Forward newspaper, a supposedly liberal Jewish paper in the US, editorialises against Desmond Tutu’s call for a boycott of Israel:
His voice is authentic and experienced. It’s also South African. And by speaking as he does, by backing the Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, by implying that Israel resembles apartheid, Tutu lends credence to this dishonest and cruel analogy. In his analysis, the South Africa boycott strengthened the majority blacks struggling against white minority rule. It “gave us the feeling that we are not alone, that the whole world is with us,” Tutu said. But Jews constitute a majority in Israel, and boycotts only serve to heighten the gnawing sense of isolation, feeding right-wing extremism and a reliance on “fortress Israel.” Rather than engendering solidarity with others, boycotts deepen the ingrained sense that the world is, again, out to get the Jews…
South Africa’s struggle was over race; among the Israelis and Palestinians, the conflict is over land and nationhood. Boycotts will harden the hearts of the Israeli public, not turn them toward peace.