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MSNBC’s Chris Hayes Admits His BDS Mistake

Once again, The Scroll gets results

by
Adam Chandler
February 06, 2013
(Twitter)
(Twitter)

An update on our post earlier today by Yair Rosenberg, which clarified one important aspect of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS)-Brooklyn College kerfuffle: namely that the BDS movement, while opposing the Israeli presence in the West Bank and calling for equal rights from Arabs in Israel, also wishes for the Jewish state to no longer exist. As Rosenberg wrote:

This radical goal goes completely unmentioned by both Hayes and the Times, giving their audiences the false impression that the BDS movement merely seeks a non-violent way to end Israeli occupation and implement a two-state solution. But in fact, BDS’s own materials and proponents oppose the very existence of the State of Israel as a Jewish state, and demand the return of 5 million Palestinians to the country, which would effectively abrogate its Jewish character.

Through a colloquy on Twitter, MSNBC’s Chris Hayes responded to Rosenberg’s charges, admitting that he should have been clearer about the aims of the BDS movement:

Christopher Hayes ‏@chrislhayeswell, I think there’s a distinction between a tactic (BDS) and its aims, but shoulda said spkrs are antizionists

Hayes later said that Rosenberg (and Scroll Editor Emeritus Marc Tracy, who also jumped in) were right. Huzzah!

Now if we can just get the New York Times to admit they screwed the pooch a bit.

Adam Chandler was previously a staff writer at Tablet. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, Slate, Esquire, New York, and elsewhere. He tweets @allmychandler.