Boycotting the products of a commercial bully that bullies its employees is a time honored way of bringing pressure when power is unavailable to victims. Consumers boycotted grocery stores refusing to recognize the United Farm Workers in the sixties. Divestment of invested funds is another way; many US concerns divested from South Africa over Apartheid. Sanctions are government actions, like the sanctions against Iran. Sanctions did not work against Britain in the 18th Century but they did pave the way for the American Revolution. Regardless of form, the idea is these pressures are applied to bullies as a means to get them to stop bullying.
What does it mean when the bullies are doing the boycotting?
Since 2005 the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement – according to the American Center for Law and Justice – has been a “coordinated form of invidious discrimination (based on race, ethnicity, nationality, and religion)…aimed at delegitimizing and vilifying Israel across the globe.” This movement claims to speak for marginalized people in the so-called “occupied territories” of Palestine. In reality any movement that operates globally can hardly be considered oppressed; this one is heavily funded and supported by the nations dedicated since 1947 to eradicating Israel. The ACLJ documents multiple University of California campuses in which student government has voted to divest from Israeli interests while students celebrate with shouts of “Allahu Akbar,” shouting down and harassing Jewish students. When the so-called victims are suppressing the free speech of the so-called bullies it looks a lot like men calling evil good and good evil.
When are victims not really victims? When they are the ones doing the bullying.
The Divestment movement represents people who fire rockets into Israeli civilian areas on a regular basis while kidnapping and murdering Israeli children. The Israelis warn civilians to leave the intended target areas. They provide much of the water and all the electricity to their enemies, as well as materials for building homes that Hamas uses to build attack tunnels.
The people calling for boycott, divestment, and sanctions are clearly the bullies. This is especially true when that organization represents hundreds of millions of oil rich militants dedicated to the destruction of less than ten million people trying to survive their first century in millennia as an independent nation.
These bullies cobbled together an 8-2 vote in the UN Security Council to recognize Palestine as a state even though it fails internationally accepted criteria for nationhood. Only Australia and the US voted no, with enough cowardly nations such as Britain abstaining to deny them a majority. They have gotten the Roman Catholic Church to recognize their claims despite their history of murder and turning the Temple site in Jerusalem into a slum when it was under their control prior to 1967. They have the US State Department condemning Israel for building settlements on its own land and the UN subsidizing their operations. Make no mistake; they are the bullies.
But the bullies themselves – and their student sympathizers – are not the real problem here. The real villains in this twisted excuse for reality are lukewarm Christians, in America and elsewhere, those Jesus says He will spew from His mouth at the same time He gives His life on the Cross for the ones who openly hate Him and His people.
The lukewarm are the pastors who refuse to address volatile issues for fear of losing members. They are the lay people who send e-mails to their friends who stand up for Israel telling them there is nothing to be done for Israel – so far away – exhorting them to focus instead on helping single moms and teenagers with questions about God. Truth is our Lord Yeshua Hamashiach – Jesus Messiah – exhorts us to care for the helpless without neglecting the weightier matters, beginning with His firstborn. We cannot provide lasting benefit for anyone without sharing God’s great love for His first-loved.
The lukewarm are Christians who buy into replacement theology – the notion that God abandons the Jews. A review of Romans 9-11 will quickly put the kibosh to this perverted doctrine. A fresh look at Zechariah 10-14 will remind readers of how the Lord’s worldwide blessing is filtered through Israel. And a prayerful look at Zechariah 8:23 – ten men grabbing hold of one Jew to be escorted into the Presence – reveals seeking a privilege rather than making a pronouncement. This is good news because the lukewarm need not remain in that condition. Repentance is a clear and present opportunity and only good will come of it.
In the meantime, if we are going to boycott, let’s target the real bullies.
James A. Wilson is the author of Living As Ambassadors of Relationships and The Holy Spirit and the End Times – available at local bookstores or by e-mailing him at
