Buy Israeli Goods day

Two years ago I wrote [1] of the difference between an acronym [2] and an initialism (or alphabetism) [3]. Essentially an acronym’s a pronounceable word (e.g. NATO) where an initialism’s pronounceable only by its letters (e.g. FBI). The initialism I most detest is BDS. Applying to Israel, it denotes boycott, divestment and sanctions [4]. In the 22,964 days since 14 May 1948 when Israel declared independence, she hasn’t known a single minute of peace. She’s a robust liberal democracy with strong legislative, executive and judicial arms. And she has a free media plus many other checks and balances that ensure a tolerant and fair society. But none of this matters to the lunatics who promote and support BDS. They label Israeli society as apartheid even though, should they open their closed minds to look, it’s self evidently not [5]. And once a year they hold Israel Apartheid Week [6]. From my vantage point here in rural Tasmania, I see that Israel needs to fight these scurrilous slurs. But she’s always done a poor job of it. And she still is. It’s clear who’s adopting an apartheid policy [7, 8]. Set against this background, today’s Buy Israeli Goods day [9, 10]. It’s been created to counter an annual BDS day of action – which is today too. So today, if possible, buy at least one item made in Israel. And tell the store owner what you’re doing. You don’t need me to tell you what you’ll achieve by doing this. Thank you.