Israel’s concerted efforts to combat BDS around the globe and in various realms have been highly successful.
The legal battle the Jewish state is waging the anti-Israel BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement has registered numerous victories.
Israel’s Ynetnews reported that Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked allocated NIS 1.5 million ($430,000) to the cause and has reinvigorated her office’s pursuit of legal venues to combat boycotts on Israel.
Shaked established an inter-office team and has initiated contact with leading attorneys in Europe and the US who have undertaken the task of waging local battles against BDS. Almost all have been successful.
Ynet cites as an example Palestinians who have recently filed a complaint to the US District Court in Washington, D.C., a federal court, claiming that people and groups operating in Judea and Samaria are committing crimes against humanity.
The court dismissed the complaint and refused to consider it on the grounds that it was inserting into the legal realm a sensitive political subject.
In Spain, 24 legal rulings were given in favor of Israel and against the BDS movement, while in France significant rulings were made against its activists who tried to lead a boycott against Israel.
Furthermore, last year several US states passed anti-BDS laws.
Montana, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Rhode Island Michigan, Texas, Nevada, Kansas and North Carolina have all passed bills fighting BDS. The governors of all 50 US states have recently signed a declaration condemning the BDS movement as antithetical to American values.
“Through Sisyphean work we expose the real face of ‘human rights activists’ and ‘peace activists’ around the world, whose sole goal is to weaken the State of Israel,” Shaked said as she praised the results of her ministry’s initiatives, according to Ynet. “This is the new anti-Semitism, only today it is facing a strong and determined state.”
The BDS movement promotes financial, academic and cultural boycotts against Israel, ostensibly as a nonviolent struggle against the so-called “Israeli occupation.” Critics say its activities are a modern form of anti-Semitism and that its true objective is to destroy the State of Israel.
