“Don’t buy from Jews!” – the BDS movement
Israel is an apartheid state in which the non-Jewish population, especially the Arab population, is disadvantaged and the Arabs are second-class citizens, opponents of the Jewish state repeatedly claim.
In addition to the various Palestinian and Islamist terrorist groups that, supported by Iran, are fighting Israel with armed force, there is also a group that is trying to do this through economic, scientific and cultural exclusion.
In line with its credo, this group is called “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” – or BDS for short. It targets Israel’s existence by calling for the most comprehensive boycotts possible, the withdrawal of foreign investment from Israel and the imposition of sanctions against the Jewish state.
Boycotts are not only demanded for products from Israeli companies, but also, for example, that Israeli artists or Israeli artistic productions (e.g. films) may not participate in or be shown at international art events. Similarly, there should be no cooperation with Israeli researchers in the scientific and academic field.
Many representatives of the BDS movement deny Israel’s right to exist, such as its founder Omar Barthouti, who said: “We are definitely against a Jewish state in any part of Palestine.”
In his report to the US Congress , former terrorism analyst Jonathan Schanzer revealed financial and personal links between the BDS organization and supporters of Hamas.
The BDS movement was founded in 2005 by Palestinian organizations and is now active in numerous Western countries with local support committees. These are mostly made up of representatives of the political left. On an international level, the support of BDS by Pink Floyd musician Roger Waters, who has made a name for himself at previous concerts with blatantly anti-Semitic propaganda, is particularly well known.
In Switzerland, the best-known supporters of the BDS movement include the social democratic Geneva National Councillor Carlo Sommaruga, the former Graubünden National Councillor Andrea Hämmerle (also SPS), the former Green National Councillor and President of the Swiss-Palestinian Association Geri Müller, the former TV journalist Erich Gysling and the filmmaker Samir, who comes from an Iraqi family.
BDS actions banned in numerous countries
With its call to boycott everything that comes from the Jewish state of Israel and its “Don’t buy!” stickers, the BDS movement is reminiscent of the anti-Semitic calls of the German National Socialists. In 1933, before the actual persecution of Jews began, calls were made in Germany to boycott Jewish businesses with the demand “Don’t buy from Jews!”.
BDS campaigns are therefore classified as anti-Semitic by the government and parliament in Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic, among other countries. In France, BDS representatives have been convicted in court under the anti-racism penal code for their calls. In England, the Conservative government has banned all publicly funded institutions from promoting BDS.
In the USA, the federal government and the US Congress as well as the governments and parliaments of numerous states have also taken action against BDS. In 2015, then President Barack Obama signed a law stating that BDS campaigns must be explicitly rejected in free trade agreements with the EU. At parliamentary level, resolutions against the boycott of Israel were passed in both chambers (Senate and House of Representatives).
In 37 of the 50 US states, laws or regulations have now been passed that are directed against BDS and are intended to prevent calls for a boycott of Israel. For example, public sector suppliers have been prohibited from maintaining business relationships with companies that support BDS or other boycotts of Israel.
