BDS street drama in Vienna: Harmless play or deadly reality?

Imagine walking down the street in your own country and suddenly coming across two Israeli soldiers pointing rifles at a terrified Palestinian man who is begging for mercy.

It would probably take a split second to realize the scene wasn’t real, but instead a street drama acted out by pro-Palestinian campaigners.

However, the damage done in a split second can last a lifetime. The image of these evil, murderous Israeli soldiers is now embedded in your mind. The feelings of terror, horror, disgust.

This street drama took place last month in the Austrian capital of Vienna. Right in the middle of the main city square, BDS activists dressed up as IDF soldiers and played out a mock execution of a Palestinian man.

Some may try to justify this street act. It’s just an artistic expression that makes a political point. It doesn’t do any real harm. But you only need to look at Jewish history to see that these sorts of ‘artistic expressions’ are truly deadly.

Throughout the ages, the most brutal and murderous attacks on Jewish people have been stirred up by anti-Semitic caricatures in plays, books, and cartoons. Adolf Hitler understood this when he gave out thousands of free children’s books to German schools depicting Jewish people as devious and wicked.

Of one thing, there’s no doubt. This despicable, hate-filled street drama reveals BDS for what it really is. The Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions movement is no objective, humanitarian organization. It is a campaign fuelled by anti-Semitism and lies, which sets out to spread poisonous beliefs about Israel and the Jewish people. BDS brainwashing and distortions are not just dangerous for the Jews, but for society as a whole.

Jews in Nazi Germany didn’t leave the country when the anti-Semitic cartoons began. They never dreamt that something as depraved as the Holocaust could happen in a modern enlightened European country. Less than a hundred years later, even after all the evils of the Holocaust, our thinking is just the same.

What harm can a little street act in Austria really do? This is Europe we’re talking about. The civilized and cultured city of Vienna.

While it’s true that the Austrian parliament declared BDS anti-Semitic just a few months ago, the reality is that the movement continues to operate in the country.

We need to wake up. Anti-Semitism is alive and growing in Europe as well as around the world. We need to take a stand now and see BDS for the murderous movement it really is. We need to stop tolerating anti-Semitism in our streets, our media and anywhere else it raises its ugly head.

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