Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Israeli Apartheid Week Video Legitimizes Violent Resistance

A newly released promotional video for this year's Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) contains the type of provocative message that is often promoted at anti-Israel events, including IAW programs in recent years.

About 20 seconds in, the video depicts a Palestinian with a keffiyeh covering his face and aiming a slingshot. The text reads, "When a people fight the occupier, it is not terrorism. It is resistance." 

Similar messages, which deliberately downplay the ongoing threat of terrorism faced by Israelis, have been expressed at past IAW programs. For example, during the IAW event at Yale University in 2011, Mazin Qumsiyeh defended Palestinians' right to resist by any means. Speakers at other IAW programs have described Hamas as a "resistance" organization and chants of "Long live the Intifada," which celebrate a violent uprising against the State of Israel, have marked IAW rallies.

Since its inception in 2005, IAW has served as an annaul platform for anti-Israel activists to focus on ways to demonize and isolate Israel, including through BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) campaigns.

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