Boris Johnson in Israel The London mayor is a little too honest for the West Bank Arabs
http://www.wsj.com/articles/boris-johnson-in-israel-1447376941
Boris Johnson got himself disinvited from several events in the West Bank this week. More’s the pity in a region that needs the sort of truth-telling with which the London mayor caused such a stir.
On a visit meant to boost trade ties with Britain, Mr. Johnson sought to reassure Israelis that the long-running boycott, divest and sanction movement against Israel in the West is not a majority position:
“I cannot think of anything more foolish than to say that you want to have any kind of divestment, sanctions or boycott against a country that, when all is said or done, is the only democracy in the region, is the only place that has in my view a pluralist, open society. Why boycott Israel?”
“And by the way,” he continued, “I think there’s some misunderstanding over here [in Israel] about it. The supporters of this so-called boycott are really just a bunch of corduroy-jacketed . . . lefty academics who have no real standing in the matter and I think are highly unlikely to be influential on Britain.”
This was too much for the Palestinian charities that pulled the plug on meetings with him later in the week. The Sharek Youth Forum canceled Mr. Johnson’s visit, describing his remarks as an “inaccurate, misinformed, and disrespectful statement” that “fails to acknowledge our very existence as Palestinians,” according to the Independent newspaper. Several other sessions were dropped as well.
The best we can say for these groups is that they might have been intimidated into shunning him for fear of running afoul of Palestinian political enforcers. More likely, they’re as infected with the kind of mindless hatred for Israel and its supporters that explains their own economic backwardness. Either way, the episode reinforces Mr. Johnson’s point about the virtue of defending the rare bastion of liberal values in the Middle East.
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