PennBDS and the BDS movement claim to be interested in promoting, "the growing global campaign to boycott, divest from and sanction (BDS) the State of Israel until it complies with its obligations under international and human rights law." That's what it says on the PennBDS website.
However, if PennBDS is truly concerned with such violations, it is notable that it does not focus on blatant human rights abusers and oppressors such as North Korea, China, Sudan, or Iran.
If PennBDS were concerned with oppression of Arabs, then it is curious that it is not decrying the governments of Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, or Yemen.
And if PennBDS were particularly disturbed by oppression of Palestinian Arabs, then why does it not protest the governments of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, or others in which the Palestinians have suffered extreme discrimination, violence, and forced expulsions?
In Gaza, under the authority of Hamas, political, religious, and associational freedom are severely curtailed, women's rights are limited, human rights activists are targeted, and homosexuality is a criminal offense.
BDS actually has no problem with oppression, no problem with oppression of Arabs, and no problem with the oppression of Palestinian Arabs. BDS actually has a problem only with the Jewish state, and, it can be deduced, with Jews.
Many of the speakers scheduled by PennBDS frequently disseminate falsehoods about Israel and Jews, as well as anti-Semitism:
Keynote speaker Ali Abunimah has intentionally understated Hamas's violence and disseminated false quotations in order to make Israeli leaders appear cruel;
Anna Baltzer has made numerous false claims about Israel, including publishing on her blog for months a fabricated story accusing Israeli soldiers of shooting Palestinian children in front of their mother;
