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US students must demand boycott against Israel: Analyst

Friday, 19 February 2016 4:40 PM [ Last Update: Friday, 19 February 2016 4:39 PM ]

The photo shows cranes at a construction site in the Israeli settlement of Pisgat Zeev built in a suburb of al-Quds (Jerusalem), February 3, 2016. (AFP photo)

Press TV has interviewed Blaine Coleman, a Palestine human rights activist in Michigan, about a United Nations official calling on Israel to immediately halt the destruction of Palestinian properties in the occupied West Bank.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: For years Israel has been building settlements which are illegal according to international law. The question is, will Israel listen to the call by the UN?

Coleman: If 100 campuses loudly demand boycott of Israel, yes, and if 100 US campuses loudly demand boycott against Israel, the state of Israel will be abolished. We saw it happen with South Africa. That is the only thing that will work. They are not going to listen to the UN.

Did you know that Ariel Sharon demolished 2,000 homes in Gaza in 1971 in August in one month? He threw 16,000 people out of their homes. Nobody listened then, nobody will listen now unless there is a very loud angry boycott against Israel on US college campuses and I do not know why the students are not doing it.

Press TV: But what could be done for that to happen?

Coleman: I tell you what. The students have to grow a backbone here in the United States. There is nothing stopping them. They are afraid for no good reason. They need to open their mouth and demand boycott against Israel until the whole racist state is abolished.

Press TV: And what role does the media play in this?

Coleman: The media will cover it because it will be big news and our experience is, if you have a lot of students in a room yelling for boycott, the media comes and covers it. I am not saying the media is fair, it is not, but they will come and cover it.

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