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Kerry's Israel Boycott Talk Will Backfire

(Bloomberg) Jeffrey Goldberg - John Kerry is quite obviously a friend of Israel. He was a friend in the Senate, and he is one as U.S. secretary of state. His work on behalf of a two-state solution seems motivated by a deep love for Israel. Kerry's strategy in the Middle East is quite clever; he is systematically addressing every worry articulated by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an effort to neutralize Israeli anxiety. But I think Kerry has been making one mistake. His need to publicly invoke the specter of an international campaign to boycott Israel is not helping advance his cause. By publicly discussing this possibility of new and intensified boycott pressure if peace talks fail, he is providing fuel to the forces aligned against Israel. I find the idea of a modern-day economic boycott that targets Jews viscerally offensive. If the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement had any targets other than Israel - and Israel, of course, has one of the best human rights records in the Middle East, so there are certainly candidates for boycott in its immediate vicinity - then it might be possible to ascribe more benevolent intentions to its leaders. But this movement only has one scapegoat.
2014-02-10 00:00:00
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