Two Spanish courts in provincial capitals, one in the northern city of Oviedo and the other in Barcelona, recently ruled that attempts to boycott Israel violate freedom of expression and other protected rights, and issued injunctions against small towns that decided to boycott the Jewish state in 2017. The new rulings joined over 40 previous Spanish court rulings against the boycott, forming a legal wall of steel that boycott activists will likely slam into in other regions as well.
The boycott movement against Israel, which is known as the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, is an anti-Semitic and racist movement that must be treated accordingly – mercilessly and without silken gloves. In practice, it is terrorism against Israel, and at times even against Jews who are not Israeli citizens. Like all other types of terrorism, the primary goal is to sow fear: fear in the hearts of ignorant consumers abroad so they will not dare enter a store selling Israeli products; fear in the hearts of performing artists so they will refuse to play in Israel, publicly announcing this to replicate this fear in their fan base; and fear in the hearts of decision-makers around the world so they will pressure Israel into concessions and retreat – even knowing that the Jewish state is right, embroiled in a conflict with a barbaric and brutal enemy.
The BDS movement's second goal, the higher one, is also no different from other types of terrorism. Those who call to boycott Israel hope to see it fall. Even if their slogans are inconsequential, their real goal is the termination of the Jewish state. Terrorist boycott activists are not interested in human rights or saving human life. If they did, they would exert at least a tenth of the energy they aim at Israel to worry about those truly oppressed in Iran and Syria, or in the dozens of other places around the world. Moreover, it is clear that when signs in solidarity with the BDS movement are held on Rothschild Boulevard in central Tel Aviv, the movement to terminate Israel gets a boost, regardless of whether those waving the signs are motivated by malicious intent or simple idiocy.
Instead, we must act against those who boycott Israel with full force, both openly and clandestinely. We must exact a heavy toll on BDS activists for the racist campaign they wage against us, forcing them to pay the cost legally, economically and publicly. Every anti-Israel activist who sows hate and tries to hurt Israel should know that this will earn him a painful response to his actions. The courts, in Israel and other countries, are fittingly turning into a stage for the fight against the various branches of the anti-Israel boycott movement. These Spanish cases are encouraging but are not enough. The Spanish court rulings teach us that the law allows protection against the BDS threat. It is also important to attack those who hate us through legal means and force them to disarm.
Israel knows how to create military and security deterrence, but now it requires legal deterrence. All types of organizations and people supporting the boycott against Israel, not to mention Israeli institutions and personalities just because they are Israeli, must know that a day of reckoning and revenge is close. Even if this comes in the form of monetary compensation, it will suffice.
