Alan M. Dershowitz writes that a targeted boycott of settlement products is “bigoted in effect if not in intent” (“Marching Together For Israel,” Opinion, April 11.) He goes on to liken such a boycott to Harvard’s limit on Jewish applicants. The writer is far off the mark on both assertions.
Our refusal to purchase products from Israeli settlements in the West Bank comes from a deep love of Israel and a firm understanding of its founding principles. We do not engage in targeted boycotts of China or Russia because we are a Zionist organization and our primary and unique concern is Israel’s well being as a democratic state committed to the Jewish values of equality and social justice for all.
The writer claims that he is also “a strong supporter of the two-state solution,” and yet he has no qualms about financially supporting one of the core obstacles to an agreement. That the Palestinian Authority has not yet reached an agreement with Israel does not legitimize either the occupation nor illegal settlement growth, and when the writer compares our policies to anti-Semitic policies, like Harvard’s past Jewish quota, he dilutes and obscures the real meaning of anti-Semitism.
Acting Executive Director, Partners for Progressive Israel
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