Consumer Boycotts

According to a Washington Post article it looks like the Israeli economy is heading towards catastrophe:

• "government spending and borrowing have soared, tax revenue has plummeted and credit ratings could take a hit"

• "the impact on Israel’s high-tech sector — the engine of the economy — is sobering"

- "Israel is spending treasure deploying more than 220,000 reservists into battle on average over the past three months and subsidizing their salaries. Many of these reservists are high-tech workers..."

- Israel "is also supporting 200,000 evacuees who have been displaced from Israeli villages along the Gaza border and the northern border with Lebanon"

- "tourism has flatlined"

- "construction, which ordinarily relies on Palestinian labor from the West Bank, has ground to a near-halt"

- "exports are down across the board"

- "reserve duty, displacement and knock-on effects of the war have idled as many as 20 percent of Israeli workers"

Article is behind a paywall, so I cut and paste a summary from a tweet.

What this does point to is that along with the problems listed by the WP the effects of a boycott right now will be deeply felt.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/12/31/gaza-war-costs-israel-economy/

The full FAQ for anyone who is interested
https://www.benjerry.com/about-us/media-center/opt-statement

I dont think this is boycotting but Ben and Jerry's will no longer be operating or selling their products in the occupied territories.

This is from the faq's on their website explaining why
We’re a values-led company with a long history of advocating for human rights, and economic and social justice. We believe it is inconsistent with our values for our product to be present within an internationally recognised illegal occupation.

thanks for confirming. I guess those ones weren't directed @Desertrose2023 then after all.

This one.

both your messages were directed @Desertrose2023 with that poster's name quoted.

@Desertrose2023 given that you are encouraging people to boycott Starbucks in your OP, what do you make of the post celebrating the Hamas bulldozer that appears to have kicked it off?

Are you going to answer this, @Desertrose2023 ? This is your thread, your call to boycott.

I wasn't expecting a response, btw. I know exactly why not.

I asked anyone who is boycotting Starbucks to respond. There were plenty about at the start of the thread.

I'm angry that people are being called upon to boycott a company and that people are being intimidated in the streets, shops are being vandalised and presumably shop workers are losing wages based on a totally bullshit reason. That people are being lied to.

I don't need any company to discredit BDS for me, they have totally discredited themselves with their dishonesty.

@noblegiraffe respectfully, please refrain from the personal attacks. If a poster chooses not to engage it might be to do with feeling harrassed. I note you've tried to ask for a response several times. And when the other posters don't reply you leave a disrespectful comment about "brains falling out".

I'd also like to add that some of the organisations people posted above attempting to discredit BDS did not appear to be free from controversy themselves (see earlier in the thread for one example). So it definitely works both ways.

@Trulywonderful could you please send me some links to these "non-iffy" organisations you are referring to?

Would love to know what is deemed suitable in your opinion.

The pattern is caused by people posting links or articles from organisations or media that have made it clear there aim is the dismantled of Israel. There are organisations that promote peace and fight for the rights of Gazens not by twisting the truth or editing videos to look like something they are not. If you choose to link to campaigns or organisations that are iffy people will call them and you out on it.

You can easily boycott businesses or organisations that back the Israeli government without following a list from some iffy campaign. However you chose to promote the iffy stuff. It is as simple as that.

@stomachameleon I'm afraid we will have to agree to disagree.

Are you personally perfect? Does that mean your criticisms and experience should be automatically invalid?

For example let's take Amnesty, Human Rights Watch and so on - they do so much good work. To write off everything they say seems iffy to me.

When you find yourself railing against human rights organisations like Amnesty or whatever surely you have to wonder a bit. Or at the very least address their criticism.

Otherwise it just seems like an extreme form of cancel culture or censorship.

But I respect your right to disagree. And that is all I will say.

@sailingdriving I don't think that's true actually. I can tell you why most specifically have an issue with those companies/ charities/ people you list and 'some pm's' is not specific.

I haven't got an issue with anyone having valid Criticisms of Israel and there are some to be had but they need to come from a place on non bias and non agenda.

Which I am afraid some of those do not.

I just think it's quite telling when there's a pattern of tearing apart or attempting to delegitimise every single individual or organisation that speaks out. It is even here on this thread.

Not that I am saying all that criticism is always wrong but that the people tearing apart never address what those people are actually saying, just tear them apart.

It just feels like censorship to me.

Are you going to answer this, @Desertrose2023 ? This is your thread, your call to boycott.

@sailingdriving

have seen this with Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, The Red Cross, Al Jazeera, United Nations, BDS founder or countries or PMs that are critical of Israeli govt and so on in an endless list.

For most of those I think the Criticism is valid. I agree others not so much though.

And another thing I wanted to say that I have noticed is every single news source, organisation, country or person that is critical of Israeli govt policy gets attacked and lots of people attempt to discredit it.

I have seen this with Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, The Red Cross, Al Jazeera, United Nations, BDS founder or countries or PMs that are critical of Israeli govt and so on in an endless list.

I'm not suggesting all these people or organisations are free from bias or pure but a lot of news sources and highly respected organisations or individuals are being routinely dismissed, attacked and even smeared and I think it comes from a place of wanting the criticism of the Israeli govt to stop, or trying to delegitimise what they are saying, rather than from listening to what they are saying, some of which has validity.

We can’t honestly believe that every single thing all of these people or organisations is false or unable to be taken seriously. The truth lies likely somewhere in between.

And if even a fraction of what is presented by them is truthful it’s really scary and almost scarier that they are being attempted to be censored.

So whilst I won't believe every single criticism on either side is valid, I don't think it is fair to discredit everything from one source or organisation or try to write it off in its entirety.

And I want to wish you all a happy new year despite the arguing and differences of opinion. I hope we can all work together for peace. I will try to listen better to both sides in the coming months.

In fairness to @sailingdriving you did say that Israeli Arabs have the same rights as Jewish people and then rowed back on it, talking about 2 steps forward etc once evidence was presented that contradicted your initial statement.