Chasing Shadows: The Economic and Noneconomic Thrust of BDS

Authors

• Harry G. Hutchison, Regent University Law School

Abstract

Proponents of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, in combination with left-wing activists and progressive theorists, sustain themselves through perceived adversity with the mantra that the universe evolves toward justice, which, in turn, allows for a focused indignation on Israel for alleged abuses of the Palestinian people. In this account, Israel's conduct thwarts desirable human progress and deserves reproof Alternatively, ire erupts because Israeli Jews are being, well, Jews. Despite persuasive evidence showing the contention that the Arabs of Palestine and the Land of Israel possess the same legal rights as the Jewish people contradicts principles of international law, this crusade strives to impose direct and indirect costs on Israel as well as on nonIsraeli institutions that are implicated in ostensible human rights violations.

Still, a debate rages on whether or not domestic and international law principles, corporate fiduciary duties, investment fund managers'fiduciary duties, or the market itself are compatible with the BDS campaign. Nevertheless, this paper shows that it is doubtful that BDS proponents are consumed by the objective of imposing economic costs on Israel and hurting its economic interests in the short-run even though they surely welcome such effects. These observations about economic costs do not exhaust the goals, objectives, and effects of BDS. The real costs ofBDS surfaces along a parallel track that travels in tandem with the pursuit of economic goals: the evisceration ofIsrael's reputational interests. In the globe's current postmodern moment, where law and politics issue forth from an atomized culture inscribed with virtue signaling, BDS concentrates its fire on Israel's character and status to delegitimize the Jewish nation's existence in a world that simultaneously privileges grievances and victimhood. To the extent that humankind is progressively drawn to Nietzsche's hypothesis-that truth is simply a mobile army of metaphors-the prospects that this strategy will eventually inflict longterm harm on Israel increase.

Disciplines

Civil Rights and Discrimination | Comparative and Foreign Law | First Amendment | International Law | Law | Law and Politics | Legislation

Recommended Citation

Harry G. Hutchison, Chasing Shadows: The Economic and Noneconomic Thrust of BDS, 1 Cardozo Int’l & Compar. L. Rev. 205 (2018).
Available at: https://larc.cardozo.yu.edu/ciclr/vol1/iss2/2