תגית: Boycott

Standing Together and the BDS: The Swedish Version

Equal rights in a one state solution may appeal to Swedish sensetivities. But in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it is a recipe for bloodshed.

Published in Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet: https://www.svd.se/a/qP8yvL/bds-rorelsens-fred-skulle-sluta-i-katastrof

Israeli politics can be confusing for those who are used to a system which rewards accountability. One example is that even though Hamas' brutal attack in October 2023 was the biggest tragedy in Israel's history and part of a momentous failure of Israel's leadership, the government is still in place and seems to be stable enough to survive the crises. It's even confident enough to continue its controversial judicial overhaul which many claim is a direct assault against Israel's democracy. When it comes to the conflict with the Palestinians, Netanyahu's government is using the catastrophe as a pretext for going further to the right, perhaps even as an excuse for a future annexation of the West Bank which would be a tragedy for both Palestinians and Israelis who support peace, democracy and freedom.

This is why Standing Together, a grassroot movement of both Jewish and Palestinian Israelis who join hands in working for peace, equality, and social justice is so important. These are exactly the kind of people who can provide hope for Israel's declining peace movement. They can also be excellent partners for actors in the global community who are concerned about developments in the region and want to support positive change. And indeed, two of the movement's leaders are coming to Sweden. When I spoke to one of them, Alon-Lee Green, one of the movement's national coordinators, he told me that the visit's purpose is "to gather support for the fight to end the war, to end the occupation and to achieve Israeli-Palestinian peace".

But it seems not everybody wants to listen. Instead of encouraging Israel's brave opposition, some activists are horrified by the mere thought of Israeli peace fighters. One commentator on social media wrote: " I think it's important that as a movement we keep track of which groups we choose to collaborate with. Standing Together is boycotted". As a self-appointed moral compass, the activist then quotes a text by The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel claiming that Standing Together is "serving a key role in Israel’s international propaganda strategy". One of the commentators who thanked the writer even added: "we don't recognize Isnotreal!".

Since October 7th the BDS campaign has been gaining support in Sweden. Professors, researchers and students call on their university to cut all ties with Israel, Amnesty cooperates with BDS-Sweden and lists of companies "profiting from the genocide" are all over social media leading to demonstrations and smear campaigns. All this shows what at least part of Sweden's left is all about. The BDS movement claims that Standing Together is serving "Israel’s 75-year-old regime of settler-colonialism and apartheid". Nothing could be clearer – the BDS movement isn't against specific Israeli policies, it isn't against a specific government or a specific war. BDS activists' real problem is the very existence of Israel. When they talk about 75 years of settler colonialism, they're not talking about the 1967 occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, they're talking about the 1948 UN decision to found a Jewish state, and an Arab state, in Palestine. The people who don't want to listen to Israeli peace fighters are doing it simply because they are against peace between Israelis and Arabs. According to them Israelis are the original colonialist sin and they should just disappear.

Do these attitudes belong only to a handful of extremists or are they spreading to Sweden's left as a whole. A good indication is the debate about the so-called two-state solution. Those who still support it, even though it seems almost impossible to achieve, are promoting a solution which includes a compromise between two legitimate national movements. Lately, however, the idea of a one-state solution is becoming popular. Swedish academics are writing texts about one state based on "one citizen-one vote", in the Swedish Left Party congress last May many party members promoted changing the party's position to supporting a one-state solution and further to the left, Fi (the Swedish Feminist Initiative) and the new "Solidarity" party, already took the step. Fi even claims that "Zionism is an imperialist and racist ideology". Anyone who witnessed a pro-Palestinian demonstration during the last few months knows this isn't a minority. The most popular slogan doesn't leave room for doubt – "From the river to the sea Palestine will be free", Not "Palestinians will be free". Palestine means a state – one state, not two, from the river to the sea.

In Sweden's radical left there are those who take it even further. There's a at least one youth movement (RKU) which supports the October 7th "historic offensive in which the Palestinian resistance broke open the prison bars". Another "solidarity movement" (Samidoun) supports the PFLP, an organization which took part in the massacre. In addition, there are plenty left wing-oriented publications which continue to support the narrative which sees Hamas as an anti-imperialist decolonization force. All these movements support a one state solution. Just like Hamas and the most radical Jewish extremists.

One state with an equal vote and equal rights may sound appealing to Swedish sensibilities. Indeed, why not have nothing to kill or die for and no religion too? The only problem is that in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict one state is a receipt for a blood bath. Most Palestinians who support a one state solution mean a Palestinian state. Most Jews who support it mean a Jewish one. The result of such an experiment will either be apartheid or some version of ethnic cleansing or genocide. The only question will be who's killing who.

When I talked to Standing Together's National Coordinator he said that the movement doesn't support a specific model of solution. "We support an Israeli-Palestinian peace", he said, "one that will enable everyone to live in freedom, equality and independence". When it comes to the boycott movement Green says that Standing Together is the largest Israeli movement fighting for peace and against occupation. "We've been protesting all over Israel for 15 months, we arrange aid for Gaza, our activists are fighting settlers who attacked humanitarian aid convoys and we demand an end to the killing", he says, "if anybody wants to argue with us about words that we say or don't say, they can write an essay and perhaps we can discuss it in some lecture in the world of academia. But in the world of politics and actions, the one that we focus on, the BDS statement about us has no influence where we live. It wasn't even translated to Arabic".

The BDS movement leaves no room for Standing Together. It only accepts Israelis who think that their country shouldn't exist. But the men and women of Standing Together are different. They love Israel and they're fighting to make it better. They realize that both Jews and Arabs are there to stay and they promote pragmatic compromises rather than holly wars and abstract ideologies. This is why the Olof Palme Center, the Robert Weil fund and Kulturhuset made the right choice when they invited them to Sweden. Naturally, those who are against Standing Together have the right to protest, but we shouldn’t call them peace activist, we should call them what they really are – dogmatic chaos agents who, if they get what they want, will lead both Israelis and Palestinians to a catastrophic disaster.

?Why Stop Israeli Art

Swedish freedom of speech applies in all situations. That's the message when Korans burn and Nazi marchers take to the streets. But Israeli video art during Culture Night is canceled due to the "security risk"?

Published in Svenska Dagbladet: https://www.svd.se/a/JbWra7/varfor-far-inte-israelisk-konst-delta-under-kulturnatten?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR0F9EJjuYazcpPDIOh8CRQ_dm_4cklJZWMbQBjWhfzltVRKB5XJ74oOpD8_aem_AeOcy3lg7mlRs_87dcgOhUN9TjUgr9Q6YNvci7d-YQJYoYg4B3yWx-xKVEKtWkS4uFaXscmbBNdn1LQQkoAad3gd

Last Friday about twenty pro-Palestinian activists marched past Stockholm's Jewish school protesting against the war in Gaza. There was no rioting or threatening behavior and there were plenty of policemen to keep the peace. Still, there were reasons for concern. It's no secret that some pro-Palestinian protesters use antisemitic slogans and exhibits antisemitic behavior. The term "Intifada", for example, is often used in demonstrations and in this context, it means violent resistance against Jews. "Inga zionister I våra gator" is a clear comparison of Zionism and Nazism which is antisemitic according to most experts. And it's not only slogans. Recently, Holocaust survivors were screamed at when they entered Stockholm's Great Synagogue and in Malmö hundreds of people celebrated the October massacre in southern Israel. In this context it's easy to understand why the idea of Pro-Palestinian protesters marching by a Jewish school may seem less than appealing. But freedom of speech is a sacred value in Sweden – it applies at all places, under all conditions and at any risk. If you choose to shout that Israel is a "butcher of small children" (små barn slaktare), you're entitled to so even near Jewish children. That's what Swedish democracy is all about.
Unless, of course, you're Israeli. At least that's how it seems in Stockholm's culture world. As part of Stockholm's Kulturnatten, the Israeli embassy, like other embassies, planned a cultural event – a video art gallery presenting works by three female Israeli artists focusing on female figures presenting various interactions with nature. Just to be clear – the works are not political; they were created before the current war and the plan was to have them projected on the wall of a building adjacent to the embassy. That way, viewers don't have to enter the embassy or even get particularly close to it. They just pass by on the street, viewing from a public space. Being entirely in the spirit of Kulturnatten, Stockholm Stad approved the project and published it in the event catalogue. Then, a week ago, the Stockholm officials changed their minds and the Israeli project was suddenly taken off the program.
Why this sudden change of hearts? Could it have something to do with social media campaigns, anti-Israeli sentiments and the fact that Israel isn’t the most popular country in certain circles these days? "Varför låter ni Israel utnyttja Kulturnatten för att flytta fokus från det pågående folkmordet och försöka rentvätta sitt anseende med kulturens hjälp?" (Why do you allow Israel to use Culture Night to shift the focus from the ongoing genocide and try to clean its reputation with the help of culture), this was part of a social media campaign launched on April 3rd by Palastinagrupperna. It's hard to say what effect the campaign had on Stockholm decision makers, but one thing is clear – less than a week after it was launched City Hall cancelled the event it previously approved.

Video art by Israeli artist Tal Kronkop on the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm

When I asked Stockholm Stad, why the event was taken of the program, the answer was clear: "The decision to not market/promote the program was made entirely on the basis of the security situation and public safety". A City Hall spokesman also explained that "the heightened threat towards Israel and the decision by the State of Israel to close the embassy on April the 5th, changed the risk assessment. Answering my question, he admitted that there have been comments on social media and that emails asking for the Israeli event not to be included were received, but the "security situation" was the only reason for cancelation.
"We expect the city of Stockholm to reverse its discriminatory decision", an Israeli embassy official told me, "they can exclude us from their program but it won’t stop Israeli culture. We've been through worse and will continue to thrive". The official added that even though the program was canceled by Kulturnatt, it will still be presented as planned. It's important to point out that the cancelation decision was made by Stockholm Stad, not by SÄPO or the Police which Stockholm Stad says has no jurisdiction in this case. Instead, city officials based their decision on a press report saying that Israel recently decided to close its Stockholm embassy. It's unclear how this partial and unofficial information is relevant, since the art exhibition was planned to take place outside the building in an entirely public space. The result however is clear – while embassies and cultural institutions of countries from Hungary to Mongolia will officially be part of the city festivities, Israel will show its art without being included in the party. If Stockholm decided to be part of the international BDS bullying movement, it can at least say that's what it's doing. instead it's hiding behind claims of "security situation".
Time and again has Sweden preached to the world that freedom of speech doesn't work only when it's convenient. Rasmus Paludan was allowed to burn Quran books upsetting thousands of believers and endangering Sweden's NATO application and national security. Neo-Nazis are regularly allowed to march through Swedish streets and radical Islamist can arrange rallies and publish propaganda. Does Stockholm Stad really want to tell us that all these are worth taking the risk for in the name of democracy and free speech, but the art of three Israeli women isn't?