Howard Epstein – STRAWS IN THE WINDS OF CHANGE
Harold McMillan, British Prime Minister from 1957 to 1963, identified the “Winds of Change” that were sweeping across Africa, as one British colony after another sought, and obtained, with varying levels of violence in the achievement, independence and an exit from the British Empire (with equally variable outcomes). Recognizing developments timelessly is important to those who do not live an insular life. Israelis cannot afford to live like that and their need to put a whetted finger into the air from time to time, to see which way the wind is blowing, is ever-present.
I, having warned in recent weeks of the possibility of war between Russia and the USA and so far being proved wrong (or right: that there may be no issue over which Obama will not challenge Putin), turn this week to something rather more enjoyable than possible nuclear winter: some straws in the winds of change that accompany those blowing the warmer airs of spring into our lives.
It has been a bad few weeks for the Israel-bashers, Jewish and non-Jewish. There are plenty amongst the former. David Reif’s denial of Israeli legitimacy, perceptively reviewed by Melanie Philips in the Jerusalem Post this weekend (if that journalistic organ does not impress you, she writes for the Times of London, too), is a reminder that the enemy is not always the outsider. That we have detractors amongst non-Jews too needs no examples but let us consider one: the BDS movement.
How sad it must be to exist only to strive to weaken the sole fully-functioning middle-eastern democracy that feeds life-saving and life-enhancing technologies into the world on a daily basis! How much more productive could the BDS people be if they were to channel their energies into seeking to strengthen the Palestinians in absolute terms, rather than as a comparison with what they hope will be an enfeebled Israel! All that vitality and ingenuity could achieve so much good, if it were more constructive and less nihilistic.
The thing about nihilism, is that it tends to burn itself out. Of course, the curse of Nazi nihilism was not extinguished early enough for the untold millions who died by it, some even as Hitler’s corpse was being doused with fuel and ignited. Nor did Soviet communism run its course quickly enough for yet further benighted millions who suffered 70 years of induced-famines, lies, restrictions, disappearances, show-trials and gulags. Yet the pendulum swung for the Nazis and the Soviets both and, without creativity and purity of intent, it will surely swing for the BDS movement, too. Indeed, we may discern the start of the downward movement even now. Take a look at recent reports of developments affecting BDS:-
USA – June 2015
[President] Obama signed into law the so-called “fast track” authorization that will allow US trade negotiators to work out a long-awaited deal with Asian states known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The Trade Promotion Authority legislation also contained the anti-BDS provisions, which make rejection of the phenomenon a top priority for US negotiators as they work on a more distant free trade agreement with the European Union.
These guidelines, sponsors hope, will discourage European governments from participating in BDS activities by leveraging the incentive of free trade with the US.[1]
The USA led and others have now followed:-
France – 21 January 2016
a recent ruling by the Court of Cassation, France’s court of final appeal, which upheld the criminal convictions of 12 BDS activists who burst into a supermarket in 2009 wearing “Boycott Israel” shirts and handing out fliers that read, “Buying Israeli products means legitimizing crimes in Gaza.”
In ruling against the activists, the court cited French anti-discrimination laws that prescribe imprisonment or a fine of up to $50,000 for parties that “incite discrimination, hatred or violence towards a person or group of people on grounds of their origin, their belonging or their not belonging to an ethnic group, a nation, a race or a certain religion”.
The legislation means that what BDS activists regarded as political statements denouncing Israel’s violations of international law could be – and indeed were – treated by French courts as an “incitement” to hatred.[2]
The UK – 16 February 2016
British media quoted U.K. Cabinet Office Minister Matthew Hancock as saying such boycotts are divisive, potentially damaging to the U.K.’s relationship with Israel, and risk fueling anti-Semitism.
The new bill, already described as a “controversial crackdown,” seeks to prevent any public body from imposing a boycott on a World Trade Organization member, which Israel has been since 1995.[3]
Germany – 18 February 2016
The DAB Bank in Munich is set to discontinue the account of a leading group associated with the anti-Israel boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaign in Germany[4]
Not finished yet, the BDS movement has several “achievements” to its debit. For example, it scored a victory of sorts when it stimulated the removal of Sodastream from Ma’ale Adumim in “The Occupied West Bank” to Levahim in “Occupied Palestine”. Initially, last October, 500 Arab workers lost their jobs and last week, another 75. Nevertheless, BDS is on the slippery slope and one wonders how their statistics will appear in another year.
Talking of statistics (and, as you and I both know, you can do anything with them – Disraeli derided statistics as being beyond “damned lies”), a vast body of them was published at Davos on January 20, 2016 jointly by the U.S. News & World Report, BAV Consulting, and Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania[5]. They surveyed “60 countries, across 24 rankings, drawn from a survey of more than 16,000 global citizens, measuring 75 dimensions, that have the potential to drive trade, travel and investment and directly affect national economies”. If you enjoy mining these things for nuggets of information, to which you may apply your own level of scepticism, cynicism or (conversely) pure ingenuousness, you too could spend a fascinating hour or two researching them. Here is what I came up with, to give you just a few examples (positions in each case out of 60):-
- The World’s Best Countries Overall: #1. Germany; #2. Canada; #3. UK (#25: Israel)
- Cultural Influence: #1. France; #2. Italy; #3. USA (#35: Israel)
- Entrepreneurship: #1. Germany; #2. Japan; #3. USA (#21: Israel)
- Power (first eight):-
| 1. USA
2. Russia 3. China 4. Germany 5. UK 6. France 7. Japan 8. Israel |
Israel’s Attributes (each out of 10):
Strong military: 9.7 Politically influential: 7.6 Strong international alliances: 5.8 A leader: 2.7 Economically influential: 2.4 |
Israel at number 8? (Double-take at that.) Well, I am willing to bet you are warming to statistics now. Little, callow (young, naïve, green, raw) Israel is ranked the world’s eighth most powerful country, preceded only by the seven nations with world’s largest economies. This, even the most scathing critic of Israel and its recent governments, could deny as an achievement only with a complete absence of good faith. Even to be ranked a lowly 25th out of 60 in the list of “Best Countries” is a great achievement after less than 70 years as a state – all the time at war with several contiguous and more distant neighbours, always subjected to terrorism, yet always enjoying a free press, a healthy democracy, independent judiciary and over getting-on-for ten years now the world’s most stable (and, for its exporters, rather too expensive) currency, yet a balance of payments surplus over four years, from an export-led economy, without being a full member of a major free trade area or having an artificially-depreciated currency (in each case, Germany). A momentary pause for a slap on the back is in order.
Of course, we must eschew complacency. We need to continue to deter those who would attack us if they were to glimpse a trace of weakness, a hint of lack of total resolve or an unaddressed vulnerability. But, if you have to live like that (and we do), it is not without merit to find your power-ranking up there with the super-powers and super-economies. With that achievement under our belt, with the basic requirement for survival properly addressed, we may redouble our efforts to improve education, health-care, welfare (on which we spend more per capita than the USA, where there is rather more room for improvement) and – not least – hasbarah.
There may be other straws in the wind, too. Perceptions of Israel have long been at their nadir, but as people the world over see what mayhem exists not far from our borders – with the “government” of what used to be Syria dropping chemical agents in the suburbs of its former capital city, during a so-called cease fire – as compared with the peaceful and constructive life that we lead here, they may be ready for a new narrative. Let us feed into it.
With even the Israeli Left accepting that the “Two State Solution” may as far away in years as Oslo is distant from Jerusalem, with the Israeli fiscal condition as strong as one could wish for[6] at a time when those of the USA, the UK and the EU look positively parlous, this would be a most opportune moment for our government to issue a slew of initiatives for Arabs (Israeli and those living in the Territories) for their betterment, in addition to those already recently announced. They want to kill us? So we, who seek recognition as the Jewish State, should do something befitting: let us “kill them with kindness”[7]. Let us make our generosity irresistible for all but the most negative and destructive (eg Hamas) and illuminate Israel for the enlightenment of our more realistic neighbors and our trading partners, traditional in the West and newly-courted in the East, that will demonstrate our purpose and also serve pour encourager les autres.
© Howard Epstein – 6 March 2016
Howard Epstein, LLB, is an English commercial lawyer of some 45 years’ standing. He still practices international commercial litigation on several continents. As such, he is articulate and voluble.
Howard is also a staunch Zionist, having achieved aliyah in September 2005, after a lifetime as “an armchair Zionist”. His parents met at a Habonim function and he was raised with Zionism on a daily basis. He is well-read, knowledgeable and opinionated about Jewish and Israeli history and current affairs.
[1] http://www.timesofisrael.com/obama-signs-anti-bds-bill-into-law/
[2] http://www.france24.com/en/20160120-france-boycott-israel-bds-law-free-speech-antisemitism
[3] http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/61506/uk-latest-nation-boycott-bds-judea-and-samaria/#gjz4oGCt4cvKAjJM.97
[4] Several sources.
[5] http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/us-news–world-report-wpps-bav-consulting–the-wharton-school-release-inaugural-best-countries-rankings-300206304.html
[6] “Tax revenues, adjusted for an increased provision of NIS 1.5 billion to the Property Tax Fund, were NIS 6 billion greater than forecast at the beginning of the year.”
“The government’s expected expenditures in 2017—based on approved plans— are about NIS 14 billion higher than the expenditure ceiling for that year..”
http://www.boi.org.il/en/NewsAndPublications/PressReleases/Documents/2016-1-Fiscal%20Survey.pdf
[7] Petruchio, The Taming of the Shrew, William Shakespeare
