The British media, certainly outlets like the BBC and the Guardian are heavily tilted against Israel, always have been. If you want anything approaching fair and objective reporting then you need to read something like the Commentator.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
On Monday, 16th March 2017, President Donald Trump signed a revised executive order suspending his refugee program and entry into the U.S. from six countries.
This suspension of entries for 120 days was explained as eliminating vulnerabilities that radical Islamic terrorists can and will exploit.
By coincidence, on the same day, the Israeli Knesset, by a vote of 46 to 28, passed a bill allowing the government to refuse visas and entry to those who publicly call for or participate in boycotts – economic, cultural, or academic – of Israel or Israeli settlements.
In similar fashion to the fear in the U.S. of terrorism, the government of Israel sees proposed boycotts as both a strategic threat and as an expression of anti-Semitism.
Interestingly, the actions in Israel and the U.S. took place on the anniversary of the terrorist attack in 1992 in Buenos Aires.
It is no accident that the U.S. and Israel are confronted by similar issues: the international problems of Islamic terrorism, Iran and Syria, but also with internal problems, such as the difficulty of and flaws in decision-making, intense factional disputes, and the increasing number of leaks of security matters from official sources.
It is the beginning of political wisdom that leaders of sovereign countries must set policy in accordance with what they believe is beneficial for their nation. The Israeli fear is that the proponents of BDS, wanting to enter Israel, are not tourists, but rather prone to incite trouble and act against the security of Israel. The BDS movement is the new front in the war against Israel and its right to exist.
In the U.S., the problem is potential terrorism. In Israel, the problem is more complex.
Two issues arise. One is the ongoing difficult one, political and moral: the degree to which a democratic government such as Israel's should tolerate non-violent political protest and dissent, and not discriminate against proponents of BDS.*The other, political and tactical, is whether Israeli governmental actions should apply, as the new law states, to the disputed territories in the same way as to the area within the "Green Line."
Yet the new law, and Israeli policy in general, does not suggest "annexation" of the disputed areas. In spite of some political figures such as Tzipi Hotovely, the feminist ideological voice of Likud, believer in the Greater Israel, and deputy foreign minister, the official position regarding the 2.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank is separation, not absorption.
For Israel, the problems are even more complicated because of political and military difficulties, especially in decision-making on national security issues, as official reports, such as the one issued on February 28, 2017 by State Controller Joseph Shapira on the 2014 war in Gaza, have indicated.
The context is all-important.* Israel is a highly developed country in spite of a lack of natural resources, surrounded by hostile peoples and counties. It has welcomed thousands of people from all over the world, embracing a long lost language and a national culture; built a strong military and nuclear capacity; and developed a flourishing agriculture and advanced technology.
The standard of living for its growing population, now 8.5 million, including 1.5 million Arabs, is rising. It has a GDP per capita of $35,000, strong financial reserves, low inflation, and unemployment of 4.5 percent. *If there is anything akin to a melting pot, it is the military – the IDF.
It has overcome the assaults of Arab armies and lived with the general refusal, except by Egypt and Jordan, to recognize its existence and legitimacy. *Israel, the one democratic isle of stability in the Middle East, is faced by hostile forces – Syria, Hamas, Hezb'allah, and Iran, eager to
establish hegemony in the area.
The threat from Iran is ominous for the U.S. as well as for Israel because of Iran's increasingly aggressive behavior. In March 2017, it tested Russian-made S-300 anti-missiles that hit their target. This advanced system can protect any attack on uranium facilities tending to develop nuclear capacity.
http://www.thecommentator.com/article/6524/trump_s_policy_and_israel_s
