At the start of the Israeli Cabinet meeting June 7, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “As far as those pushing the boycotts are concerned, the settlements in Judea and Samaria are not the focus of the conflict, but our settling in Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Beersheba, Haifa and — of course — Jerusalem.” Minister Ofir Akunis, a former Netanyahu spokesman, followed suit with firm determination: “If anyone thinks this is an argument about Judea and Samaria, they’re wrong.” The duo’s claims, which reflect the official government line, are based on many of those “pushing the boycott,” in Netanyahu’s words, encouraging economic, cultural and academic sanctions against Israel, not just the settlements.
At a meeting several years ago in Brussels with boycott, divestment and sanctions activists, I asked why they didn't limit themselves to abstaining from buying settlement products, as I myself do, and were instead demanding that I be boycotted too. They answered, “Because the taxes that you pay fund the occupation, your children guard the settlers and your political and legal systems encourage the theft of Palestinian lands.”