New York’s governor is not against boycotts in principle, just those against Israel

The move by the controversial governor of New York to blacklist organisations that support the global anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement has been met with anger from pro-Palestine activists in the state who are calling for global action. Around 200 campaigners from across New York, spearheaded by Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), headed in a convoy of buses to protest at Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office over his unprecedented McCarthy-style diktat.

After the convoy headed off early last Wednesday morning, Ari Wohlfeiler, the Deputy Director of JVP, issued a statement saying the group wanted to make sure that Cuomo sees that “there’s a political price for his executive order creating an official state blacklist of organisations that support the Boycott, Divestments, and Sanctions movement.” Describing the governor’s actions as ”absurd” he added, ”This is not just a New York issue, we need help from people literally all over the world.”

Governor Cuomo, it must be pointed out, is not against all boycotts in principle and has exposed his hypocrisy with his anti-BDS order. Only last month he enacted an official New York boycott of the state of North Carolina in the wake of the latter’s anti-transgender laws which ban people from accessing toilets and other facilities consistent with their gender identity, and blocks local governments from protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people against discrimination in a wide variety of settings.

And perhaps he has forgotten that as far back as 1985 his father, Mario Matthew Cuomo who served also as New York governor from 1983 to 95, proposed that New York State should divest billions of dollars from companies in South Africa to demonstrate, he argued, the ”abhorrence of our residents to the pernicious system of apartheid.” While his public efforts came to nothing he withdrew his own personal funds from institutions with ties to the apartheid state. There is no doubt that the figurehead of the anti-apartheid struggle, Nelson Mandela, would have approved of such action.

Mandela, of course, said famously: ”We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.” When Mandela died in December 2013, Cuomo senior’s son Andrew Cuomo, who by this time was sitting in the governor’s seat, ordered New York state buildings to fly their flags at half-mast in mourning and released a public statement: ”Nelson Mandela refused to accept injustice, fought relentlessly for what was right, and showed that a dedicated person of courage actually can change the course of history. His struggle to end racism, poverty and inequality began with his fight against apartheid, continued through his service as the first black President of South Africa and is now passed on for the world to continue. We will not soon see again, nor should we ever forget, the profound example of humanity that Nelson Mandela embodied.”

While both Cuomos clearly had no problem about standing up for human rights and the oppressed, it is obvious that Andrew Cumo’s principles do not extend to the people of Palestine. He has shown no desire to defend the rights of Palestinians who’ve endured 68 years of brutal occupation by the state of Israel which is, unfortunately for Cuomo, accused of running its own apartheid regime. Former US President Jimmy Carter, no less, has referred to Israel as the apartheid regime; more recently and perhaps more tellingly, three former Israeli prime ministers, as well as current US Secretary of State John Kerry, have all drawn similar parallels.

While not embracing the whole BDS concept, Daniel Sieradski, founder of Progressive Jews PAC (political action committee), wrote recently that he felt that the economic boycott campaign against Israel is a ”legitimate form of political expression, one that the government has no business restricting by withholding state business.’.

Drawing on the New York governor’s lack of consistency, he added: ”Paradoxically, Mr. Cuomo has engaged in a type of boycott himself, issuing three executive orders banning nonessential travel by state employees to Indiana, Mississippi and North Carolina for discriminatory laws against LGBT people. Apparently, in Mr. Cuomo’s book, boycotts are acceptable against American states with discriminatory laws, but not against a foreign country that has systematically subjected millions of people to decades of oppression.”

Human rights groups using the Freedom of Information Act have unearthed documents revealing that there is a concerted effort by advocacy groups, such as the Israeli American Council and the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic sect, to exert pressure on state administrations and government to promote anti-BDS legislation.

What makes Cuomo’s anti-BDS executive order different is that it has been signed without going through the standard procedures; he was told that such a bill would probably fail to be passed by the State Assembly. According to JVP, the move is “clearly unconstitutional” and constitutional experts agree that the New York governor may have exceeded his authority, as a ban could conflict with First Amendment rights.

Omar Barghouti, a founder of the BDS movement, told the New York Times: “Having lost many battles for hearts and minds at the grass-roots level, Israel has, since 2014, adopted a new strategy to criminalise support for BDS from the top.” This, Barghouti explained, is to “shield Israel from accountability.”

Apart from anything else, that Israel should feel the need to lobby compliant politicians like New York’s Andrew Cuomo into enacting potentially illegal legislation confirms not only the effectiveness of the BDS campaign but also that Israel knows that its actions are unlikely to pass the test of international law if confronted at the International Criminal Court. The day when such a confrontation takes place may well be one step closer with New York State’s double standards exposed so clearly for all to see.