”Behind the Mask” reveals how the BDS leadership hides behind a mask of liberal values and human rights, while disseminating content relating to Israel which is blatantly antisemitic.
BRUSSELS—Israel’s Minister of Strategic Affairs Gilad Erdan revealed on Wednesday a new report exposing the antisemitic nature of BDS (Boycoot, Disinvestment, Sanctions) and how it generates antisemitism worldwide.
The report titled “Behind the Mask: The Antisemitic Nature of BDS Exposed.’’ Was presented in the European Parliament in Brussels during a conference in the presence of Special Envoys against antisemitism from the US and EU, Elan Carr and Katharina von Schnurbein. members of European Parliament, and leading Jewish organizations.
‘’I call on the member states of the EU not to take part in the discriminatory and antisemitic BDS campaign the goals of which include the destruction of the Jewish State,” Erdan said.
”Behind the Mask” reveals how the BDS leadership hides behind a mask of liberal values and human rights, while disseminating content relating to Israel which is blatantly antisemitic.
As part of Minister Erdan’s policy of ‘going on the offensive’, numerous examples from within the report of the antisemitism of the BDS leadership were showcased today in European Parliament, including calls for Jews to “go back to the ovens!”, poison water supplies, accusations of a global “Jewish lobby”, equating Nazi Germany and Israel, and calls for the destruction of the Jewish State. Jews and Israelis were shown to be represented with vulgar antisemitic stigmas including being shown as pigs, octopuses, having big noses, having an obsession with wealth, and controlling the world.
Recently, there has been an increasing international interest regarding antisemitism in relation to the boycott and delegitimization of Israel. In addition to the important decision by the German Bundestag to condemn BDS’s “methods and motives” as anti-Semitic, this week the UN’s Ahmed Shaheed released a first report of its kind on antisemitism titled, “Report of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief”. The report mentions contemporary antisemitism and BDS, noting: There is an alarming rise in “antisemitism of the extreme left, in which individuals claiming to hold anti-racist and anti-imperialist views use antisemitic narratives or tropes in the course of expressing anger at the policies or practices of the Government of Israel” (Article 17 of the report). Shaheed even refers to the UN Secretary General’s view on the matter in which he stated the denial of the right to Israel to exist is a contemporary form of antisemitism. In Article 18 Shaheed stated those who reject “the right of Israel to exist, or advocates discrimination against Jewish individuals because of their religion should be condemned.”
The event was organized by the European Jewish Association (EJA), led by Rabbi Menachem Margolin who declared : “If Europe would really like to fight antisemitism the very first step is to declare BDS as an organization non-grata, stop any funding towards them and brand them, as the German government has already done, as fundamentally anti-Semitic.”
“I want to be clear: legitimate criticism of the government of Israel is normal. However, anti-semites are increasingly using anti-Israelism and anti-Zionism as a means to spew vile hatred,’’ he added.
“BDS is the main organization responsible for incitement that has caused thousands of attacks against Jews in Europe and made their life very hard using the cover of Anti-Zionism as an excuse.’’