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Comment by AzzieElbab | Hacker News Reader

BDS is going a bit beyond criticism.

Does nobody remember the backlash against France for not participating in the wars in the Middle East? Companies publicly boycotted French products and went to the extent of replacing the word "French" with "Freedom" in words like "French fries" or "French toast".

Boycotting Jewish companies (for being owned by Jewish people) is antisemitic, but the goal of BDS is boycotting Israeli companies over accusations against the Israeli government the same way e.g. the US sanctions Iranian companies over accusations against the Iranian government.

There is nothing wrong with boycotting Israel or any other country for a reason of your choosing. The problem with BDS is its complete dishonesty, it passes ongoing armed conflict for something else.

The "BDS movement" is not an organization and does not have a sharp boundary, but insofar as it has something vaguely like a boundary, the vast majority of the people inside of it are not engaged in armed conflict against Israel, are not supporting armed conflict against Israel, and never have been.

Even if the majority of them were, the defining issue for BDS itself is not doing business with Israeli entities. Not doing business is not armed conflict. For you to have a point, they would have to somehow using the boycott itself to aid in shooting up the place. That doesn't even pass the laugh test.

So? Everyday people want to "BDS" China for their human rights abuses, Russia for their territorial and cyber aggression. There are countries in the world doing shitty things in the eyes of some, and those people and orgs sometimes call for political and economic pressure to be applied.

Why should the government be able to punish individuals who voice such opinions, excepting diplomatic or national security roles?