Boycotting Israeli products/services

[the7Vabo]

I’m trying my best to support the boycott. For those doing the same - what products/services are you using instead?

The hardest one for me has been giving up on going to Disney Paris next year. I had planned it as a joint birthday present, kids will be the perfect age. But I can’t stand in Disney with my kids knowing they support a regime killing kids.

Any good alternatives to Disney, or any other brand on the list?

Pardon me? The tunnels were built from the rubble of buildings Israel bombed. The rockets are build from the 10-15% of bombs that Israel drops that failed to explode.

If you knew anything about the Israeli blockade on Gaza you would know that Israel has blocked cement from going into the strip for decades, denying even building permits to repair UNRWA schools it has damaged in the past with its bombing.

The only building materials that go in, go in with international aid groups that have Israeli permission to build something- hospital, housing etc and it is all inspected and monitored to ensure none of it ends up in the hands of Hamas.

Hamas have made choices yes’m, but these choices are very limited. You act like they can just import in concrete and weapons. They can’t. You ask where has billions in aid gone to like you dont know that 100% of monetary aid goes through Israel and is disbursed by Israel to the UN or other Aid agencies. The aid money spent by the UN and other agencies is still audited regularly by Israel and the donor governments- US, EU, AUS, U.K. etc and not once have they found any evidence of aid benefitting Hamas.

Hamas leaders & cronies have siphoned off huge amounts of aid to pay for their priorities & to enrich themselves.

NOT TRUE. Hamas has been funded by proxies with most coming from Iran via illegal funding for terrorism. Hamas has also gone around beating up Palestinians and taking ‘protection’ money from them- what Hamas calls taxes.

NO AID FUNDS have gone to Hamas.

I think Turkey would be a good choice being a Muslim country and ranking higher than the US on equality for women.

True.

@ConnieCounter well it was not my list was it - it was quoted from a link that I provided. It is mad though, isn't it how much Israel has given to the world unlike their neighbours next door!

Glad it gave you a good laugh and a warm fuzzy feeling about the items that Israel have brought to the world and how nobody on MN can do without them despite this ludicrous thread. 👋

@Scirocco so what nonsense and who are these usernames then?

Do be specific before spraying around inflammatory comments.

On the tunnels under Gaza, only a small % were built during the Hamas era. Gaza is an ancient city and has a 2,500 yr history of tunnels under it being used for warfare. Alexander the Great complained bitterly about the Gaza tunnels in 332 BC when he laid siege to Gaza, eventually conquering it.

The Gaza tunnels were still there and used to unsuccessfully fight off the Romans, Arabs, Ottomans and British. They have likely been expanded and repaired over and over through the centuries but that requires a fraction of the materials and secrecy needed to build new tunnels.

I did read that Hamas were responsible for building new tunnels from Gaza to Egypt in the early 2000s but that these tunnels were shut down and demolished from the Egytian side in 2013 under the Israel-Egypt security cooperation agreement and have not been reopened. It was in 2014 that Israel banned the import of all concrete into Gaza.

@Dulra seems to be an ageist comment.

Nevertheless, I would agree that recent posts commenting that "nonsense some usernames might try to spread" and " mad list" are indeed juvenile, petty posts by their very inflammatory nature.

Just like yours was.

Boycotting Israel punishes Israel for its decisions, it is not different from boycotts of Russia. It is something that we outside the region can do to try and get the government of Israel to make the right decision to agree to a ceasefire.

A boycott of Gaza would be ok by me to punish Hamas for its decisions too.
Unfortunately, there are no exports from or sales to Gaza to boycott. Gaza has been economically cut off since 2005 which is the primary cause of poverty, unemployment and food insecurity.

Gaza is also being collectively punished by the IDF rn for the decisions of Hamas so any kind of boycott even if it were possible would not make a difference to Hamas.

Opinions that imply that donating to humanitarian aid is tantamount to funding Hamas so people should boycott donating to organisations like UNICEF, USAID, WFK, etc, are built on allegations that Hamas steals monetary aid. Allegations that have been taken seriously and investigated repeatedly, but with no evidence ever found due to the very strict anti-terror funding laws in place.

Boycotting aid to Palestinians isn’t boycotting a single shekel that funds Hamas, its boycotting the necessities of life to civilians.

isn't it how much Israel has given to the world unlike their neighbours next door!

This is what I call juvenile and petty and pretty insulting to Palestinians

@Dulra well Israel HAS given an immense amount to the world. I did not specify which neighbours either so I fail to see why this was a petty, juvenile post.
It also does not seek to insult other users who just want to put their opinion out there without having posters use personal attacks to disagree.

So did the British Empire give an immense amount to the world, but that doesn’t mean the Empire was good overall. The advances the world benefitted from were done off the backs of millions of subjugated and oppressed peoples in addition to the more obvious atrocity of the slave trade.

It’s easy to give a lot to the rest of the world when you are rolling in cash and can take whatever you want from the people of territories you occupy. It didn’t make the British superior neighbours and it doesn’t make Israelis superior neighbours.

Considering the oppression, occupation and blockade, I think the number of highly educated Palestinians contributing to societies around the world is a pretty impressive contribution.

It's easy to give what seems to be a lot when you have a lot. It's hard to give even a small amount when you have very little to start with.

Bringing this back to boycotting and ethical consumerism, this is a principle that applies there too. It's easy for some of us to make lots of purchasing choices based on ethical views, but for some of us it isn't - people might need to buy what they can afford or what a child with specific needs will tolerate, for example. Some people are quick to say "all or nothing, or it's hypocrisy", but actually, everyone's efforts matter, whether those are big changes or small changes. If people do what they can, nobody should be shaming others for not being perfect.

Sorry but given there appears to be zero threads by Pro-Palestinian posters about boycotting other countries for certain reasons, I cannot take any of these posts seriously as I am not convinced of the conscious or unconscious ulterior motives of posters on this thread.

I won't be bothering any longer with this thread as what is the point when my opinions are regarded as nonsense, mad, petty and juvenile (deleted) because I happen to disagree.

I did not specify which neighbours either
Doesn't take a genius to work out who you meant.

Not sure the relevance of pointing out what good things isreal has contributed to the world. Whose disputing it?

I'll rephrase @keenforhelp your comment was juvenile and petty

@SugarandSpiceandAllThingsNaice

Are you trying to convince us that

a) the state of Gaza is 2,000 years old

b) the people there used rebar concrete to construct tunnels in the Roman period.

Your post is total nonsense.

Don’t be ridiculous. If the Israelis really wanted to "eradicate an entire people" they could have done so within weeks.

Gaza has been ruled by Hamas since 2005, when Israel withdrew. You know, Hamas - the group whose founding charter calls for the murder of all Jews (note: not just Israelis but all Jews). The group that persecutes gay people and severely limits the rights of women. (Ever noticed how few women there are in televised scenes of Gazan demonstrations etc.? They are at home doing the cooking, washing, childcare etc. so that the men can parade around with their guns looking macho.)

I do not support Netanyahu, but his funding for Hamas was because he wrongly thought it was a good idea to keep opposition to the existence of Israel fragmented.

Ever wondered why Egypt sealed its border with Gaza? Why none of the other Arab countries want to offer a home to the poor Palestinians, even the hugely oil-rich countries?

As for "return" of the "refugees" - how many of the people alive in Gaza today do you suppose ever lived in what is now Israel? Unfortunately many groups of people in the world have been displaced by others throughout history, but only the Palestinians seem to want to make that their identity. After WW2 there were hundreds of thousands of displaced people, including but not limited to Jews, who had been driven out of their home countries. So they made new homes for themselves and what was left of their families elsewhere, and built themselves new lives. They didn’t just cast themselves and their children and grandchildren as permanent victims.

Despite my dislike for Netanyahu I do agree with what he said: "If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more ‎violence. If the Jews put ‎down their weapons ‎today, there would be no ‎more Israel." But perhaps that’s what you want.

If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more ‎violence. If the Jews put ‎down their weapons ‎today, there would be no ‎more Israel.

• *that is simply a lie, have you not seen those crazy settlers and how they torment the Palestinians on a daily basis? Very often unprovoked? I mean they were only just setting fires to Palestinian olive trees yesterday.

@Buntycat

For reference to the above
20 settlers came today from the direction of the Yitzhar settlement and invaded the village of Burin. They burned agricultural land and olive trees, set fire to a car, and wounded several Palestinians. Soldiers who were nearby stood idly by and did not attempt to stop the crimes.

https://x.com/Yesh_Din/status/1803068793960137205?t=B97crBEtx1ajE1VahqaHrg&s=19

And this is almost daily attacks on the Palestinians, it is a totally false notion that 'Arabs' laying down their arms would mean there would be no more violence. The Palestinians face oppression and persecution on a daily basis, not only from the IDF but also from the settlers.

Many Palestinians have never picked up a weapon. They're still being murdered.

My friends who have been murdered in Palestine weren't holding weapons. My friend's 2 year old relative wasn't holding a weapon when an IDF bomb scarred them for life. The babies starving to death in Gaza definitely aren't holding weapons. They're all dying, all the same.

Yes, I don’t dispute that disgraceful events like this sometimes occur. I don’t defend them and disagree with the establishment of the West Bank settlements. But do you really believe that if the Israelis left the West Bank and laid down all arms, the surrounding Arab countries would leave the rest of Israel to thrive in peace? If you do, you are mighty naive.

I don't think occupying the West Bank and committing human rights abuses on a regular basis is particularly conducive to positive relationships with neighbouring countries. Would you rush to be friends with a neighbour who has a track record of 'annexing' and 'settling' parts of other people's land?

These aren't 'sometimes' events; they're regular events.

I think a withdrawal from the Occupied Territories and a commitment to establishing a two-state solution could go a long way towards stabilising the region.