US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that Washington will take measures against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, which seeks to isolate Israel over its treatment of the Palestinians.
Washington “will regard the global anti-Israel BDS campaign as anti-Semitic,” he said.
“We will immediately take steps to identify organizations that engage in hateful BDS conduct and withdraw US government support for such groups,” Pompeo said.
Mike Pompeo said he will make the first visit by a US secretary of state to the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, after labelling the pro-Palestinian BDS movement an anti-Semitic "cancer"https://t.co/eIBWHZUzp9
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) November 19, 2020
“We want to stand with all other nations that recognize the BDS movement for the cancer that it is.”
Israel sees BDS as a strategic threat and has long accused it of anti-Semitism.
Activists strongly deny the charge, comparing the boycott to the economic isolation that helped bring down apartheid in South Africa.
Palestinians protest against US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s planned visits to the Golan Heights and an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank pic.twitter.com/5nx6sf0Mqe
— TRT World (@trtworld) November 18, 2020
Last week Pompeo announced his intention to create a new process by which Washington can label organizations and NGOs as “anti-Semitic”, Politico reported on Wednesday.
Three people close to the issue confirmed the move, saying Pompeo may hold off on making an announcement.
Pompeo made the first visit by a US secretary of state to the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Thursday, after labeling the pro-Palestinian BDS movement an anti-Semitic “cancer”.
(Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, PC, Social Media)
This is yet another worrying development. Increasingly, debate about Israeli policies regarding Palestine and Palestinians is being closed down under the pretext of anti-Semitism. I abhor any type of racism, and think it is completely unacceptable when the charge of racism is used to supress legitimate criticism of illegal settlements in occupied Palestine. Unfortunately, it appears that this tactic is increasingly being used and it must be robustly refuted.