Emile Scheffel is a fourth-year political science student and a member of Carleton's Israel Awareness Committee. He said he is pro-Israel, pro-Palestinian, and pro-peace.

Ask the average Canadian what result they'd like to see in the long, bloody Arab-Israeli conflict, and I suspect they'd say: peace.

I think the average Carleton student feels the same way, and hopes for a just and peaceful reconciliation between Israel and its Arab neighbours.

Ask me, and I'd wish for a safe, secure Israel next door to a viable, prosperous and democratic Palestinian state.

Unfortunately, these views are not shared by Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA), or their fellow members of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against the world's only Jewish state.


Let's be clear on what these people are all about.

Take the case of a little Montreal shoe store called Le Marcheur.

For months now, this family-owned small business has been the target of weekly protests by anti-Israel boycotters, who are trying to shut the shop down for carrying a few pairs of Israel-made BeautiFeel shoes.

The protests were finally suspended at the end of January, after one protest group accused the other of racism.


Go back a little further in BDS history, and we encounter the example of Mountain Equipment Co-Op, a Canada-wide outdoor outfitter that faced boycott calls for stocking Israeli-made underwear.

In 2009, MEC's membership voted by a wide margin to ignore the boycott calls and keep selling the offending undergarments.

That same year, the United Church of Canada also rejected an anti-Israel boycott resolution at its national council.


The bottom line is the BDS movement is losing its fight in mainstream society.

Its principles and initiatives have been condemned by every major federal political party, and by the Ontario Legislature.

Canadians of all stripes have lined up to oppose this vicious, morally bankrupt gong show.

And let's not forget the wise words of American R&B artist Macy Gray on her Facebook profile, after BDS groupies tried to convince her not to perform in Israel: “Some of you so called boycotters are just assholes.”


Why? Because BDS, and by association SAIA, are not about peace.

They're not about talking things through, they're not about seeking compromise between opposing sides, and they're certainly not about promoting human rights.

They are about the economic, social, and cultural isolation of Israel.

They're about demonizing and delegitimizing the very existence of Israel – and thus the right of Jewish people to live together in their historic homeland.

Human rights and social justice are just words they use as weapons in this perverse and disturbing campaign.


SAIA's latest tactic is centred on the idea of socially responsible investing.

For them, this means boycotting companies whose international operations include Israel, the Middle East's largest economy.

But here's a thought: investing in Israel is one of the most socially responsible decisions a company, or a university, could make.

It means investing in a global leader in clean energy and green technology.

It means investing in the only Middle Eastern country where women, minority ethnic groups, and GLBTQ citizens have equal rights.

It means investing in the only Middle Eastern country where Jews, Muslims, and Christians all live together in relative harmony.

It means investing in a tiny, progressive, democratic light amid a vast expanse of violent, tyrannical gloom.


If SAIA and its allies object to Israeli government policy, why take action by boycotting businesses, universities, and cultural organizations? Let's stop beating around the bush.

These groups have one simple goal, and that's to see Israel gone.


Their strategy is division – so let's fight back by uniting.

Their tactics are dishonest – so let's respond with the truth.

Their goals are heinous – so let's all dig into our common decency, and expose them for who they really are.

That's how peace is reached.