The petition appears on a BDS website too. This abbreviation stands for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions and is a Palestinian lobby organisation that was founded along the lines of the former Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM). BDS has also just criticised Qatar for allowing Israelis to take part in the World Swimming Championships in Doha: "The genocide of Palestinians continues in Gaza - and the enemy swims in Doha".
"The enemy swims ..." BDS, traditional left-wing ideologies, hatred of Israel, anti-Semitism, justified criticism of the bombing of Gaza – everything is blurred here. Some even speak of "Israeli fascism".
Wasn't it Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov who was the first to claim in October 2023 that if Russia was banned from the Olympics, then the same must now apply to Israel?
"This is, of course, outrageous," said Lavrov. "Once again we see an example of the bias and ineptitude of the International Olympic Committee, which time and again proves its political bent."
Well, monsters like Lavrov use every opportunity to sow their evil seeds. Lavrov is a serial liar, a criminal. A perpetrator who wants nothing more than to divide, unsettle, stultify and destroy. His mendacious argumentation follows the classic propaganda pattern of whataboutism.
And this whataboutism doesn't just catch on with right-wingers, but is also wonderfully effective on the left and extreme left spectrum – even in democratic nations.
Before we take a closer look at these arguments and the calls for a boycott, let me say this, because if I don't make a note of it, people will say that I am an old, white European racist who is only interested in Ukraine but doesn't care about the innocent Palestinian victims. Journalists like me, I've read that too, are supposedly following some imaginary order from Washington. You may already realise how stupid and false and dishonest it all is. It's just as stupid as the false assertion I've also had to read in such articles that no pro-Palestinian demonstrations are allowed to take place in Germany, where I live.
The truth is: those who celebrate terrorism and practise anti-Semitism are breaking German laws. That's all it's about.
Every innocent victim is one too many. Every exhaled life is to be regretted, whether it is a Palestinian, a citizen of Israel, Ukraine, another country or a deplorable, poorly trained and ill-equipped Russian sent to war by Vladimir Putin and Lavrov.
We can certainly agree on that. So on that basis we can look at some patterns of argumentation.
The DiEM25 appeal "Suspend Israel from International Sports" has so far allegedly been signed by more than 46,000 people. One of the founders of this organisation is the former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis. I search in vain for references to Hamas' bestial act of terror on 7 October 2023 in the petition and the supplementary statement.
Varoufakis wrote on Twitter/X, promoting the boycott: "Suspend Apartheid Israel from International Sports. Like we once suspended Apartheid South Africa."
Background on the BDS movement: Back on 17 May 2019, the German parliament adopted a cross-party motion entitled: "Resolutely countering the BDS movement – combating anti-Semitism". Large sections of left-wing MPs, including some Greens, voted against it. The resolution states, among other things:
For years, the "Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions" movement (abbreviated to BDS) has also been calling for a boycott of Israel, Israeli goods and services, Israeli artists, scientists and athletes in Germany. The all-encompassing call for a boycott leads The radical nature of the all-encompassing call for a boycott leads to the branding of Israeli citizens of the Jewish faith as a whole. This is unacceptable and must be strongly condemned.
The arguments and methods of the BDS movement are anti-Semitic.
The campaign's calls for a boycott of Israeli artists and the stickers on Israeli goods to discourage people from buying them are also reminiscent of the most horrific phase of German history. "Don't Buy" stickers of the BDS movement on Israeli products inevitably evoke associations with the Nazi slogan "Don't buy from Jews!" and corresponding graffiti on facades and shop windows.
The German Bundestag condemns all anti-Semitic statements and attacks,
which are formulated as supposed criticism of the policies of the State of Israel but are in fact an expression of hatred towards Jewish people and their religion, and will resolutely oppose them.
Now back to the appeal to ban Israel from the Olympics. Keeping quiet does not help. You have to deal with it. Above all, international sport has to deal with it. But that is not really happening.
The appeal begins with the request:
