Is Boycotting Israeli Products Really A Good Idea?

The conflict between Israel and State of Palestine is a never ending case. Numerous cease-fires were agreed, after much struggle only to be reneged not long after. Israel and the Arab countries have fought four major wars ever since the formal creation of Israel through the 1947 UN Partition Plan. The Palestinians had two Intifadas (uprisings) in 1987 and in 2000-2005 to fight the oppressing power of the Zionist regime. More and more people have died throughout the conflict, with the most coming from the occupied Palestinian regions, West bank and Gaza Strip (not under complete occupation).

So, before heading into the debate of boycotting, why are these two countries fighting against each other?

To cut it short, taking a retrospective view, in the past one millennium, the Jews have been persecuted ever since the First Crusade up to the Nazi-led Holocaust in Europe. Jews have been seen as unnationalistic minorities in Europe and as “enemy of the state”. As the nationalistic spirit of Zionism started to expand in late 19^th century, the modern day Aliyah (emigration) into The Promised Land happened. And coupled with the help the Sharif of Mecca, Sheikh Hussein (although he was tricked by the British Empire), Israel was successfully formed in 1948. Hussein’s son, Prince Feisal also agreed to the Jewish immigration into the former Ottoman Syria region, thinking the Arabs and the Jews will actually live in peace. Despite that, he never agreed for a separate country for the Jews. Again, he too, was tricked by the cunning British Empire.

So now, history’s aside. Should or should we not boycott the products of Israel?

We Malaysians have seen in recent times the act of boycotting products from Israel by many of us. This is actually part of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign initiated in 2005. The coordinating group of BDS has actually listed several products and companies of Israel and its allies which contribute financially to the Zionist regime.

The question is, why stop at Israeli companies? Whilst many might think that these companies are the main donors to the regime, actually they have missed the biggest contributor to Israel. It’s no other than the United States of America. The United States contributes USD3 to 4 billion on average, every year to Israel. Believe it or not, the US has given Israel a total of USD 121 billion since World War 2 and a huge chunk of this financial aid is funnelled towards military technology improvements. Recently, President Obama even announced an additional funding of $ 225 million to improve the home-grown Iron Dome missile interceptor. Other than that, US is the biggest exporter of military supplies to Israel despite its legislation, Arms Export Control Act which prohibits the US from exporting arms to countries with possibilities of conflict escalation. But alas, apparently the United States might hit back by saying Israel has the right to defend itself.

If you really think boycotting is an effective way to stop the carnage in Palestine, start with the United States. No more technological gadgets originating from Silicon Valley. That essentially means no more Facebook, Google and i-Phones. Xiaomi, Samsung and Lenovo should do fine. No more Intel computer processors, no more Philips fluorescent lights and no more sending your kids to the Ivy League universities.  And yeah, no more watching the superhero movies of Marvel Comics.

It’s not that I want to offend the ones wanting to boycott and end the aggression and brutal massacre in Palestine, but if we want to do something, shouldn’t we do it completely?

Israel gets its power from the support of its greatest ally, the United States. But can we really engage in the BDS campaign against the United States? It is very much implausible. To sanction America economically and to impose an embargo on trade with the US, will cost us fatally more than what America will feel in return. Simply because Malaysia’s economy is export-reliant and any disruption in trade deals will cause the economy to face lack of growth. Recently, when Bank Negara announced that Malaysia’s second quarter economy growth of the year is 6.2%, the mood was jubilant amongst the industry players. However it was also noted that such increase in economic performance was due to more export while the domestic consumption has actually fallen.

Thus, bearing this into mind, is it feasible to boycott the US? Of course not, since America is our biggest investor and one of our top five trade partners.

I personally am against any acts of economic sanction on any country. Conventionally, it is believed that economic sanctions can compel a regime or a government to comply with international pressures or even to stop engaging in inhumanely activities. Supporters of sanctions often cite the Lockerbie case, where after immense economic sanctions from the world, Libya’s former dictator, Muammar Gaddafi actually handed over two suspects of the plane crash.

For me, economic sanctions will only create more harm than good. Regime at the top hierarchy may feel less agony, but it is the common civilians who would struggle due to the sanctions. Islamic Republic of Iran for example, has long been under economic sanctions of the West due to its clandestine nuclear programme. However due to the sanctions, Iran has seen insufficiencies of medical equipment and drugs for the ill. Recently, when a plane IrAn-140 crashed in Iran, lack of replacement parts due to the sanctions were cited as the reasons.

In the aftermath of the First Gulf War, the Saddam regime was subjected to heavy sanctions for the attack over Kuwait and this has caused 5000 starvation deaths a month, one of the reasons the UN started the Oil for Food Programme.

When Cuba came under the communist rule after the revolution led by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, the capitalist (well, not entirely) United States imposed embargo on the Cuban goods and halted trade relations with Cuba. This however, never caused the communist rule to collapse. It is still standing strong till now. But the embargoes have caused deficiencies of clean water and spreading of diseases with lack of drugs to control them. Increased food prices have also caused malnutrition amongst many.

Why, one of the main reasons that compelled Japan to wage Pacific War against the United States was due to the embargoes on Japan after it invaded French Indochina. As US was Japan’s main supplier of oil at that moment, Japan advanced in South-east Asia to gain influence over the resource rich region and to offset the impact caused by the embargo. Pearl Harbour was destroyed also because of the same embargo.

These are the impacts that can be caused from economic sanctions and boycotts. When you are boycotting McDonald’s and Starbucks’ due to their alleged link to the Zionist regime, you are actually hurting their business. This will in turn, open the way for retrenchment of the workers and for less compensation. And no thanks to some hard-core boycotters, the employees of the franchises have faced humiliation and distress. In McDonald’s case, the chief of Malaysian outlets, Mr.Stephen has clarified that the contribution by McDonald’s to Israel was due to a programme called Matching Grant. The employees will contribute financially to charity of their choice and the employers will then match it. It is how McDonald’s actually gave to Israel, as its few employees have chosen the Jewish United Fund to receive their contribution. But as he stressed, the contributions to JUF is very trivial compared to the other charities. Why, he says, even Islamic charities receive the financial contributions.

To add, even the head of McDonald’s Israel, Mr. Omri Padan has made it a point that outlets will not be opened beyond the Green Line (1967 borders). The fast-food entity is totally against setting up of any outlets within the occupied region of Palestine. This decision has actually caused the wrath of many Israelis in the illegal settlement areas, but this has never caused Mr Omri to budge.

What Israel is doing is totally inhumane and cruel. It was never acceptable. Yet at the same time, the radical actions of Hamas of shooting missiles into Israel are actually worsening the situation. In the war between Hamas and Israel, it is the Palestinians who are at the losing end. Israel, with its immense military spending, is left unscathed whilst Gaza is destructed to the core.

While I mentioned that BDS may not be a good option, I respect the opinion of its supporters. But that alone will never suffice. Malaysian Muslims engaged in serious boycott act in 2008 when Gaza was in turmoil, but the spirit barely lasted for two weeks. What we actually need is the intervention from the international community. The United Nations’ Charter’s Chapter VII actually allows for international military intervention after trying bringing both sides of war-waging parties to mediation. We need just that. First, Israel needs to stop further encroachment into Palestinian region. Hamas, at the same time, needs to be forced to accept the two-state solution which is the most feasible and plausible solution. Hamas which is categorically against two-state solution in its charter should be requested to accept the idea. Any aggression from any sides, be it Hamas or Israel should be counter-attacked using international community’s sanctioned military. Only such stern actions can stop the conflict for good.

But then again, all these are easier to be said than to be done. Why? Any action against Israel by United Nations’ will most probably be vetoed by its greatest ally, the United States. Perhaps United Kingdom and France will also follow suit to support their ally, the US. These countries being permanent members of the Security Council are given the privilege of veto power. A veto from any one of the five permanent members can annul a resolution approved by the General Assembly, comprising of all the member states. UN is incapable of approving a resolution of military action against al-Assad regime in Syria, also due to the veto by Russia and China, another two permanent members.

With such veto power in place, not only the Palestinian conflict, but also others in the world may never be solved by the international community. The doctrine of “Responsibility to Protect” which complements Chapter VII will remain as a doctrine of no use. The governments all over the world, despite opposing the veto powers, are hesitant to take any solid action. Perhaps the fear of any trade sanctions by these five major economies is more inundating. Or maybe, they succumb to the fact that if a resolution is passed in the General Assembly to annul the veto power for good, the permanent five can still veto the resolution.

So, don’t we all have hope?  Yes we do! We need international uprisings, not to topple the government but to force the end of veto powers. People’s voices should be heard. Some might claim that the “Occupy” movements may have failed in their objective, but these worldwide protests have caused the governments to reconsider social and economic inequalities. The attention has been shifted to national discussions on huge disparities in wealth distribution and flaw in democracy, to name a few.

We need such uprisings again, this time to reform the United Nations. If the permanent five are unwilling to cause a change, perhaps a new international organisation should be introduced to replace the United Nations. After all, even the UN is a replacement to the failed League of Nations. This however should be the last resort as creating a new international organisation is not that easy.

I’m sick of this never-ending peace talk between Israel and Palestine. We need to stop it once and for all. Palestinians have the right to live and Israelis have the right to defend themselves. And above all, this is a conflict of humanity, not a conflict of Islam-Judaism.

MH17; Who Shot It Down?

Russians are worse off now, especially after the “phase-three” economic sanctions by the United States and European Union are now unleashed.  The purported “phase-one” started after the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and the most recent sanctions were induced by the downing of MH17, a Malaysia-based civilian airliner allegedly by pro-Russian rebels. However rather surprisingly, Russia’s oil industry is be subjected to any sanctions directly. Surprised? Well, since one-third of Europe’s consumed oil comes from Russia, European Union has no guts to sanction the Russian oil industry as it will pose systemic risk to EU’s already struggling economy. How opportunistic!

Whilst the initial exercise of economic sanctions could be justified, the reason for the latest sanction is very much doubted. Before I even start, I wish to stress that I am neither a Russian apologist nor a supporter of Putinism. But looking at the pace where Russia is made a scapegoat before a full-scale investigation concludes, creates suspicion whether the US and European Union are trying to engage in a “zero-sum game”.

The international team tasked with the thorough investigation at the crash site has barely started its work. Theories and speculations are running wild on the possible causes that have killed almost 300 innocent lives on their flight en route to Kuala Lumpur. Any interested souls can have a simple browse on the Net regarding MH17, only to find almost 90% of articles in international news portal pointing their finger to Russia and its brutal honchos, the rebels in eastern Ukraine.

The fact that these sources of information, may it be by news portal or even from the “official sources” are mostly Western-backed or pro-Western mediums. Thus, by reading such sources, readers can be easily fooled into believing that the Russians are the ones behind this mishap. I am not suggesting that the Western news sources are all bad, but the question is “how reliable is their reporting?”. The Ukrainian intelligence unit has released a purported leak conversation between the rebels and a Russian military officer. The validity of the “leaked tape” has since been debunked by a group of international experts. How true the “finding” of this group is, too is questionable. Similarly, a video showing a surface-to-air missile being transferred to the rebel-stronghold from the borders of Russia has also been declared as doctored.

Okay, so it seems that the Western forces are unleashing their propaganda machineries to out-win their arch-nemesis, the Russian Federation. But, Vladimir Putin does not just stand by and watch. He too, has engaged the Russian propaganda tools to influence the Russians that it is indeed Ukraine, which is responsible in shooting down the MAS airliner. A research by the Lezada Centre shows that 82% of Russians feel that the Ukrainian force is the black sheep behind the mishap.

Both sides are busy influencing the world that their rivals are actually responsible for the tragedy. But as always, the United States and its backers are winning the race. As expected, none is and never will be, accepting the blame as it would only lead to international condemnation. To all the ordinary men and women hoping for justice to be done for the victims, do not ever fall into the traps of these propagandists.

In this case, the biggest propaganda comes from the United States. Let’s just admit it; most of us have huge admiration for the Uncle Sam’s nation, making us easily believing whatever it says. For me, taking a retrospective view, the United States is one of the biggest spin-doctors the world has ever met. The previous governments of the United States, be it under the leadership of Democrat or Republican presidents, have frequently used false claims and fabricated news to make the Congress and the civilians agree on the need to enter into a war.

Remember Vietnam War? In order to combat and defeat the Communist forces of North Vietnam, the Lyndon Johnson administration fabricated a false mishap called the Gulf of Tonkin incident, in which it was claimed that the Communist North Viet Nam force has attacked the US’s sea destroyer. It was because of this lie, a resolution was passed in the Congress allowing the United States to fight the communist force.

Remember the First Gulf War and US’s Operation Desert Storm? Iraq pursued on a mission to annex Kuwait, only to be stopped by the United States’ interference. Ironically, the US has aided Iraq when the latter fought against the newly founded Islamic Republic of Iran from 1980 till 1988. To obtain approval from the Congress and the public to attack the Iraqi forces, the George Bush Sr. administration fabricated rumours by broadcasting a “revelation” by a nurse who claimed to work in a hospital in Kuwait. She alleged that the Iraqi forces brutally remove babies from incubators and threw them onto the floor, leaving them to tragic death. This was also later proven untrue.

Remember Operation Desert Fox in 1998? The Democrat Clinton-government initiated this CIA-led operation by attacking Iraq by making false claim that the freshly-defeated Saddam regime from the First Gulf War has been hiding its clandestine nuclear programme and not cooperating closely with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to dismantle its nuclear facilities. This fabricated claim helped to “legitimise” the airstrikes on Iraq by the Clinton government. This claim was later repudiated by Mohamed El Baradei, the Director General of IAEA, saying instead, the Iraqi government and its scientists have cooperated in bringing Iraq’s nuclear capacity within United Nation’s requirements. This was even mentioned in his book, “The Age of Deception”. The lie fabricated by United States has created distrust among Iraqis and Saddam himself, making it difficult or even impossible to verify Iraq’s nuclear capacity after the Operation.

Remember the invasion of Iraq in 2003 or the “Purple Revolution”? George Bush Jr. fabricated a claim that the Saddam regime was developing Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) programme and this will endanger the Western and worldwide population. This was the basic reason to topple the dictator Saddam. Although Saddam is not a public figure to be valued due to his atrocities, the actions of US to intrude a country by basing on false lies should never be supported.

I am not a US hater, but I urge the laypeople not to simply believe the information by the news providers, even if it is the CNN or BBC. Let us all wait for the end-result of the on-going international investigation (hopefully a neutral one). By the way, the Malaysian Premier, Mr. Najib Razak deserves plaudits for securing a deal with the separatists for a smooth investigation and return of the bodies and black boxes.