Ed Prutschi Discusses the Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement

Criminal lawyer Ed Prutschi sat down with Jerry Agar on Newstalk1010 to discuss the Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement. The movement aims to end international support of Israel’s oppression of Palestinians.

Prutschi has a few issues with the movement. A key one is that BDS isn’t a new movement or concept. It’s been around for decades and still made limited ground. Part of the reason it keeps failing, Ed Prutschi says, is because the facts don’t back up its claims. Israel does make mistakes, but they handle more challenges and deal with them better than any other liberal democratic country. Another issue with the BDS movement, according to Prutschi is that it’s not a path to peace. The movement doesn’t help the conflict in any capacity; it just puts blame on Israel. The movement also ignores the historical context of Israel control. It isn’t as if one day Jews decided to occupy and control a land because it was in their religious text. Jewish people have lived in that region for thousands of years. Ultimately, Prutschi believes that if you’re in favor of human rights, you should go for the worst abusers first, which Israel isn’t even close to the top of the list.