Interesting to see at a time the German Parliament labels BDS as antisemitic, The Bristol Post is giving prominence to a group advocating just that; an Israel Boycott.
Here is what the Bundestag had to say about the campaign to boycott Israel and Israeli goods:
‘the pattern of argument and methods of the BDS movement are anti-Semitic.’
Could not be clearer.
And yet here is the Bristol Post headline from 15th May:
“Why gay and queer people in Bristol are boycotting Eurovision 2019”
What that means, it turns out is that a group called “Lesbians and Gays Support the Migrants in Bristol” is holding their own event and want people to go.
They do not speak for the many thousands of people who identify as LGBT in Bristol; they have 346 likes on Facebook. They are selling tickets for a venue with a capacity of 300 which, with a day to go, still has plenty of tickets available.
So the first question is why the Bristol Post and its Senior Report should be giving undue prominence to the commercial activities of a group promoting something, according to the Bundestag, inherently antisemitic?
Why does the Bristol Post blithely assert that the site of Eurovision 2019 “was once an Arab village called al-Shaykh Muwannis, which was cleared of its residents in 1948” without fact-checking. Those residents upped sticks and cleared off months before the creation of Israel to give the combined armies of 5 Arab countries, some with British Officers, most with British training and equipment, a free run to obliterate the State of Israel. Didn’t work.
The next question, is what on earth is a group of LGBT people doing falling for this nonsense. Rose from LGSM states that;
“Israel sees in this a great opportunity to forward its pink-washing agenda, the cynical use of gay rights”
Rose isn’t falling for that one. Rose isn’t falling for a free and liberal country at the heart of the Middle East where all gay people, and for that matter all citizens whatever their identity, have equal rights. It’s a plot. They have created a liberal democracy, the 11th happiest country in the world, a prosperous and educated society, just to pull a fast one on world opinion. Now that is devious.
I look forward to the lengthy report in the Bristol Post after Rose and her friends have checked out the LGBT scene in Israel’s neighbouring territories. It would not be a very productive trip. There used to be a Gay Pride event in Lebanon but they had to stop after the organiser received death threats. There have never been any others in the Arab world. In Gaza they throw gays off rooftops, they really do. Hezbollah which controls Israel’s Northern border is an offshoot of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. In Tehran they hang gay people from cranes. Because they’re gay.
The only reason not to watch Eurovision is if you don’t want to see the most over the top campfest in the history of television. A celebration brought to Israel by clearly worthy winner the incredible Netta.
And the likes of those calling for boycotts and those in the press giving them undue prominence can cheer on the Icelandic entry, a charming bunch also climbing on the anti-Israel bandwagon with their dirge ‘Hate will Prevail’.
Not in Tel Aviv it won’t.
For that you’ll need to be in an unfilled club under a railway arch in Bristol or in the columns of the Bristol Post.
Post article:
Why gay people in Bristol are boycotting Eurovision
Bundestag article (it’ll be in other places as well as the Mail…)
Germany becomes first parliament in Europe to call BDS anti-Semitic
