I think you are misreading the article, although it is admittedly a bit unclear. What appears to be prohibited by law is participation by U.S. citizens/businesses in boycotts imposed by governments of other foreign countries, not boycotts by individuals or other non-government groups. See this clearer link at the Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lara-friedman/israel-boycott-law_b_898317.html
Yes, it does seem futile, but hopeless resistance against overwhelming and insurmountable force is a not uncommon human response to those who are trying to utterly destroy you. The resistance by those in the Warsaw Ghetto was also hopeless; as was the final resistance of native Americans against the destruction of their way of life and a large portion of their people by the European-Americans.
As for knowledge of PR or military tactics, Hamas seems to be doing about as well as could be expected in terms of military tactics given their pitiful resources. On the PR front, they are fatally handicapped by the simple fact the fact that Israelis are westerners and they are not. The result is prejudice (usually unconscious and therefore doubly impossible to combat) by the dominant elements in the media and political circles, and much of the U.S. population, that simply sees the Palestinians as inherently inferior to the Israelis. Such prejudice is visceral and, unfortunately, all too often overwhelms basic instincts of human decency.
I pose a question similar to that of the prior comment: why are Hamas rockets definitely a war crime whereas Israel's much more lethal attacks on civilian installations are at best only a 'maybe'. ?
Hamas rockets are unguided so those who launch them cannot predict where they will fall. Yes, they may endanger civilians but conceivably they also could hit military installations located in or near those same civilian areas. Also, houses and other civilian installations in those areas contain Israeli military personnel.
Israel, on the other hand, justifies launching much more lethal ordinance at houses, schools, hospitals on the off chance that they may contain military personnel or supplies -- but without, as far as one can tell, any actual proof that this is the case. Such attacks are virtually certain to kill civilians, rather than simply endangering civilians with only low risk of harm as is the case with the Hamas rockets.
Difficult to avoid the conclusion that Israel and its backers make their judgments based on who (Israeli, very bad; Palestinian, so what...) is getting harmed, rather than why, as they claim.
I think you are misreading the article, although it is admittedly a bit unclear. What appears to be prohibited by law is participation by U.S. citizens/businesses in boycotts imposed by governments of other foreign countries, not boycotts by individuals or other non-government groups. See this clearer link at the Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lara-friedman/israel-boycott-law_b_898317.html
Yes, it does seem futile, but hopeless resistance against overwhelming and insurmountable force is a not uncommon human response to those who are trying to utterly destroy you. The resistance by those in the Warsaw Ghetto was also hopeless; as was the final resistance of native Americans against the destruction of their way of life and a large portion of their people by the European-Americans.
As for knowledge of PR or military tactics, Hamas seems to be doing about as well as could be expected in terms of military tactics given their pitiful resources. On the PR front, they are fatally handicapped by the simple fact the fact that Israelis are westerners and they are not. The result is prejudice (usually unconscious and therefore doubly impossible to combat) by the dominant elements in the media and political circles, and much of the U.S. population, that simply sees the Palestinians as inherently inferior to the Israelis. Such prejudice is visceral and, unfortunately, all too often overwhelms basic instincts of human decency.
I pose a question similar to that of the prior comment: why are Hamas rockets definitely a war crime whereas Israel's much more lethal attacks on civilian installations are at best only a 'maybe'. ?
Hamas rockets are unguided so those who launch them cannot predict where they will fall. Yes, they may endanger civilians but conceivably they also could hit military installations located in or near those same civilian areas. Also, houses and other civilian installations in those areas contain Israeli military personnel.
Israel, on the other hand, justifies launching much more lethal ordinance at houses, schools, hospitals on the off chance that they may contain military personnel or supplies -- but without, as far as one can tell, any actual proof that this is the case. Such attacks are virtually certain to kill civilians, rather than simply endangering civilians with only low risk of harm as is the case with the Hamas rockets.
Difficult to avoid the conclusion that Israel and its backers make their judgments based on who (Israeli, very bad; Palestinian, so what...) is getting harmed, rather than why, as they claim.