This past Christmas season, the anti-Israel lobby selected a fresh new target in their campaign to end what so many of them fallaciously term “Israeli Apartheid”: Motorola.Among their complaints is that Motorola, through its Motorola Israel subsidiary, manufactures communications equipment used at the checkpoints Israel has erected to protect itself from Palestinian terrorism. Motorola Israel also manufactures components used in guided weapons.
Motorola’s involvement with the virtual fences Israel has used to protect its settlements – particularly those that did not install such systems themselves – began in 2005, when it won a contract tendered by the Israeli Ministry of Defence. As of 2009, 25 Israeli settlements featured these systems, dubbed MotoEagle Surveillance by its creators.
To those determined to end “Israeli Apartheid”, this makes Motorola a direct collaborator in what they regard as war crimes, and makes them a target for boycott.
At one flashmob executed at a Best Buy location in St Louis, customers were told to “Hang up on Motorola”, and to “just stick to ‘Droids and stay out of the war zone.”
Effectively, they had endorsed Android over Motorola due to Moto’s involvement in “Israeli Apartheid”.
That was where the irony set in.
It’s hard to imagine who could not be in the know about Andorid, but those who are not, it is an open source mobile operating system. Based partially on Linux, Android is a partnership between Google – who markets the system – and the Open Handset Alliance.
Open source tends to bring to mind the image of fiercely independent developers, refuting the traditional corporate development model in favour of public ownership of the technology. But open source often entails a merging of patents and intellectual properties developed under the traditional corporate model and contributions by independent developers.
Corporations like Motorola have become frequent contributors to and collaborators with open source movements. Often, they offer access to their technologies in favour for a stake in the ownership of whatever may be produced from research performed with such access.
As it turns out, Motorola is a member of the Open Handset Alliance. In fact, the Android Operating system runs many of Motorola’s products, including its upcoming MZ600 tablet.
Naturally, this isn’t the only thing on which the anti-Israel lobby is utterly clueless. Between ‘Droid and what Apartheid actually is, you simply have to begin to wonder about a movement that just can’t seem to get things right.
Patrick Ross is a Contributing Writer for The Propagandist
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