Shylock post on social media exposes BDS anti-Semitism

NICOLA MILTZ

The post in question referenced William Shakespeare’s play, Merchant of Venice, using the famous writer’s despised Jewish character of Shylock – the stereotypical greedy, hook nosed, miserly Jew – as an analogy for the South African Jewish community.

“If the famous Williams (sp) Shakespeare had written his 1596-99 play, Merchant of Venice in this generation, he would have been accused of hate speech, condemned, sidelined, and declared a racist. That is because the play centred on a greedy and conscienceless Jewish money lender, Shylock, who insisted on slicing a pound of flesh from a debtor despite offers to pay him double the money he had advanced. A similar scenario played out in South Africa on 4 December when the Supreme Court of Appeal, stopped some racists organised under the South African Jewish Board of Deputies from taking a pound of flesh from Bongani Masuku, Head, International Relations, Congress of South African Trade Unions.”

This post was put out in response to the Supreme Court of Appeal’s (SCA) recent judgement in favour of Masuku, who was accused of hate speech. Masuku, in his capacity as international relations secretary of Cosatu, had on two previous occasions been found guilty of hate speech for inflammatory comments and threats he made against local Jewry who support Israel, and Jews on campus.

After having been found guilty and ordered to apologise, he took the matter on appeal and in a highly controversial and surprising move, the SCA upheld his appeal. The matter will now be appealed in the Constitutional Court.

Seeing this as a victory for its cause, BDS-SA welcomed the SCA judgement, thereby firmly aligning itself with Masuku, who amongst numerous utterances called at the time for the “perpetual suffering” of the Jewish community.

BDS-SA’s derogatory post was speedily removed when its handful of Jewish supporters complained that the organisation had gone one step too far down the slippery slope of Jew baiting.

So often accused of being anti-Semitic for its rabid and extreme criticism of Israel, BDS spends much time trying to convince the world that its condemnation of the state of Israel does not equate with anti-Semitism. As recently as last week, it posted a tweet saying, “BDS is not, and should never be confused with anti-Semitism. Rather, it is our moral consciousness put into action. Suggesting that BDS is synonymous with anti-Semitism invisibilizes Jews who are active in the BDS campaign.”

The organisation’s latest anti-Semitic post flies in the face of its continual attempt to appear to stand for human rights.

Acclaimed academic, author, and expert on anti-Semitism, Professor Milton Shain, described the post as “awful”.

He told the SA Jewish Report, “Although barrels of ink have been spilled as to whether Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice is a ‘blood-libel narrative’, the cartoon provided by BDS clearly raises the possibility that crude anti-Semitism has informed those responsible.”

Joey Schnide responded to BDS-SA’s Shylock post by saying, “Gonna preface this by saying I’m a very strong supporter of BDS and very much want the movement to succeed. That being said, this is absolutely disgusting. Beyond the fact that as a Jew this makes me feel ill to read, it’s also a terrible look for BDS. BDS is not inherently anti-Semitic and we already have to spend a ton of time making the case that we aren’t anti-Semites. Horseshit like this discredits our whole movement. If you care about the success of BDS or you (sp) Jewish allies, you should take this down immediately.”

Another tweet said, “Please help anti-Zionist Jews who support BDS. Please do not reproduce anti-Semitic tropes and rhetoric while officially representing BDS (or ever for that matter). I am ashamed that an official BDS page has shared something so disgustingly anti-Semitic.

“There are loads of anti-Zionist Jews who would be happy to help you see why this is truly vile, please reach out if you are unable to understand the problem here.”

Shain said the fact that the post and cartoon was removed – apparently at the behest of Jewish supporters of BDS – “shows how close to the border of Jew-hatred the cartoon and post sailed”.

“Money-lending, greed, the perversion of law, revenge, and the distinction between law and love all resonate deeply with Western tropes of anti-Semitism. This is hardly surprising. Insofar as the literature of BDS does not support Israel’s right to exist, it is arguably an anti-Semitic organisation. Of course, while I am aware that not supporting the idea of a Jewish state cannot axiomatically be considered anti-Semitic, it is extremely naïve to wish Israel away. Invariably, such sentiments tie in with anti-Semitism. An hygienic form of anti-Semitism, in other words. As the post and cartoon illustrate, many of the advocates of BDS hate Jews.”

The South African Jewish Board of Deputies criticised the post, saying, “It is ironic that an organisation that purports to stand for human rights would use an age old, vile, anti-Semitic stereotype in an effort to demonise SA Jewry.” By doing this, it said, it revealed its true anti-Semitic colours.

“According to BDS, our community is like Shylock, namely, ‘ruthless’, ‘vindictive’ and ‘merciless’,” said the Board.

British sociologist Dr David Hirsh criticised BDS, saying, “The core business of BDS is not as much about resolving the Palestinian-Israel conflict, as creating a hostile environment for SA Jewry. No amount of hiding behind ‘Jewish voices’ can excuse ongoing incidents of anti-Semitism, of which it has a long history.”

BDS-SA Chairperson Professor Farid Esack did not comment, in spite of attempts to reach him.