The IDU is the counterpart of the Socialist Internationale, which Israel's Labor Party quit in July after it adopted a resolution joining the Boycott Divest and Sanction Israel campaign.
By GIL HOFFMANUpdated: SEPTEMBER 21, 2018 03:28From Left: Canadian MP Tony Clement, Likud director-general Tzuri Sisso, IDU chairman and former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper, and Likud foreign affairs director Eli Hazan(photo credit: Courtesy)
The Likud was formally accepted as the 73rd member of the International Democratic Union, the largest organization of Center-Right parties in the world, in a ceremony Tuesday at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, CA.The IDU includes the parties of US President Donald Trump, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and British Prime Minister Theresa May. It is chaired by former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper.Likud foreign affairs director Eli Hazan worked on getting the Likud into the IDU for two years. He attended the ceremony along with Likud director-general Tzuri Sisso. A delegation of 14 IDU politicians from around the world visited Israel in March.The IDU is the counterpart of the Socialist Internationale, which Israel's Labor Party quit in July after it adopted a resolution joining the Boycott Divest and Sanction Israel campaign.The Socialist International resolution that passed “calls all governments and civil society organizations to activate boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against the Israeli occupation, all the occupation institutions, and the illegal Israeli settlements including the 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 Palestinian people.”The IDU is the fourth international organization the Likud has joined in the past four years."While Labor had to leave the Socialist Internationale after it adopted an anti-Israel narrative, the Likud is going in the opposite direction," Hazan said.
