Electronic Intifada, Ali Abunimah, 04/24/2012
In a sign of growing desperation among anti-Palestinian groups, a New York Times ad published today likens the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement to the Holocaust.
“The Holocaust began with boycotts of Jewish stores and ended with death camps,” begins the ad, placed by notorious anti-African American and Islamophobic agitator David Horowitz.
Citing the murder of three Jewish children and a rabbi in Toulouse, France earlier this year, the ad says, “it is time for supporters of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) to ask themselves what they did to contribute to the atmosphere of hate that spawned these and other murders of Jews.”
Unsatisfied with blaming supporters of Palestinian rights in general of aiding and abetting murder, the ad names specific professors whom it holds responsible, and calls on them to be “publicly shamed and condemned for the crimes their hatred incites.”
The overwrought language in the advertisement is typical of Horowitz who has made a career out of such libelous accusations. It seems that no abuse or cheapening of the memory of Holocaust victims is too outrageous for anti-Palestinian crusaders such as Horowitz.
Acceptable?
The New York Times does have “Advertising Acceptability Guidelines” which state:
The Times may decline to accept advertising that is misleading, inaccurate or fraudulent; that makes unfair competitive claims; or that fails to comply with its standards of decency and dignity.
And:
In addition, an advertisement must sometimes be declined because of the applicability of laws dealing with such matters as libel, copyright and trademark, the right to privacy, the sale of securities, the sale of real estate and political advertising.
Some things do go too far for The Times. Last month the paper reportedly rejected an ad from Pamela Geller’s anti-Muslim hate group.
Apparently however, accusing specific individuals – effectively of responsibility for the murder of Jewish children in France – for supporting equal rights for Palestinians, does not cross any lines of deceny, dignity or accuracy for this newspaper of record.
Most, but not all, the names on the ad are of professors who have endorsed the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.
Horowitz: Black people should be grateful for slavery
As I wrote in last December, Horowitz has a record of the most vile racism and Islamophobia:
For those who have forgotten who Horowitz, the editor in chief and owner of FrontPage Magazine is, he has engaged in continuous campaigns against Muslims and African Americans. Ten years ago Horowitz notoriously ran ads in college newspapers across the country saying that black people should be grateful that their ancestors were slaves in America and in fact owed America a debt for slavery. The ads caused an outcry on campuses all over the United States.
More recently, Horowitz has defended Robert Spencer, another notorious bigot and inspiration for Norwegian mass killer Anders Breivik, as “a man of great courage and decency.”