A soft boycott

This week has seen wall-to-wall coverage of a scientific breakthrough in the treatment of prostate cancer. Newspapers, TV and radio have all carried reports. But you would be none the wiser from them about the origins of the science. BBC Radio 4’s Today programme managed to detail every aspect of it without mentioning where the breakthrough happened.

You have probably guessed by now: Israel. Specifically, the Weizmann Institute of Science.

Perhaps it was a simple mistake. But given the number of times the Israeli origin of scientific research is ignored, one might well think it was more than that — a form of ‘soft boycott’.

The campaign for BDS is so obviously antisemitic, singling out the Jewish homeland alone in the world for boycott, that some of those who would rather Israel did not exist choose an alternative approach — ignoring anything remotely positive about Israel and focusing only on bad news that fits their agenda. So the disproportionate number of Israeli scientific breakthroughs are reported as if they have simply happened by magic, with their Israeli origins ignored. This is simply the latest example of a shameful habit.

Unfit for office

Whatever else should disqualify David Friedman from taking up his post as US ambassador to Israel, his reference to the left wing group J-Street as “far worse than kapos” on its own renders him unfit for public office.

Disagree with them, yes. Attack them, yes. But the use of such a disgusting metaphor says far more about Mr Friedman than it does about the target of his abuse.