“The war against BDS on campus will only change when one student in one university decides that it’s time to stop this madness, go on the offensive and put BDS on trial instead of Israel. Until that happens, expect the same results.”

I was contacted last year by Jewish students from George Washington University who were preparing to defend Israel against a boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) resolution that night. The resolution demanded that the educational institution divest from all companies that do business with Israel.

The students sent me the resolution, and I knew that even reading it would be a waste of my time. I’ve already seen more than 100 of these cookie-cutter anti-Israel resolutions. (There have been 117 BDS resolutions at colleges and universities.) The GW proposal was no different.

The students wanted responses to all of the claims made against Israel. I said that continuing to defend the Jewish state against antisemitic BDS resolutions was a losing strategy and a major reason that we’re losing the BDS war on campuses.

BDS, which is led by Islamic fundamentalists and pushed forward by extreme-left progressive and Jewish groups, creates a narrative through lies that we continue to try to defend against. Each time they bring another anti-Israel resolution to a university, BDS gets a new forum in which to spread its vile propaganda.

The problem with BDS is reminiscent of the stereotypical loaded question: “Have you stopped beating your wife?” The question itself contains an assumption that is taken for granted: Whether you answer “yes” or “no,” you are admitting having beaten your wife. Similarly here, any response is simply giving credence to the lies that the BDS promoters are trying to propagate. We are not educating the other side nor influencing impartial bystanders. The debates only give a platform to promulgating the usual antisemitic tropes against Israel.

Read More: Algemeiner