Utopia, you are standing in it!

Here’s the latest installment in our ongoing series of posts documenting BDS fails.

Political 

German Protestant church cancels BDS event linked to Palestinian terrorism

The Protestant Church of Germany has canceled an event that was scheduled to feature two hardcore pro-BDS activists, one of whom has ties to fund-raising for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which the EU and the US have designated a terrorist organization.

“We at Church Day have a clear attitude and have therefore asked the @rosaluxstiftung to disinvite the controversial speakers or to cancel the event,” the church tweeted on Thursday. “The foundation has canceled the event planned for Friday.”

‘Jerusalem Post’ exposé leads to closure of BDS group’s bank account in Germany

After a series of Jerusalem Post investigative reports on the bank account of the pro-BDS group Jewish Voice for a Just Peace in the Middle East, the German Bank for…

Israeli academic Shany Mor provided some clarity on a major element of the Labour antisemitism scandal that’s typically ignored, even by those who’ve been the most outspoken in their opposition to the rise of Jew hatred under Jeremy Corbyn.

The IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism itself – which Corbyn tried unsuccessfully to resist – states clearly that “criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic”.

But, such regular criticism is not what Mor is referring to. 

He’s calling out, as central to the Corbyn ideology, the pathological, obsessive hatred of Israel, one which views the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a binary story of good and evil, and which views the Jewish state – indeed any Jewish state – as inherently (indeed, irredeemably) racist, and morally beyond the pale.  It’s this ideology – or, as Mor put it, theology – which invariably leads to the conclusion…

The other day I posted Steve Pinker’s discussion of his connections with convicted sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein, now facing additional charges in New York that will likely put him away for the rest of his life. Pinker, who had been accused of consorting with Epstein—indeed, of being complicit in Epstein’s crimes by ignoring them or not publicly criticizing the man—dispelled this idea, saying that he finds Epstein’s behavior, as revealed by the media and court documents, reprehensible.

Pinker added that he never liked Epstein, never took money from him, but did do one small task interpreting a statute for Alan Dershowitz, who was defending Epstein in his first set of charges (a task that Pinker now says he regrets). And Pinker sometimes found himself at meetings with Epstein, like Lawrence Krauss’s Origins Project anniversary celebration.

Pinker’s explanation, of course, was deemed insufficient, and I should have predicted that. Those determined…

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, like Ilhan Omar, is from Somalia.  Hirsi Ali underwent extensive Islamist brainwashing to make her hate Jews, which she describes in the article below from the Wall Street Journal. (It’s paywalled, but judicious inquiry might yield a copy.)

Hirsi Ali’s description of the Jew-hatred endemic in Islam, and how it’s drilled into you at every turn, is scary.  It happens at home, it happens in the mosques, it happens in the madrassas, and, since in countries like Somalia, Islam is both a personal faith and a public ideology, you can’t avoid it.

Say what you will about Judaism, the inculcated hatred of Muslims and Islam is not endemic in that faith. Sure, you can probably find instances of rabbis teaching others to despise Islam, but you’d be hard pressed to make the case that formal education in hatred of the “other” is equally pervasive in both Judaism…

Julian L. Simon was an economist who showed how capitalism and population growth have been hugely beneficial for the standard of living of people all over the world. His book The Ultimate Resource is highly recommended for all anarcho-capitalists. For those who have not read it and would like to hear the main ideas from the man himself, check out the following video interview:

For a more detailed introduction see: