Thanks Flavius, I'm not sure what Prof. Cole's position is.  Would be interesting to find out.

When I was a freshman in college, Milton Friedman, at or about the time he was advising the Pinochet government, came to campus to speak on economics.  It was my first college protest, and we marched, said some fairly nasty things I won't restate here, and then we marched into the auditorium to hear the man speak.  

In short, I agree with you, and as much as I detest the Ahmadinejads of the world, it would have been a coup for him had Columbia canceled his invitation to speak.  I think the kids who may have heard him that day survived unscathed, and rumor has it that most are now working in New York's finest financial institutions and hedge funds! :)

And, as you recall I'm sure, the boycott of the 1980 Olympics only led to the Soviet boycott of the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.   

That said, and in fairness to those who in good faith believe that a boycott of Israel is proper, the near universal support for the boycott of South Africa is an example of a boycott that worked.   Of course, IMO, those who see no daylight between South Africa's apartheid regime and Israel would have to explain that to me.  But even if Israel equals South Africa, and I don't believe that and have addressed that comparison on more than one occasion, then does Israel stand alone in that respect among the nations of the world?   Is that what justifies the singular focus on the Jewish State by so many folks from all around the world?  I just don't believe that to be a defensible argument.  

Lulu,

Thank you for posting the opinion piece, which is probably behind the paywall for most people, and perhaps someone can help us fix that.

I would ask that you try to use the same font as everyone else.  When you use big dark letters like that you appear to be shouting.  I think the opinion piece is sufficiently clear such that your visual aids are unnecessary.

Thanks for your anticipated courtesies.

I am hardly a fan of Tom Friedman, although I thought that the book he wrote way back in the 80s (from Beirut to Jerusalem) right after Sabra and Shatila was and remains a worthwhile read in order to gain a general understanding of the Middle East.  It remains a useful but hardly sufficient read, I think (for those of us who don't understand Hebrew and/or Arabic in any event). 

I think I wrote earlier about a book that I just finished reading that I cannot recommend more highly, as painful as it is for some of us.  That's Ari Shavit's, My Promised Land.  [Edited to add that as someone who is somewhat focused on this stuff I continue to find it strange to be seen as an Israel right or wronger around places like Dag, when for example one sees the attacks being levied at Shavit by my fellow Zionists because of what he has written.]   But Shavit's history would be painful for anyone who for whatever reason believes that he or she has skin in this game.  Shavit is a correspondent for Haaretz and he wrote this book in English and for folks like us who don't live in the neighborhood.

As to BDS, I think I posed the question at one point to our colleagues here with respect to what it is that folks wish to accomplish.  I don't think most folks here would hope to see Israel cease to exist -- a novel concept for a country that exists as I do think Friedman points out.  But, in fact, Israel will cease to exist under Barghouti's third prong forming the basis of BDS, i.e. the right of return for all descendants of the refugees from 1948.  That will destroy Israel as a Jewish State, because a Jewish minority in the current Middle East means more of the same -- probably.  I think most Israelis and those of us who see the need for a Jewish homeland are not willing to take that chance -- not anymore.   [Edited to add that this is why (I suspect anyway) a supporter of a binational state like JR favors partition of various Middle Eastern countries facing similar issues in their own post-WWI nations.]

I agree that a two-state solution is anything but perfect, but I also believe that Secretary Kerry is getting at least close to a framework within which final status remains plausible.  We'll see.  

My position is that folks should do what they truly believe is right in their heart.  And I guess I just don't understand how a boycott of Israel is pushed by so many who have never been there or anywhere near the Middle East, and yet are singularly focused on Israel as a nation to be boycotted -- even their academics, which I just find incomprehensible, and which is really why I posted Friedman's column (the BDS stuff is more of an aside).  And if I know Friedman, he'll be returning soon enough to pounding away at Israel (for reasons I will likely agree and disagree with).