BDS Activist Finds Sympathetic Audience in Malaysia, Where Jews Are Hated

Anna Baltzer recently got a hero’s welcome at a BDS conference in Malaysia, where anti-Semitism is rampant, child marriage is practiced and bibles are burned.

Anna Baltzer, National BDS organizer for the U.S. Campaign to End the Occupation, recently traveled to Malaysia, a nearly Jew-free country where child marriage is legal and Bibles have been burnt. According to Robert Fulford, the Malaysian government has distributed antisemitic sermons to be read in mosques, and politicians distribute copies of Henry Ford’s book, The International Jew.

The so-called human rights activist went to Malaysia to promote the cause of boycotts, divestments and sanctions against the Jewish state.

Baltzer, who was introduced as a “Jewish American” was given a positive reception at the Sept. 12 event. “I’m really honored to be here,” she told the audience at a pro-BDS conference organized by the anti-Israel organization Viva Palestina in Malaysia. “I’ve been around your country, traveling a little bit, getting to know the people, loving the food. It’s been wonderful.”

During her talk, Baltzer, a St. Louis resident, indicated that she found the political atmosphere in Malaysia to be more amenable to the BDS cause than the United States, where “so much of our energy is spent fighting incredible ignorance and racism that people do not understand what’s happening in Palestine.”

There’s state-repression against pro-Palestinian activists in the U.S., Baltzer said, but “here in Malaysia, you’re starting from a place where the people of Malaysia already want to support Palestine. You are way ahead in that way.”

In 1994, the Malaysian government banned Schindler’s List because it promoted sympathy for the Jewish people.

The BDS movement, Baltzer said, “is an amazing gift to us in the international community and given the place that where your country is at, I believe that you can move mountains we cannot even dream about [in the U.S.]”
Because Malaysia currently has a seat on the United Nations Security Council it has a role to play in getting the UN to cut its ties with companies that do business with Israel, Baltzer said.

“We certainly have no better friend in the Security Council than Malaysia,” she said. “We’re not putting our hopes on the U.S. Mission to the UN. But Malaysia could be a huge, huge ally on this. You guys could be our secret weapon in this international campaign.”

Before arriving in Malaysia, Baltzer was afraid that she might be violating the law by entering the country on a tourist visa because she was speaking at a conference. She asked one of the conference organizers if she need a work visa instead. The organizer told her she would have no trouble getting into the country.

“Just say you’re presenting on Palestine and they’ll let you in,” the organizer said.

Baltzer found this heartening and the exact opposite of what she would face in the United States. “It’s sort of symbolic of the context we’re in,” she said. “It’s an incredible honor and it’s an incredible opportunity where Malaysia is at.”

The U.S. gives billions to Israel while Malaysia “has been a leader in having no diplomatic ties with Israel. In many ways your status quo is something that [Electronic Intifada Editor Ali Abunimah] and I dream about achieving in our context. It’s our Holy Grail.”

Her condemnations of the U.S. as a racist and ignorant country were particularly strong. She lamented that American bigotry has made it impossible for anti-Israel boycotts to get much of a footing in the U.S.

“Because we are up against such racism, such ignorance, because we are a small portion of the population that knows what’s happening in Palestine and wants to take part in BDS, we actually … don’t tell anyone I said this … we’re not actually able to stop people from purchasing their products. Maybe here, maybe there, but we’re not able to economically impact the companies through consumer boycotts. Usually victory means the store will stop selling the product because it became too much of a hassle for them, for example.”

In Malaysia (where nearly two-thirds of the population expresses contempt for Jews), it’s a different story, Baltzer stated happily.

“Here, you have an effective consumer boycott because you can get a majority of people to boycott products. That’s what I mean when I say that Malaysia is in a very special opportune moment to take part in these tactics.”

Baltzer promoted the cause of BDS at the 2012 and 2014 General Assemblies of the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Two days after Baltzer spoke in Malaysia, the country’s former prime minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad declared that Americans and Jews clap when Muslims kill each other.