Germany rules BDS movement 'anti-Semitic'
Al Jazeera
May 18, 2019
The German parliament has voted to condemn as anti-Semitic a movement that calls for economic pressure on Israel to end the occupation of Palestinian land, grant Palestinian citizens of Israel equal rights and recognise the right of return of Palestinian refugees.
In a move welcomed by Israel, a majority of legislators in the Bundestag voted on Friday in favour of a motion to label the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement as an entity that uses anti-Semitic tactics to fulfil its political goals.
"The argumentation patterns and methods used by the BDS movement are anti-Semitic," read the motion submitted by Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives, their Social Democrat coalition partners as well as the Greens and Free Democrats.
The motion, termed "Resisting the BDS movement decisively – fighting antisemitism," calls on the government to "not provide premises and facilities under the administration of the Bundestag to organisations that express themselves in anti-Semitic terms or question Israel's right to exist."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the Bundestag decision to "stop funding organisations that work against the existence of the state of Israel".
"I hope this decision will lead to concrete action and I call on other countries to adopt similar legislation," he added.
The BDS movement condemned the motion as anti-Palestinian.
"The German establishment is entrenching its complicity in Israel's crimes of military occupation, ethnic cleansing, siege and apartheid, while desperately trying to shield it from accountability to international law," it said on Twitter.
The latest battle between the BDS and the Israeli government has been over the Eurovision Song Contest final, which takes place in Tel Aviv on Saturday.
In the run-up to the event, the BDS has called on artists, music fans and broadcasters to boycott the event, arguing it amounts to "whitewashing" Israel's policies towards Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
The BDS movement was founded in 2005 after 170 Palestinian civil society organisations issued a call to boycott, divest from and sanction Israel as a form of non-violent pressure in order to make it comply with international law.
It has grown in support over the years, attracting high-profile backers such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Angela Davis and Judith Butler.
EDITOR’S NOTE: A little reminder about Angela Davis. On August 7, 1970, 17-year-oldJonathan Jackson burst into a San Rafael, California courtroom with several firearms, freed prisoners James McClain, William A. Christmas and Ruchell Magee, and took Judge Harold Haley, Deputy District Attorney Gary Thomas, and three jurors hostage to demand the release from Soledad prison of his brother George. Judge Haley, Jackson, Christmas and McClain were killed during a shootout with police as they attempted to drive away from the courthouse.
Angela Davis was accused of furnishing Jackson with the guns he used. Davis went into hiding but was captured by the FBI in New York two months later. In 1972, Davis was tried in San Jose for conspiracy, kidnapping, and murder, but she was acquired of all charges by an all-white jury.
2 comments:
Minor correction Howie. A range class form San Quentin prison was diverted to the court house when the incident started. They did most of the heavy lifting to break up the escape attempt.
Folks who subscribe to so-called "religious Zionism" are equally ignorant, it is like saying you are a Satanist Christian, an oxymoron. The Zionists were die hard atheists, who detested religion. Fast forward, "Israel" is established, Torah Jews the world over spoke out against this travesty. Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum, of blessed memory, writes that Zionism is satanic. People see huge numbers of orthodox Jews in Brooklyn, and not a single Israeli flag, unless we are burning it on Purim. However, Benjamin Netanyahu, claims to speak for me, a practicing Jew and American, and every other Jew in the world, when he is neither a practicing Jew or an American. Israel engages in violence against Palestinians, and now attacks Torah Jews, because we refuse to acknowledge their state or serve in their army. When people speak out against it, they are labeled, wrongly, anti-Semites. We are led to believe that ignorant, nihilistic goat-eating Arabs simply hate Jews because they are Jewish- false. People dislike “Israel” because of the way it behaves. Now, the abuse has turned against us, we are beaten and arrested for demanding the commitment the government made to us, not to ever be required to serve in their army, or recognize their heretic, satanic state. The longer we put out this lie that people who speak out against "Israel's" abuse are anti-Semitic, the more we lose focus on the real problem; the conduct of the state of "Israel" itself and the further away we are from solving the problem.
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