While the international boycott against apartheid South Africa is credited with leading to the regime’s downfall,
here it is considered irrelevant and unworthy of comparison.
Most people here are appalled at the notion that anybody beyond Israel’s borders would think to boycott their country,
products or universities.
Boycotts, after all, are viewed in Israel as illegitimate.
Anyone who calls for such a step is perceived as an anti-Semite and Israel-hater who is undermining the state’s very right to exist.
In Israel itself, those who call for a boycott are branded as traitors and heretics.
The notion that a boycott, limited as it may be, is likely to convince Israel to change its ways
– and for its own benefit –
is not tolerated here.