Daily Times

The Palestinian genocide has continued for 75 years now and social media has been a game changer. Brave Palestinian citizen journalists are live-streaming the death and devastation that the Israeli military is causing in Gaza. A handful of citizen journalists have defeated the carefully constructed narrative of the international media channels controlled by the Jewish Lobby. Westerners are seeing for the first time the truth about Palestine. Western media channels like CNN are now forced to show what has never aired before – namely the systemic abuse, humiliation and extermination of Palestinians.

Social media is showcasing how international brands such as Coca-Cola, KFC, Mcdonald’s, Zara, Disney etc are being boycotted for supporting Israel. Coca-Cola operates a factory on the land illegally occupied by settlers. KFC’s parent company invests in Israeli start-ups. McDonalds distributes free meals to Israeli soldiers. The Spanish clothing brand Zara used offensive images mocking Palestinian coffins in its latest advertising campaigns. Disney recently pledged $2 million to Israel and boycotted X (formerly Twitter) over its tweets supporting the Palestinians.

Gaza is a tiny strip of land and Palestine is an oppressed people with no state backing them. However, Israel’s carpet bombing of this 26-mile strip and the resulting Palestinian genocide is pulling the entire world in its wake. The Gaza genocide is polarizing global public opinion. Hundreds of thousands are taking part in protest marches in cities across the world, including western cities. Corporations, businesses and billionaires are finding themselves in the midst of moral, and ethical dilemmas – even if only for political purposes.

Social media is the raison d’etre of this global engagement in the latest Israeli invasion.

Allah refers to the famous battle between Prophet David (Dawood AS) versus Goliath, known to Jews, Christians and Muslims, “…..(Yet) those who knew with certainty that they were destined to meet God, replied: “How often has a small host overcome a great host by God’s leave! For God is with those who are patient in adversity.” (Quran 2:249).

Gaza of 2023 is a manifestation of the above verse. In almost three months the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have made no strategic gains against a small group of Hamas fighters. The IDF has suffered great losses with over 100 soldiers dead and over 2,000 crippled or injured. Demoralized and scared IDF soldiers are defecting. The military defeat of the IDF is a huge accomplishment of the brave, steadfast and ingenious Hamas. With some help from Lebanese Hezbollah guerillas and the Yemeni Houthis, Hamas has defeated the most sophisticated military in the world.

The political defeat of Israel is, however, another matter. This is where the boycotts are crucial. Politics, capitalism and imperialism come together when corporations come under fire. After the Houthis in Yemen seized Israeli vessels, British Petroleum (BP) announced that it would pause all shipments through the Red Sea after an escalation in attacks on its vessels. The disruption of oil supplies meant the cessation of oil (energy) supply to Europe in the dead of winter. One hour after this announcement by BP, the British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called for a ceasefire.

To understand the political nature of international business, one must realize the power of corporations. The golden arches of McDonald’s are a universally recognized American symbol. Coca-Cola is or was the most valuable brand name (brand equity) in the world. It was claimed that if every Coke bottle and every Coca-Cola bottling plant on earth was destroyed, the business could rebuild itself with just its brand name – valued at USD 103 billion in early 2023. Walt Disney boycotted X (formerly Twitter) and Elon retaliated by demanding that the CEO of Disney be fired. Disney, Mcdonald’s and Coca-Cola are not just brands, they are powerful cultural ambassadors as they spread American capitalism to all but a few countries on earth. These corporations empower the US and the wealth they generate, in part, empowers the Israeli Lobby in the US. The brand equity of these mega brands is rapidly diminishing, due to genocide in Gaza.

Hamas and the Palestinians have rendered tremendous sacrifices, however, October 7, was a master stroke. The Israeli overreaction resulting in the Palestinian genocide has shifted public opinion against Israel – rapidly building into an existential threat to the apartheid Jewish state.

Social media is the raison d’etre of this global engagement in the latest Israeli invasion.

The activism momentum is oxygen for Gaza and Palestine and it must continue to grow. Hundreds of thousands marching in protest and chanting “From the River to the sea, Palestine will be free,” can turn these words into actions.

The Pakistani social media seems to be in a lot of confusion about boycotts due to their non-existent worldview. The average Pakistani’s knowledge about Israel is derived from firebrand sermons against the Jews from semi-literate imams, who use the Jewish state as a red herring. Some are naively lamenting that the jailed PTI chief was Gaza’s only hope. Pakistani academia is weak and Pakistanis neither read international newspapers nor quality Western books. The tunnel-visioned Pakistani opinion lacks nuance and perspective.

The average Pakistani is hence terming all Western brands and businesses as Israeli-owned companies. This leads to debates on social media, where people mock others for being hypocrites as they are not boycotting their iPhones, Jewish-owned social media such as Facebook and the Israeli freelancing site Fiverr, where many Pakistanis earn their livelihood. As Pakistanis argue with each other, Fiverr’s competition has seized the day and sites such as Contra, Bark, People per Hour and WWR are being bolstered by the boycott.

The Palestinian author and activist Omar Barghouti is the father of the movement to boycott, divest from, and sanction Israel, called BDS for short. Few Pakistanis are aware of BDS. I have written in detail about the BDS movement in my November 3 column.

In 2020 the Israeli lobby in the US spent USD 70 million to counter the BDS movement. They were successful in getting BDS to be declared illegal in 35 of the 50 US states.

BDS includes commercial boycotts of Israeli companies, academic boycotts of Israeli universities and institutions and finally professional and cultural boycotts of Israel. It must be understood that Israel is sustained by the US in particular and the Western world in general. Therefore boycotts are an existential threat to the state of Israel. Boycotts may be illegal in most of the US states, but international boycotts and the resulting social media posts put Israel in the spotlight, forcing the media, corporations and individuals to take a moral position. This has caused a shift in Israeli attitudes. Initially, Israeli officials showed hubris and defiance on all forums. However, in the face of growing international boycotts, social media posts resulting in media coverage and huge demonstrations in Western capitals against the genocidal state, the Israeli talking points have changed. The Israelis now speak to Western media using the pronoun “we,” attempting to ideologically identify with the Christian West.

Israel fears becoming a pariah nation after being labelled a genocidal apartheid state. The genocidal settler colonial states of the last few centuries rest heavily on the Western conscience, therefore such a modern state is being opposed and rejected.

BDS takes direct inspiration from the South African boycotts and divestment which ultimately ended their apartheid. The South African ruling white elite lost the support of the Western elite. When the Chase Manhattan Bank declined to lend to apartheid South Africa, this move alone ended the political power of the white racist rulers. Israel fears that the same may happen to them. Public boycotts lead to celebrity boycotts and since the people are the consumers, businesses tune in to the mood of their customers. Boycotts by people declare Israel as “the other.” In the face of public pressure, divestment by financial institutions can lead to economic crises for Israel. This is already manifesting as Israel recently borrowed at higher interest rates from international financial institutions since its country’s credit rating fell due to the Gaza invasion – since even the UN President rebuked Israel.

This is why the BDS movement is a very powerful non-violent resistance. The Israeli lobby in the US has gone to great lengths to solidify the Israeli hold on the US. However, changing public opinions and the BDS movement can effectively counter all such machinations.

Pakistanis need to educate themselves about the BDS campaign through the sites boycott.thewitness.news and bdsmovement.net. Both these sites not only give a list of companies to boycott but also educate the layman about the reasoning behind it. The low standard of Pakistani universities is the prime reason why Pakistanis lack a worldview and are unable to make a distinction between Zionists, orthodox Jews, left-wing Israeli Jews, diaspora Jews, and the way international business and politics are looped.

Corporations and brands can exert political pressure on governments, as we have seen in the case of BP. The political victory of Palestine is the ultimate aim of the BDS movement to end the state patronage of Israel by the US, UK etc through sanctions. This is the only way to free the Palestinian people.

The writer is an independent researcher, author and columnist. She can be reached at aliya1924@gmail.com