BDS

(Photo Credit: Students for a Democratic Society)

Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), a Palestinian-led[6] movement promoting boycotts, divestments, and economic sanctions against Israel gains momentum, not in the good ole USA but in other parts of the world as seen by this pix with FREE PALESTINE hovering over Starbucks, showing, in indirect fashion, the fact Starbucks has lost lost over $11 billion in value this last quarter due to Palestinian solidarity boycotts and employee strikes since the beginning of the war in Gaza on 7 October.  

The coffee giant tried to bounce back on losses with their holiday season “Red Cup Day” gimmick that would allow consumers to receive a free reusable holiday cup with every purchase.  

Since the announcement of Starbucks’ scheme in mid-November, the company has seen its market share crash by 8.96 percent, accounting for $11 billion in losses, the lowest it has experienced since 1992.  

Area C (blue), the part of the West Bank under full Israeli control, in 2011

1st Amendment rights ...

In response to BDS, several legislatures have passed laws designed to hinder people and organizations from boycotting Israel and goods from Israeli settlements. Proponents of such laws say that they are necessary because BDS is a form of antisemitism.[235] After passage of these laws, Dickinson, Texas, residents found they had to certify they would not boycott Israel in order to qualify for relief for damages caused by Hurricane Harvey; a math teacher in Kansas had to pledge not to boycott Israel as a condition for being paid her state salary; and an Arkansas newspaper was asked to sign an anti-boycott pledge in order to be paid for the advertising it ran for Arkansas State University.[236]

David Kaye, the UN special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, has said that boycotts have long been regarded as a legitimate form of expression, that such legislation against BDS appears to "repress a particular political viewpoint" while failing international legal criteria for "permissible restraints on speech" insofar as these laws contradict Article 19(2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), a covenant to which the United States is a signatory.[237]

In the U.S., anti-BDS laws have been passed. Two federal acts have been introduced, the 2017 Israel Anti-Boycott Act and the 2019 Combating BDS Act, both intended to deprive entities participating in boycotts of Israel of government contract work. In several states, these laws have been challenged on First Amendment grounds for violating citizens' freedom of speech.

Question, does Israel control the 1st Amendment or does America? No one knows but the attitude toward Israel is changing thanks to Israel's wanton destruction of Gaza, a notion Joe Biden and company seem to not understand.

Cognitive Dissidence ...The US as honest broker or as Joe Biden, on October 18th, proudly proclaimed to Bibi that "I don't believe you have to be a Jew to be a Zionist, and I am a Zionist." 

And the beat goes on ...

Israeli soldiers working on their tank near the border with Gaza on Friday.Credit...Amir Cohen/Reuters

The State Department is pushing through a government sale to Israel of 13,000 rounds of tank ammunition, bypassing a congressional review process that is generally required for arms sales to foreign nations, according to a State Department official and an online post by the Defense Department on Saturday.

The State Department notified congressional committees at 11 p.m. on Friday that it was moving ahead with the sale, valued at more than $106 million, even though Congress had not finished an informal review of a larger order from Israel for tank rounds.

As stated before, this will not end well.

Zionism

Political ideology

Zionism is a nationalist movement that emerged in the 19th century to enable the establishment of a homeland for the Jewish people in Palestine, a region roughly corresponding to the Land of Israel in Jewish tradition. 

Theodor Herzl was the founder of the Modern Zionist movement. In his 1896 pamphlet Der Judenstaat, he envisioned the founding of a future independent Jewish state during the 20th century.