“Needless to say, the Declaration on the Palestinian Question is biased, blind to facts or reality, and partially anti-Semitic,” Labor MK Hilik Bar charged.
Israel’s Labor Party announced it was leaving the Socialist International after it declared its support for the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement.
The Council of the Socialist International (SI) recently called for a “total embargo on all forms of military trade and cooperation with Israel as long as it continues its policies of occupation and Apartheid against the people of Palestine.”
Socialist International brings together 140 left-wing political parties from around world, including 35 government parties in South Africa, Argentina, Spain, Colombia, Portugal, Tanzania, Luxemburg, Romania, Iraq and elsewhere.
The SI reaffirmed the “Palestinian people’s right to self-determination” and called on governments and civil organizations to “activate boycott, divestment and sanctions against the Israeli occupation.”
SI strongly condemned Israel’s alleged “racist laws,” and expressed its solidarity with “Palestinian citizens of Israel,” who “continue to live under a system of institutionalized discrimination.”
This resolution was proposed several times in the past and has failed until this year.
Boycott Decision a ‘Game-Changer’ for BDS
Mahmoud Nawajaa, general coordinator of the Palestinian BDS National Committee, called the decision a “game-changer” for BDS and “the most significant call for sanctions against Israel to date since BDS was launched in 2005.”
Responding to this virulent anti-Israel resolution, Israel’s Labor Party announced it was ending its decades-old membership in the organization.
The party’s international chairman, Member of Knesset (MK) Hilik Bar, dispatched a missive to the SI on Tuesday condemning the decision as “miserable, hypocritical and evil.” He demanded that the organization stop including any reference to Israel’s Labor party in its membership information, publications, speeches or events.
“Needless to say, the Declaration on the Palestinian Question is biased, blind to facts or reality, and partially anti-Semitic,” Bar charged. “The Declaration further weakens the alleged legitimacy of the organization you lead. The language and arguments of the Declaration makes it clear that until its cancellation – there is no real dialogue to have with you or with your organization on this issue.”
BDS Declaration ‘Will Distance Peace’
Bar underscored that the declaration will distance the prospects of peace process between Israel and the Palestinians.
“In the declaration, you reiterate your ‘solidarity with the progressive forces in Israel,’” Bar wrote. “As the international secretary of the Israeli Labor party, as a leader in the party and on behalf of the Labor Party leadership, the largest progressive party in the Israeli parliament, let me assure you that until the full and formal cancellation of this poor one-sided and miserable declaration, your ‘solidarity’ is not desirable.”
