New report suggests BDS gaining popularity among far-right groups
The report used open-source information to assess whether there is an overlap of ideologies between the far Right and far Left.
By JEREMY SHARONSupporters of white nationalist leader Jason Kessler arrive to take a subway to leave the area after a Washington, D.C. rally marking the one year anniversary of the 2017 Charlottesville ‘Unite the Right’ protests, while en route to Vienna, Virginia, U.S. August 12, 2018(photo credit: REUTERS)
has underlined the affinity of far-right, neo-Nazi, and white supremacist groups for the anti-Israel hatred of the far-left and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.The report, produced by the StopAntisemitism organization and the Zachor Legal Institute, used open-source information to assess whether there is an overlap of ideologies between the far Right and far Left.It also looked at the activities of prominent and central proponents of the BDS movement, finding that many comments made by such activists would be deemed antisemitic according to the working definition of antisemitism by the respected International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance organization.The report noted that the neo-Nazi Daily Stormer website and the Stormfront web forum both shared leaks published by anti-Zionist website Electronic Intifada of an unpublished Al Jazeera documentary called “The Lobby” on pro-Israel activism.The Daily Stormer also published an op-ed praising controversial US Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib for comments in which she distorted history by claiming that Palestinians had helped save Jewish lives in the Holocaust by creating a safe haven for Jews in Mandate Palestine.Additionally, the report points to support voiced on far-right forums for the BDS campaign, including backing from infamous antisemite and former “Grand Wizard” of the Ku Klux Klan David Duke.As well as looking at the predilection of anti-Israel and far-right groups to entertain similar ideas about the Jewish state, the report also points to antisemitic activity by the BDS movement.It noted that BDS founder Omar Barghouti said that no Palestinian “would ever accept a Jewish state in Palestine,” and that the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (“PACBI), the cultural and academic division of the BDS National Committee, has compared Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.It also highlighted the antisemitic rhetoric and imagery used by Salah Khawaja, a BNC secretariat member, and other prominent members of the BDS movement.“It is impossible to ignore the relationship between BDS activity and growing antisemitic incidents generally and antisemitism on campuses in particular,” said Marc Greendorfer, president of Zachor Legal Institute.
“Our report provides evidence that [US] state and federal legislators need to act, as they have with regard to so many other minority groups that have been targeted with hate and discrimination, to protect American Jews from the demonization and delegitimization campaign promoted by BDS.”
