropped its defamation suit against us. It’s an unconditional surrender on their part as our boycott campaign against them is ongoing.
BDS Malaysia have never at any instance asked the government to cut ties with any country that had ties to Israel. We do not know how that claim came about.
In the matter of BlackRock, we want the government to act in accordance with the statement of 20 th June by the UN Office of High Commission of Human Rights calling for states and companies supplying weapons to Israel to stop doing so. BlackRock is among the companies named in that report as the funders of those weapons manufacturers. Stopping the BlackRock deal can only be described as nothing more and nothing less the action of a responsible and law-abiding member of the UN, apart from sending the message to BlackRock that it has to cease its activities which facilitate genocide and other war crimes.
The country’s economic wellbeing and attractiveness as an investment destination obviously should be priorities for any Malaysian government. Solidarity with Palestinians too is important. In our perspective, it is not an ‘either or’ issue, nor should it be. We believe the Malaysian government has the wherewithal and wisdom to navigate diplomatic and economic waters to substantially achieve both.
Absolutely. Not just Malaysians but people all over the world — as can be seen from the massive pro-Palestine demonstrations in cities around the globe — are
increasingly alienated from the US and western countries. The agony of Palestinians has been prolonged by the west and not least through one-side and partial coverage of the western media including the Wall Street Journal. Not far-fetched to say that the western media has its hands covered by Palestinian blood. That monopoly for conveying the truth about Palestine is broken in this day and age and people can see through alternative means what is actually taking place. Juxtaposed against the photos and videos of mangled and bloody bodies of dead Palestinian children is the news that the US Congress has approved more weapons and munitions to Israel, the party doing the slaughtering. How can anyone, Malaysian or otherwise, in his or her right mind not feel alienated from the US?
Not just China but South Africa, Algeria, Botswana, Swaziland, Bolivia, Peru, the Maldives, Yemen, Iran, Lebanon etc are all becoming more popular than the US. Any country of the Global South is more popular than the US right now. The masks have really come off for the US and ex-colonial powers of Europe because of Gaza. The underlying racism and supremacy behind the brutalities of colonialism have been perceived to be still alive and kicking within the power elites of the west despite the passage of almost a century. The totally different reactions in the west to Ukraine and Palestine, which are clearly seen in the Global South, have exposed the hypocrisy of the US and the west. And because the Ukrainians are white Europeans whereas the Palestinians are not, the perception of racism cannot be avoided in the non-European world. The US media has to come to its senses and start telling the American people the truth about what’s happening in Palestine.
The US is increasingly being seen to be the Number One Villain of the world because of its blind support for Israel. The sooner the American people realised that the sooner can a just peace be achieved in the Middle East.
Mohd Nazari Ismail, PhD. (Chairperson of BDS Malaysia)
Honorary Professor
Faculty of Business and Economics
University of Malaya