Rich Forer writes:

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and other pro-Israeli occupation organizations have mounted a campaign to discredit the American Studies Association (ASA) for its resolution in support of the academic boycott of Israel. I recently wrote a very short response to this hysterical campaign. Here it is:

Defenders of the Israeli government’s relentless dispossession of the Palestinian people accuse the ASA of anti-Semitism, based on the latter’s resolution endorsing the academic boycott of Israel.

Despite the fact that the ASA made clear that it opposes “all forms of racism, including anti-Semitism”, these defenders claim the ASA is not only attempting to delegitimize Israel, it is seeking, ultimately, to destroy Israel. Their cries of victimhood are utterly transparent, for in their fabricated and spiteful accusations, as well as in their denial of Israeli human rights abuses, it is they who are attempting to delegitimize the ASA and it is they who are seeking to destroy an entire people.

By their very nature, actions intended to dehumanize, humiliate and oppress the “other” automatically delegitimize the perpetrator, for they link him with other perpetrators throughout history whose behaviour caused immense suffering and reduced to ashes the innocence, the hopes and the dreams of millions.

By reflexively attacking groups and individuals, who yearn for equality and freedom for all peoples, including Jews, Israel’s defenders make it possible for Israel, in the name of the Jewish people, to carry out its inhumane agenda. In short, Israel and its defenders incite anti-Semitism and then claim that the world is anti-Semitic.

The irony is that by supporting behaviour that brings the world’s anger down upon Israel, these defenders are reinforcing and perpetuating their very own self-created cycle of perceived victimhood.