The BDS Movement: Between Criminalization and Antisemitism

The BDS movement condemned what Bahraini Foreign Minister “Abdul Latif bin Rashid Al Zayani” said that he would welcome the Israeli foreign minister in Manama next month, after the Bahraini delegation visited the Israeli occupation state headed by Foreign Minister “Abdul Latif bin Rashid Al Zayani” to complete the Bahraini-Israeli normalization agreement.

The BDS movement condemned what was confirmed by media sources that the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi – “Mohammed bin Zayed” issued an official invitation to the head of the Israeli government – “Benjamin Netanyahu” to visit the UAE in the first visit of its kind.

The BDS movement also launched the hashtag on Twitter, "Al-Aqsa rejects you" on Tuesday night, November 17, 2020, rejecting the Bahrain delegation's visit to occupied Jerusalem and the signing of the normalization agreement with the Israeli government.

For its part, the BDS movement denounced what the UAE-based “Etihad” Airways called for the Emiratis to visit "Tel Aviv" by promoting participation in tourist trips to the occupied Palestinian territories as "Israel", by publishing a video of a hostess who speaks "the Hebrew language" fluently and shows the alleged Zionist structure Instead of Al-Aqsa Mosque, and steal the most popular Palestinian food and claim it as "Israel".

On the other hand, the Palestinian National Committee for Boycotting Israel launched the standards of boycott and anti-normalization, and the most important thing in it is the standard for accountability for normalization, in addition to the standards for media normalization. It also condemned the organization of the Emirates Policy Center, the Seventh Abu Dhabi Strategic Forum 2020, in partnership with the Israeli National Security Research Institute (INSS), and with the participation of the Institute’s Executive Director and the retired Major General in the Occupation Army, Amos Yadlin, and the Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Alon Auschwitz. As well as the advisor to the US President on the "Abraham" agreements, "Brian Hook".

In the same context, Tunisia renewed its country's support for Palestine and Palestinian rights, reaffirming its firm belief in the justice of the Palestinian cause and its acclaim for the continuous struggle of the Palestinian people, calling on the international community to assume its responsibilities to end the injustice of the Palestinian people and confront the expansionist "settlement plans" in the occupied Palestinian territories.

In a related development, the BDS movement commented on the statements of the US Secretary of State hostile to the BDS movement, that the definition of anti-Semitism is false. As Human rights organizations can be charged with "anti-Semitism", which is not part of the boycott movement but supports the banning of colonial goods, and even 22% of American Jews under the age of 40 who support a complete boycott of Israel, according to a recent poll.

Emphasizing that the Trump-Netanyahu alliance, which is extremist in its racism and hostility to the Palestinian people, intentionally mixes the rejection of the Israeli occupation, colonialism and apartheid regime against the Palestinians and calls for a boycott on the one hand and anti-Jewish racism on the other hand, with the aim of suppressing and silencing calls and movements in support of Palestinian rights under international law. Dozens of progressive Jewish organizations, as well as hundreds of prominent Jewish intellectuals worldwide, have condemned this false and deceptive definition of anti-Semitism.

The BDS movement also organized a workshop entitled "Toward Universities Free from Colonialism" to resist oppression in universities with Dima Al Khalidi, "Durg Knight" from India, Hilbert Choatchi from Colombia, Asil Hussein from Palestine, and "Natasha Ion" from Britain.