When an entire political camp in Israel embraces the boycott as an ideology, it was only a matter of time when they would start boycotting ideas there as well.
Under the radar, elements in the liberal boycott camp are engaged in silencing the one voice that, if listened to attentively, the whole idea of the "Zionist occupation" vanishes like smoke.
This voice is the voice of the Land of Israel, and the Land of Israel speaks to us in the silent language of archaeology.
The Palestinians claim that they are "natives" of the land, while we are a foreign and colonialist plant?
The Qumran scrolls in the Judean desert, the ancient synagogue in Susia and the Joshua altar on Mount Ebal sing to us in a quiet and confident voice a paraphrase of Eric Einstein's poem: "How good it is that you have come home, how good it is to see you again."
What to do?
How do you silence such a voice?
The usual methods of the liberal boycott camp do not work for him: it is impossible to sew up criminal cases for Eretz Israel like Gal Hirsch or discredit it in an article in "Haaretz" like Ila Hasson.
Here a different treatment is required.
But don't worry, when it comes to silencing there is no limit to the creativity of the liberal boycott camp.
Get to know the "Emek Shaveh" association - the association formed to translate the clear, ancient, Jewish and unequivocal voice of Palestine archeology into spoken Palestinian Arabic.
More than a year ago, following a call by the Ministry of Heritage, hundreds of proposals were received for projects related to the preservation of Jewish and Zionist heritage sites.
Many entities, that such sites are in their domain and need urgent preservation, approached this important reader's voice.
The promoters made every effort to meet the tender's requirements: they ordered certified surveyors, attached precise drawings of the site, a detailed budget, a business plan for operating the site after its restoration, etc., but months passed and the ministry's response was slow to come.
The reason for the delay became clear in an email recently sent to the entrepreneurs - the "Emek Shaveh" association filed a petition against the calling voice of a heritage office, and in fact against the very purpose for which such an office exists - "strengthening the heritage of the people of Israel in its country".
According to them, such a government office provides services "for Jews only".
To the High Court's credit, it will be said that it decided that the State of Israel is allowed to have an office that is its purpose.
Unfortunately, in the field, the vision of silencing the voice of the land that "Emek Shaveh" offers is gaining ground.
This is how it is described on the association's website: "We, the members of 'Emek Shaveh', have made it our goal to tattoo the concept that sees the remains of the past as a tool in the national struggle or a value that justifies harming disadvantaged groups... The concept of 'archaeological site' is not just the variety of layers excavated in it, but a significant place in the present, in which or near which people live, about their culture, their routine and their needs..."
Indeed, we were recently informed that ancient stones were displaced by Palestinians from the site of the Joshua altar for the purpose of paving roads.
The "routine of their lives and needs" of the Palestinians probably includes a daily trip on stones that were evidence of the biblical status of "blessing and cursing".
I am indeed a right-wing person, but the pincer movement of the Palestinian shofal, which uproots Jewish history from the land of Israel, and the professors of "Emek Shaveh" who uproot it from academic research, make me miss the distant days when instead of the liberal boycott movement, there was indeed a Zionist left.
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