BDS has to be taken more seriously than Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson’s privileged upbringing may have rescued him from the ignominy of life as a jester, but his talent for buffoonery hasn’t gone entirely to waste in his political career. If anything, London’s mayor and Uxbridge/South Ruislip MP carries it as a badge of honour to tackle opponents head on, making light of serious issues, mocking at times, and scoffing at those he deems crazy, hurling ridicule with typical brashness.

It wasn’t surprising therefore, to see Johnson mocking the international boycott divestment and sanctions movement (BDS) during his trade trip to Israel-Palestine; activists are, he assured the Israelis who he hopes will invest in London, just a bunch of “corduroy-jacketed, snuggle-toothed, lefty academics… who wield no real influence”.

Speaking to the media, Johnson added: “I cannot think of anything more foolish” than to boycott “a country that when all is said and done is the only democracy in the region, the only place that has in my view a pluralist open society.”

For anyone remotely aware of the situation in Palestine, Boris Johnson’s attempt to ridicule BDS and cheerlead for Israel with fanciful claims about its democracy is worthy of inclusion in a stand-up comedy show. He has forgotten the 2006 Palestinian elections which were declared by international observers — including some of his colleagues in the House of Commons — to be among “the most free and fair” they have seen. Happily, reasonable people won’t applaud the mayor and will be able to see through his sarcastic script that might have been written by the Israeli version of the “ministry of truth”.

His sycophantic support for a country condemned by hundreds of descendants of Holocaust survivors for its genocide against Palestinians is outrageous, as was his mockery of the BDS movement, an entirely peaceful way for civil society and ordinary people to try to put pressure on Israel to end its brutal military occupation of Palestine. His comments deserve to be met with ridicule and condemned, not least because Johnson is part of a long tradition of Conservative Party MPs who have a track record of supporting oppressive regimes until the bitter end, despite public opposition.

South African Apartheid lasted as long as it did because it was propped up by right-wing politicians around the world, including Britain. The British establishment and Conservative Party in particular labelled Nelson Mandela and the ANC as terrorists. Some Conservative MPs wanted the iconic figure to be shot. Despite the fact that David Cameron denounced that attitude in 2006, saying that his predecessor Margaret Thatcher had been wrong in her condemnation and her opposition to anti-apartheid sanctions, it would appear that Boris Johnson and his kind have not learnt any lessons from history.

It was not until the leader of the ANC had become a world statesman of great stature that the Conservatives changed their policies towards South Africa. So while David Cameron did pay tribute to Mandela when he died, we should not forget that in 1989 he went on a tour of South Africa paid for by a firm that did not want sanctions to end. Yasser Arafat and the PLO, on the other hand, supported the ANC in the struggle for freedom “to the hilt”, as Mandela himself pointed out to an American audience after his release from prison. As President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela returned the favour and insisted that, “Our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”

If members of the Conservative Party were genuine in their change of policy, and weren’t being entirely hypocritical when mourning the passing of the international icon, they would champion the causes that he championed instead of ingratiating themselves towards the new apartheid state of Israel. Touring the country in “champagne and cocktail” trips paid for by the advocates of oppression like Mr Cameron in the heyday of South African apartheid and mocking those calling for an end to Israel’s brutal occupation, is no way to behave if you are sincere about standing up for international law and human rights. Boris Johnson would have been well advised to remember that there were very strong links between Israel and apartheid South Africa, so much so that neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor President Shimon Perez attended Mandela’s funeral because of the historical stain that Israel bears for supporting the racist regime.

Johnson has put his political ambitions ahead of the suffering of millions of people and the efforts of millions of others committed to ending Israel’s brutality. The contempt he showed for BDS will be more than matched by the contempt of countless others for politicians like him who are apparently more concerned about self-interest and profits than they are about human rights and justice. As pointed out by this commentator in Haaretz, there was more to this visit than just business interests, however; Israel is very much in vogue among right-wing politicians from Britain and the US who view support for the Zionist state as essential if they are to achieve their political ambitions.

It is to be expected, therefore, that the likes of Boris Johnson will continue to support Israel unless and until it no longer serves their interests to do so. They should know that they are on the wrong side of history, because they are backing a country with a worse apartheid regime than South Africa.

South Africans know better than most what apartheid looks like. According to the Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa (HSRC), Israel is practicing both colonialism and apartheid in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). South African church leaders have endorsed “Israel Apartheid Week” as a campaign to educate and mobilise the public against Israeli violations of international and human rights law. One of the leaders of the anti-apartheid movement and a great friend of Nelson Mandela is Archbishop Desmond Tutu; he has endorsed BDS and likened Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to the treatment of black South-Africans during the years of the apartheid regime.

The BDS movement is rooted in the 2004 International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling on the wall that Israel has built — and continues to build — in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The ICJ said that the wall and its associated regime are contrary to international law. In doing so it set a clear framework for a comprehensive, just and durable peace. It called on the Palestinian people and, more significantly, international civil society, to transform the legal ruling into an effective tool for ending the conflict.

South Africans also know the role that sanctions played in bringing down the apartheid regime in Pretoria; they understand that their oppression would not have ended without the international solidarity movement. Because of politicians like Boris Johnson and other right-wingers happily standing beside oppressive regimes out of self-interest – disguised, as usual, as “national interests” – the only hope that subjugated people and victims of systematic injustice have is their bond with their fellow human beings. Only when a critical mass of people demanded the end of the South African apartheid regime, did its systematic racism and political discrimination collapse. The same will be true in occupied Palestine.

Boris Johnson is playing a risky game in supporting Israel in the face of the desperate plight of the Palestinians. Common sense alone would tell him that the BDS movement has to be taken more seriously than his cheap jibes to attract votes and investment; taken more seriously than himself, in fact.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.