A Black Agenda Radio commentary by executive editor Glen Ford It is a given that the U.S. national security state is engaged in surveillance, infiltration and disruption of the emerging Black Lives Matter movement, but they have doubtless been joined by the Israelis, who have launched a global digital war against supporters of the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement. "The Israelis have already targeted, and made to disappear, web pages that are linked to BDS websites."
Black Lives Matter Take Note: Apartheid Israel Targeting Everyone that Questions Its âLegitimacyâ A Black Agenda Radio commentary by executive editor Glen Ford âIn addition to the dirty tricks and hyper-surveillance of the U.S. national security state, activists are also in the crosshairs of the Israeli secret services.â
The Israeli government is pouring $26 million and tasking many of its secret service scientists and dirty tricks operatives to wage a digital war against BDS â the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement. An Associated Press article, picked up by AlterNet , reports the Israelis have already targeted, and made to disappear, web pages that are linked to BDS websites. An Israeli corporate executive said the mission is to dismantle the digital infrastructure of groups in Europe, the United States and South America that Tel Aviv considers to be anti-Semitic. The Israeli government position is that everyone that supports the BDS movement is anti-Semitic, because they want to âdelegitimizeâ the Zionist state.
Hillary Clinton agrees with Israel. In a letter to a billionaire fundraiser, Clinton said, âI know you agree that we need to make countering BDS a priority,â and she promised to help âfight back against further attempts to isolate and delegitimize Israel.â Clinton has collaborated in Israeli cyber wars before. She was Secretary of State in 2010 when the Stuxnet program , a joint U.S. and Israeli digital assault against Iranian centrifuges, was discovered. This time around, the cyber war will not be targeting Iran, or the Chinese, but Americans, Europeans and anyone else that challenges the âlegitimacyâ of the worldâs sole surviving colonial apartheid state. American supporters of the BDS movement cannot expect that their rights to free speech and association will be protected by Democrats or Republicans in Washington â not when it comes to the "legitimacy" of Israel.
Decent Humankind vs. Israeli Apartheid
The emerging movement that goes under the heading of Black Lives Matter should take note. In addition to the dirty tricks and hyper-surveillance of the U.S. national security state, activists are also in the crosshairs of the Israeli secret services. Israel was white-ruled South Africaâs closest military ally for the simple reason that they were both white settler, apartheid states rooted in an ideology of ethnic supremacy. In 1975, the Zionist regime in Tel Aviv offered to sell the white regime in Pretoria nuclear weapons âin three sizes .â The Israelis feared that, should white minority rule collapse in South Africa, Israel would be the only apartheid regime left standing on the planet. They could no longer claim to be, at least, not quite as bad as South Africa. But, as Bishop Desmond Tutu and others have concluded, apartheid Israel is actually worse than apartheid South Africa, both in its genocidal policies against the Palestinians, and as a constant threat to the survival of the planet.
The term âillegitimateâ doesnât comes close to describing a state that is an affront, an insult, to the very notion of civilization. All decent people must oppose Israeli apartheid. Unfortunately, Beyonce and Jennifer Lopez and Lisa Keys are not decent people; they have no problem performing in Israel. The Congressional Black Caucus is not composed of decent people; their junkets to Israel are must-attend events, and they joined with all the other members of Congress in a Resolution in support of Israel at the moment the apartheid regime was slaughtering thousands of Palestinians in Gaza. But, a Black Lives Matter movement must be decent â and internationalist. And, to that extent, its activists will be targeted by the worldâs last apartheid state.
For Black Agenda Radio, Iâm Glen Ford. On the web, go to BlackAgendaReport.com.
This weekâs featured scholar is Ayodeji Ogunnaike. Ogunnaike is an assistant professor at Bowdoin College where he teaches interdisciplinary courses on Africa and the African Diaspora highlightingâŚ
The electoral system alone doesn't bring about change that benefits the people. People-centered political formations must be part of any political process.
The U.S. remains committed to its efforts at securing hegemonic control of the world, but as always there is resistance domestically and internationally. The Black Alliance for Peace explains in itsâŚ
As Egypt plays host to COP27, Y.Y.H. Al-Askar â writing under a pseudonym â draws attention to the plight of the tens of thousands of political prisoners in Egypt.
Colombiaâs first-ever left-wing leader Gustavo Petro took a historic trip to Venezuela, pledging regional unity following the anti-imperialist model of SimĂłn BolĂvar. Meeting with President NicolĂĄsâŚ
