Oh, The Irony

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Another epic BDS fail.

The University of Denver’s branch of Students for Justice in Palestine decided to build a new website in order to disseminate its call for a boycott of Israel.

However, the creators of the website failed to realize that the company they used to build the site, Wix, is an Israeli company that provides a free platform for web development.

Another website, Israellycool.com, noticed the ironic BDS fail and reported about it, before the Students for Justice in Palestine website was taken down to be replaced with an error message.

Two years ago, the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland (ZF) discovered that “pro-Palestinian” activists who promote the Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment (BDS) movement against Israel used Wix to create their websites.

ZF pointed out two websites run by anti-Israel groups which used Israeli technology: The website of the Cornell University branch of “Students for Justice in Palestine”, and the “Palestinian Holocaust Museum” website, which presumably is opposed to any recognition of Israel since it promotes the baseless assertion that Zionists have committed genocide against Palestinian Arabs.

Activists who call to boycott Israel or Israeli products are often reminded that if they truly wanted to boycott Israel they would have to avoid using a whole slew of technologies invented by Israelis.

In 2011, when a woman in South African called for a boycott of a local pharmacy chain because it sold Dead Sea products made in Israel, the chain’s CEO responded with the following:

“f it is your intention to boycott Israeli products, you need to be consistent if your gesture is to have any meaning. I hope you don’t use an Intel chip in your computer with which you probably wrote your e-mail because it was invented in Israel.

“I hope that you stay in good health because if you need preventative surgery against a heart attack, you will have to boycott the procedure because guess what? The stent was invented in Israel!

“Likewise, I hope you are never prescribed any patch for diabetes, to deliver medication and other drugs. If you are an asthmatic you may have to use a new type of inhaler (Spin) invented in Israel. So please check!

“Israel has given the world the system of drip irrigation which is being widely adopted in SA with water shortages like many countries. Should you boycott all fruit and vegetables grown by this method? The list that Israel has given the world is very lengthy. Check very carefully what you boycott.”

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/204025#.Vlj-zflViko

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"However, the creators of the website failed to realize that the company they used to build the site, Wix, is an Israeli company that provides a free platform for web development."

Embarrassing

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"However, the creators of the website failed to realize that the company they used to build the site, Wix, is an Israeli company that provides a free platform for web development."

Embarrassing

To say the least.

All this at a time when Israel is actually getting closer to some gulf states -

The Foreign Ministry confirmed a Haaretz report Friday that Israel will in the coming weeks open an office in Abu Dhabi accredited to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

According to the report, also confirmed by the ministry, Foreign Ministry Director-General Dore Gold was in the United Arab Emirates capital this week taking part in IRENA's biannual meeting and also discussing the opening of the Israeli mission.

While in the past Israel has had trade delegations in Qatar, Oman, Morocco and Tunisia, this would be the first time Israel would have any type of formal presence in the UAE.

Officials stressed that the mission is a representation to IRENA, and not a bilateral embassy to the UAE. It would be similar to a country without diplomatic relations with the United States opening a mission to the UN in New York.

Nevertheless, the opening of the mission comes at a time when both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Gold have spoken about a unique confluence of interests between Israel and the moderate Arab states who are facing similar threats: Iran and radical Islam.

Foreign Ministry officials confirmed that Israeli diplomat Rami Hatan will head the delegation.

IRENA describes itself as an intergovernmental organization – with some 144 full members – that supports countries in their transition to a sustainable energy future. It was created six years ago, and on two occasions since then – in 2010 and 2014 – Israeli ministers attended an IRENA conference in Abu Dhabi.

Silvan Shalom, then Israel's Energy, Water and National Infrastructures Minister, attended the conference in 2014 and told The Jerusalem Post at the time that Israel wanted to see a permanent Israeli delegate based in Abu Dhabi as a permanent representative to IRENA.

“We would like to have full representation here,” Shalom said at the time. “Every country has a mission with diplomats who live here. When they came to the decision to move the headquarters to Abu Dhabi, they made sure with the authorities that they would give every country the option to be here – to be here not only for the convention but to be here permanently.”

http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/Foreign-Ministry-confirms-Israel-will-open-office-to-international-org-in-Abu-Dhabi-435561

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some more on BDS antics:

Any Israeli producer who wants to bring an artist over to the Holy Land can anticipate in advance the responses from pro-Palestinian organizations asking the artist to change their mind and cancel their visit.

When a big name is involved, there's a good chance they'll get an email from Roger Waters himself, asking that they forgo the planned performance and join the cultural boycott of Israel, led by the BDS movement. Most of the time, the Pink Floyd man's letters will become public.

But it seems that the way artists are contacted depends on the platform, and it's not reserved for mainstream acts alone. That's made clear by Patrick Losinski, producer of the Titans of Metal festival, which will take place in Tel Aviv in mid-December, bringing in famous metal bands from around the world. And along with the international musical guests comes the attention of boycott activists.

"To "Titans of Metal" participants: we are people from all around the world, asking participants of the Titans of Metal Festival to reconsider their concert in apartheid Israel, until Israel complies with international law and respects the rights of the indigenous Palestinian people," wrote BDS activists in a letter sent to the festival's participants, along with a public petition calling for the musicians to cancel their participation.

According to Losinski, four of the festival's participants have already talked to him, truly fearing for their lives. They're worried and rightfully so, he says, because the emails they get are very different from the publicized announcements. They receive direct threats against performing in Israel.

One email Losinski got said that people from Palestine threatened an artist, demanding that he boycott the concert. Another musician said that if the situation gets dangerous, he won't risk his life in order to come to Israel. He said that security must be assured, or he might have to cancel his trip due to force majeure.

Losinski told the musician that the BDS movement didn't have a presence inside Israel, and that it was comprised of 50+ year-old "intellectuals" and a few keyboard trolls. He said jokingly that over 50 concerts were held in Israel with more exposure, while they sit overseas and accuse the country of Nazism, responsibility for the atomic bomb in Hiroshima, and the rise of the inter-galactic empire.

Losinski further told prospective visiting artists that they should take example from the Rolling Stones, Art Garfunkel, and others among the 100+ strong group of artists who did perform in Israel in the last five years.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4728680,00.html