Jewish American BDS activist banned from entering Israel

Jewish American BDS activist banned from entering Israel

The Israeli Population and Immigration Authority barred a Jewish American Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) activist from entering Israel on Sunday.

The Israeli Ynet news outlet reported that the ban came upon instructions by Israeli Minister of Interior Aryeh Deri and recommendation by Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Gilad Erdan.

Erdan later commented on the incident saying that "The rules have changed. Israel will not show restraint towards those who try to hurt it."

The news site added that Ariel Elyse Gold, a BDS activist, was denied entry into Israel landing at the Ben-Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.

Gold wrote on her official Facebook page, "I am in the Tel Aviv airport getting deported. I got a visa in advance to enter the country but they are refusing to honor it and are deporting me now."

Israeli minister Erdan later posted on his Twitter saying “we prevented Ariel Gold, an extreme boycott activist, from entering the country. Our policy is clear: Those who campaign towards boycotting Israel and come here in order to cause harm—won’t be allowed to enter the country. The rules have changed, and Israel will not show restraint towards those who try to hurt it.”

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Germany to condemn BDS movement as 'anti-Semitic'

Germany to condemn BDS movement as 'anti-Semitic'

The German Bundestag (parliament) is set to pass a resolution, on Friday, condemning the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) as anti-Semitic and urges the government not to fund groups or activities that question Israel’s right to exist and to defend itself.

The text of the resolution stated that “all-encompassing calls for boycotts in their radical nature lead to the stigmatization of Israeli citizens and citizens of Jewish faith as a whole. This is unacceptable and worthy of the sharpest condemnation.”

It added, “The arguments and methods of the BDS movement are anti-Semitic” and reminiscent of Germany’s Nazi past.

This non-binding resolution is sponsored jointly by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian-Democratic Union and the Social Democrats, which is one of three motions on the BDS movement that will be considered in the German parliament, on Friday.

German lawmakers will also vote on two other resolutions against BDS, proposed by two opposition parties, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the Die Linke.

The Die Linke text is the softest of the three, urging Germany to condemn “anti-Semitism within” the BDS movement, however, it does have a chance of passing.

The upcoming vote has caused public discourse in Germany, with many critics claiming that the proposed resolution is draconian, due to it suppressing pro-Palestinian groups’ freedom of expression.

As a response to the resolution, a 50-member group, made up of Jewish academics from Germany and from Israel, have published a petition opposing it.

The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement is a global campaign promoting various forms of boycott against Israel until it meets what the campaign describes as "Israel's obligations under international law," which include its withdrawal from the occupied territories, removal of the separation wall in the occupied West Bank, full equality for Arab-Palestinian citizens in Israel, and promotion of the right of return of Palestinian refugees to their homelands, now known as Israel.

Although the BDS movement has been opposed by many Jews around the world, the movement still gained numerous supporters, including celebrities, such as Roger Waters and Stephen Hawking.

In response to the movement, Israel passed a law in 2017 prohibiting the entry of foreigners who call for boycotts on Israel or its illegal settlements. The law truly banned several Americans who planned to visit Israel, including Ariel Elyse Gold, a Jewish American BDS activist and national co-director of CODEPINK, a women's peace organization.

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Palestinian FM condemns Germany's vote to define BDS as 'anti-Semitic'

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates condemned, on Sunday, the German Bundestag (parliament) for voting in favor of defining and condemning the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) as "anti-Semitic."

In a move welcomed by Israel, a majority of German legislators in the Bundestag voted in favor of the resolution, entitled "Resisting the BDS movement decisively – fighting antisemitism," to label BDS as an entity that uses anti-Semitic tactics to fulfill its political goals.

The text of the resolution stated that “all-encompassing calls for boycotts in their radical nature lead to the stigmatization of Israeli citizens and citizens of Jewish faith as a whole. This is unacceptable and worthy of the sharpest condemnation.”

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry commented on the voting in a statement, saying that “the decision came under the pretense that BDS aims to strip Israel of its right to self-defense, which reflects first that the role and action of the organization is so influential that Israel and its supporters began to look for a pretext or justification for attacking the organization and distorting its image.”

The statement continued, “Israel continues to impose its wishes on the representatives of the European peoples by blackmail them using the historical German stigmatization of the Jews to achieve what it [Israel] wants.”

The ministry stressed that the decision “disregards the fact that Israel is a state of ethnic cleansing, a state of racial discrimination, an outlawed state that commits crimes against the Palestinian people and occupies the Palestinian land while going unpunished.”

The BDS movement posted on its Twitter, condemning 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."

“The German parliament’s equation of the nonviolent BDS movement for Palestinian rights with anti-Semitism is based on outright lies. It’s not only anti-Palestinian McCarthyism, it is a betrayal of international law, German democracy and the fight against real anti-Jewish racism.”

The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement is a global campaign promoting various forms of boycott against Israel until it meets what the campaign describes as "Israel's obligations under international law," which include its withdrawal from the occupied territories, removal of the separation wall in the occupied West Bank, full equality for Arab-Palestinian citizens in Israel, and promotion of the right of return of Palestinian refugees to their homelands, now known as Israel.

Read more »