On November 20, 2013, the Louis Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, presented a mini-conference on the subjects of BDS, Israel, and Academic Freedom. The Fordham Law School Jewish Students Association hosted the event. The event was also co-hosted by the Louis Brandeis Center, the American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists, and the Lawfare Project. Fordham Law School hosted a BDS event in October which happened to coincide with the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. This conference provided a response to those proponents as to why the BDS movement is a sham. The turnout to this event was fantastic. The event drew young, intelligent law school students intermingling with many professional members of the community. The panelists, Richard Cravatts, President, Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, and Brooke Goldstein, President, Lawfare project, consisted of two profound experts in the fields of Academic Freedom, Human Rights, and Israel. The moderator, Stephen Greenwald, Immediate Past President, American Association of Jewish Lawyers & Jurists, and introductory speaker, Kenneth L. Marcus, Founder, Louis Brandeis Center, are also very respected and prestigious scholars in regard to these topics. Talk about an All-Star lineup. The audience had no idea what they were in store for. The conference began with Mr. Marcus, who in addition to founding the Louis Brandeis Center, was the former head of the U.S. Commission of Civil Rights, giving introductory remarks. Mr. Marcus shed light on the issues this conference intended to focus on by providing an excellent analogy. Comparing disparate impact with anti-Israelism because hatred isn’t always advertised, but rather it is coded. A new phenomena Jews face today is accurately depicting what anti-Semitism is because it is a grey area. Of course every individual is entitled to criticize a country, but when it comes to dealing with Israel, the only Jewish state in the universe, criticism is a grey area. When an individual carries so much hostility towards a supporter of Israel, but in defending himself, denies being anti-Semitic, one must wonder if this hatred is coded. Mr. Cravatts astutely blended problems in Academic freedom with the faultiness of the BDS movement. As President for the Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, Mr. Cravatts’ ambition is to protect the degradation of scholarship from those that seek to hijack academy when ideologies go beyond free thought. This is one of the roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and home to the BDS movement. When one allows this to occur, you allow the only democracy in the region who’s citizens are entitled to free press, human rights, and civil rights to be demonized and ostracized as a racist regime. The BDS narrative stems from slandering Israel with historical distortions and falsehoods. Its ultimate goal is the destruction the state of Israel. This is Hypocrisy 101, when a movement creates accusations of racism only to be founded on principles of racism. This is the BDS movement. This movement claims to be a social justice movement. How is it that a social justice movement’s goal is to turn the alleged oppressed into the oppressors? Maybe that is Hypocrisy 200. The BDS movement can stop claiming to be a social justice movement because generally, social justice is tied to doing good for the world. The goal of the BDS movement is to destroy Israel, and unfortunately, it is coded and thus difficult for the average person to realize. If social justice was so important to BDS, why has the group of people the BDS seeks to allegedly help (Palestinians) also happen to be the only group of refugees who have never resettled? The answer is simple. The ideologies are hijacking and smashing Israel and faulting Jews as a racist regime. You will always hear the same Israel bashers who support the BDS deny their ties to anti-Semitism. When scholars at prestigious Universities converge together for a conference with the intent to discuss 1-state solution, they will also deny their coded anti-Semitic views. But how can you deny your inherent anti-Semitism when you are calling for the return of 5-8 million refugees, which also includes descendants of original refugees, to return to a democratic state which will in turn hold the majority over the same group of people they have lambasted for decades. Clearly eliminating a Jewish state is the sole goal of these groups. If it’s not anti-Semitic, then the same standards and goals should be sought for all those facing the same issues as the Palestinians. But then why is there no 1-state solution for Pakistan (which expelled Hindus and became a Muslim state)? Brooke Goldstein provided an alternative perspective into denouncing the BDS movement. Ms. Goldstein had extensive first-hand contact with the Palestinian people. One of the reasons behind the BDS movement is the allegation that Israel commits atrocious human rights violations. What Ms. Goldstein did is provide the uninformed about what often gets overlooked, the human rights violations committed by the Palestinians towards their own people. If BDS actually stood for real social justice and actually targeted human rights violations, then they would focus on the most egregious human rights violations, which are committed by the Palestinian governments (Palestinian Authority, Hamas). Ms. Goldstein spent time inside the West Bank, interviewed Hamas members and children, and witnessed how the governments for the Palestinian people commit atrocities. This involves illegal recruitment and indoctrination of children to take their own lives, the most heinous crime one can fathom. Whether its through television, radio, religious leaders, political leaders, teachers, or even family, these children are taught at a young age to martyr themselves by killing Jews and other infidels. Martyrdom is a glorified value by the Palestinian people. These children are recruited and trained as soldiers. Last time I checked, indoctrination of children to kill themselves is a gross international law violation. A basic principle in life is that children should get education and the opportunity to live. If BDS advocates for children, then why have they never condemned these actions? I am having tremendous difficulty getting my brain to wrap around the fact that BDS continues to target Israel when the Palestinian Authority carries out public executions with no due process, when one of the offenses you would receive the death penalty for is selling property to a Jew or collaborating with a Jew. The BDS is simply put, overtly hypocritical. When the BDS accuses Israel of being racist, one would think that the BDS targets racist regimes. But then why is the BDS silent on sexual and ethnic issues is neighboring countries? Why is that Palestinians in Lebanon and Syria are denied health care and education? Why is that Palestinians cannot own homes in Kuwait and Iraq or that 400,000 Palestinians were expelled from Kuwait? Why is the BDS silent on these matters, but uproarious in regard to Israel? The answer is simple. Noam Chomsky, a pro-Palestinian activist, calls it hypocrisy, which is exactly what it is. The last piece of information Ms. Goldstein discussed was another interesting alternative in regard to why the BDS movement is a sham. There are thousands of Palestinians who are employed by Israeli companies. These Palestinians are paid twice the amount of money that the Palestinian Authority pays. As the BDS movement grows, more industries that employ Palestinians are losing business and thus the workers are losing their jobs. The Palestinian Authority also confiscates goods that are purchased from Jewish owned businesses. Having strong economic ties with your neighboring country reduces threats of war and increases friendship, but the BDS movement does not care. BDS directly says who Palestinians can and cannot trade with. BDS is a sham, hypocritical movement that hampers the Palestinian economy and is based on impunity of human rights violations. I’d like to conclude this blog with what moderator Greenwald said after the two panelists spoke. Historically, boycotting Jews has been the most commonly used methodology for discriminating against Jews. The justifications for why Israel is singled out are quite outrageous. Because Israel is a democratic state, the citizens are responsible. That means these BDS proponents are saying dictatorships are off the hook and therefore they should have free range and not be subjected to pressure. The hypocrisy of the BDS movement creates a double standard and seeks to delegitimize Israel. Singling Israel out from other countries should raise flags. There must be something different about this particular state. There is, it is the only Jewish state in the universe.