Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Thursday during his visit to Israel that the State Department will designate the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement as “anti-Semitic.” BDS is an international campaign that calls on people to pressure Israel over its human rights violations through various boycotts.
“Today I want to make one announcement with respect to a decision by the State Department that we will regard the global anti-Israel BDS campaign as anti-Semitic,” Pompeo said while meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. “Look, we want to stand with all other nations that recognize the BDS movement for the cancer that it is, and we’re committed to combating it.”
It’s not clear what the label from the State Department would mean, but Pompeo said the US will “identify organizations” that engage in BDS and “withdraw US government support for such groups.” The comments suggest organizations that boycott Israel could lose government funding.
Thirty-two US states currently have anti-BDS laws on the books that deny state funds to those who advocate boycotting Israel. The laws require state contractors to sign oaths pledging not to boycott the Jewish state. Such unconstitutional laws were passed due to lavish lobbying campaigns from pro-Israel groups. Israeli officials have also promoted the laws.
“Whoever boycotts us will be boycotted,” Netanyahu said in a tweet in February. “In recent years, we have promoted laws in most US states, which determine that strong action is to be taken against whoever tries to boycott Israel.”
Pompeo also visited a settlement in the West Bank on Thursday, making him the first US secretary of state to visit the occupied territory. Pompeo announced that any products made in West Bank settlements can now be labeled “Made in Israel.”
So far this Palestinian civil society project, to encourage Israel to keep to international law and allow rights to Palestinians whose land has been taken over, has been too successful for some Zionists. It is voluntary and positive, political not religious or racist. Of course, Pompass as usual, tags BDS an anti-Israel antisemitic campaign, following many states of the USA, plus the UK which has accepted a very biased definition of “antisemitic” which disallows any criticism of the “State of Israel” as antisemitic, even though Israel pretends to be a normal state treated as such. Look at the way the former Labour leader in the UK, the genuine non-racist , fair, peace-promoting worker- supporting Jeremy Corbyn, has been treated for daring to speak of Palestinian rights.
Freedom of speech has become a mockery in the USA and the UK. Money donations are the only “free speech” allowed in the USA.
Let’s see if I have this right. It is wrong to use BDS to protest against Israel’s illegal settlements and human rights violations, but it is perfectly fine to use BDS against Iran, a country that has refused to bend to the will of the U.S. and Israel and hasn’t attacked another country in centuries.
BDS is NOT the cancer Pompass! If someone robs a bank and I out him, does that mean I am telling on the guy because I don’t like him? Of Course not. If the laws on this planet only apply to common humanity and allow nations like Israel to brutalize people then we have NO justice! Pompass, if he REALY had any intention to make things better in the Middle East, would take a trip inside Gaza and the West Bank, not to some criminal settler post Israel has built on Palestinian lands! If Israel’s treatment of occupied peoples is OK for Pompass, then go there and prove it to the world scumbag!!!
The first settlement on the West Bank after the Six Day War was Kfar Etzion. The land was bought by Jews in 1927. In 1929, Palestinians destroyed the settlement. In the 1930, Jews rebuilt the settlement, but again it was destroyed by Palestinians. It was rebuilt in 1943, but destroyed again in 1948. 157 Jews were murdered. 4 Jews survived. It was rebuilt by the survivors in 1967. Why is Kfar Etzion criminal?
“Iran hasn’t attacked another country”.It is quite probable that they used proxy forces to bomb the Israeli embassy and a Jewish cultural center in Argentina. Their forces were in the Golan Heights way before the Syrian war. Their threats to destroy Israel are quite open and well known, and their bigoted propaganda is preparing their own people for the inevitable war.
State Department: We’ll kiss as much Israeli butt as Bibi orders us to.
This move is not about stopping the irrelevant BDS movement. It is about expanding the definition of hate crime to include any negative opinion of the Zionist Entity whatsoever. A criminal thought.
Trust the plan, sit there and make silly comments. That’ll stop the commies! Maybe a congressional hearing or two? Are there any better ways to stop creeping communism? Maybe we can hurt their feelings with some really mean comments?
Trump needs to go and take this piece of shit with him. I despise Biden but Pompeo makes me sick. I think I’ve had enough of the Netanyahu-Trump regime. The treasonous sonofabitch has done everything but hand the US over to Israel.
Anti-semitism is the crime committed by illegal amoral semites on other semites they are stealing the land from, militarily occupying under the umbrella of being literally an Apartheid State!!!
BDS! https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/67b965b5885044a5875c3a88dd3ba860b15d9d72a8c5018c8fa23258259e9c36.png
Anti semitism was the expulsion of the Jewish populations from Arab lands
in 2500bc?
Palestinian terrorists are conducting genocide against the Jews. The Palestinian Authority pays people to murder Jews. The more Jews they kill, the more money they get. That’s genocide! Why is there BDS against the Israeli victims of genocide, but no BDS against the Palestinian terrorists who are committing genocide?
“Why is there BDS against the Israeli victims of genocide, but no BDS against the Palestinian terrorists who are committing genocide?”
There’s plenty of BDS against Palestine and the Palestinians, including but not limited to Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Israeli embargo on Gaza, etc., aided and abetted by the US government (and some US state regimes which require loyalty oaths to Israel from government contractors, etc.).
The West Bank Palestinians could have declared independence in 1948. Instead, they asked for union with Jordan so when Jordanians attacked Israel it was also the Palestinians attacking Israel. The Israeli army had to go into the West Bank to silence the guns. That’s how the occupation began.
Unlike other occupiers (China, Russia, Turkey, Morocco) Israel offered to end the occupation in return for a peace treaty. Israel is still waiting.
The occupation is necessary to prevent Palestinian terrorists from murdering Jews. If Palestinians were willing to live in peace with Israelis, the occupation wouldn’t be necessary. If Israel were to end the occupation of the West Bank today, Palestinian terrorists would fire rockets & mortars from the West Bank just as Palestinian terrorists fired rockets & mortars from Gaza after Israel pulled out of Gaza.
Israel delivers hundreds of truckloads of food & supplies to Gaza every day. It’s not an embargo. It’s border control to stop Palestinian terrorists from getting more & better weapons to murder Jews.
And yet you whine like a child if anyone suggests that Israeli terrorists should in any way be impeded from getting more & better weapons to murder Palestinians.
Self-defense is not murder.
True.
Self-defense is not murder, whether the terrorist being defended from is Arab or Jewish.
And murder is not self-defense, whether the murderer is Jewish or Arab.
True.
Palestinian terrorists have fired thousands of unguided rockets at Israeli population centers killing or wounding 2,000 Israelis – a crime against humanity. Palestinian terrorists set Israeli crops on fire – a war crime. Why is it wrong for Israel to ask for more & better weapons to defend its people?
If it has enough troops and weapons to occupy the West Bank for half a century, it doesn’t lack for troops and weapons to defend its people.
And if it wants those weapons, why doesn’t it buy them with its own money instead of with a US welfare check?
Israelis are still being killed.
Why would anyone turn down free weapons?
Hamas says that after it defeats Israel it wants to conquer the rest of the world including the US.
It’s in our interest to give Israel weapons so that Israeli soldiers will fight Hamas over there rather than needing to have American soldiers fight Hamas here.
“Hamas says that after it defeats Israel it wants to conquer the rest of the world including the US.”
And I say that I want to fly to the moon by flapping my arms really, really, REALLY hard.
Hamas isn’t going to defeat Israel, if for no other reason than that it’s not trying to defeat Israel. The Israeli regime, the Hamas regime in Gaza, and the Palestinian Authority regime in the West Bank all have a permanent interest in never, ever, ever letting peace break out, because if it did the welfare checks for their politicians might stop coming.
Johnson11b,
Yeah Right! Israel also watches out for the Palestinians’ waistlines and AICs by limiting their calorie intake to about starvation level.
Obesity is a major problem in Gaza.
There’s plenty of food available in Gaza restaurants & shopping malls.
Malnutrition is a serious problem in Gaza, a recent study by the World Food Programme stated. It found that 86 percent of children under the age of 5 living near Gaza’s boundary with Israel did not have a minimal accepted diet. The World Food Program reported, too, that 28 percent of lactating women in Gaza have depleted levels of iron.
https://israelpalestinenews.org/under-israeli-blockade-gazas-families-suffer-malnutrition-and-misery/#:~:text=Malnutrition%20is%20a%20serious%20problem%20in%20Gaza%2C%20a,wome
The luxury hotels & shopping malls are taking more than their share.
Evidence that food is arriving in Israel meant for Gaza but is not being delivered to Gaza? If so, what happens to that food?
Palestinian terrorists were coming from Gaza into Israel to murder Jews. That’s why Israel built the fence. If Palestinian terrorists would stop murdering Jews, then the fence would no longer be needed & could be taken down.
The amount of food arriving in Gaza is determined by the Israeli’s. You said so yourself: “Israel delivers hundreds of truckloads of food & supplies to Gaza every day.”
Malnutrition is a serious problem in Gaza, a recent study by the World Food Programme stated. It found that 86 percent of children under the age of 5 living near Gaza’s boundary with Israel did not have a minimal accepted diet. The World Food Program reported, too, that 28 percent of lactating women in Gaza have depleted levels of iron.
2+2 = 4.
Countries send food for Israel to deliver to Gaza. Is Israel delivering all the food that is sent? If not, what’s happening to the food that Israel doesn’t deliver?
Would it be wrong for Israel to refuse to deliver any food as long as Palestinian terrorists are firing unguided rockets at Israeli population centers – a crime against humanity & setting Israeli crops on fire – a war crime?
Were we wrong for not delivering food to Nazi Germany during world war 2?
The amount of food that Gaza gets is also determined by Egypt. Egypt delivers ZERO food.
Why does Gaza need to import any food? Why isn’t Gaza self-sufficient in food?
So there is a malnutrition problem after all?
“Why does Gaza need to import any food? Why isn’t Gaza self-sufficient in food?”
Seriously?
You sounds like one of Trump’s whimpering white people who claim to be oppressed by minorities.
Are you denying that Palestinian terrorists have killed or wounded thousands of Jews.? Are you denying that even when there’s no physical injury, there’s psychological injury? Are you denying that most children in Sderot are suffering from PTSD?
Are you denying that Jewish terrorists have killed or wounded thousands of Palestinians.? Are you denying that even when there’s no physical injury, there’s psychological injury? Are you denying that most children in Gaza/West Bank are suffering from PTSD?
It has been a two way business- you don’t want to remember the Maaolot massacre, attacks on school buses, bombs in shopping malls, ect,because it would disturb your simplistic world view of good and evil
Tell that to the person I replied to. And WOW, you just admitted it’s a two way business. You might not get paid now.
So you assume that just because some one disagrees with you, they have ulterior motives or are the pawns of some vast conspiracy.
As far as stating that there has been much suffering and violence on both sides, unlike you, I am trying to be fair and honest.
“So you assume that just because some one disagrees with you, they have ulterior motives or are the pawns of some vast conspiracy.”
That doesn’t even make sense. Try to keep up with the comments. You actually said that it’s a “two way business” and that’s all my comment was pointing out to johson11b.
And once again find somewhere where I said there wasn’t suffering and violence on both sides. But please don’t tell me the suffering is equal.
You clearly implied that by voicing my opinions, I was being paid. Are YOU being paid by some shadowy power, or merely regurgitating leftist dogma?
I comment on all articles here. You, Johnson11b and a few others are strictly one trick ponies. You only comment on anything Israel and you defend them at every turn. If you don’t want to be accused of being a hasbara troll, stop acting like one.
I can only comment on what I know about.Since you know about everything everything,,I am truly awed.
I said I comment on all the articles here because I have more interest than only what is happening concerning Israel. I don’t claim to “know about everything, everything”. And admitting you know nothing about anything else somehow doesn’t surprise me.
Palestinian terrorists were lynching & oppressing Jews centuries before the first Zionist arrived. Palestinian terrorists have fired thousands of unguided rockets at Israeli population centers killing or wounding 2,000 Israelis – a crime against humanity. Palestinian terrorists set Israeli crops on fire – a war crime. The Palestinian Authority pays people to murder Jews. The more Jews they kill, the more money they get. More money than doctors or judges. Israel has every right to defend itself. Self-defense is brutal involving killing & injuring, but it’s not terrorism. Terrorism is targeting innocents.
You just aren’t worth having a discussion with. You are a hasbara troll(I’ve seen you elsewhere)who just keeps repeating the same nonsense over and over again. Your claims are dwarfed by what the Israeli’s have done to the Palestinians but you don’t care. As long as that paycheck keeps showing up you will keep trolling your bullshit.
No one pays me.
What did I say that you think is false? Please be specific.
Like I told the other Israeli firster, if you don’t want to be accused of being a hasbara troll, stop acting like one.
I have been specific but you answer everything with the same copy and paste garbage so it’s obvious that you ignore any specificity that I bring up.
Jewish population 1948: 716,700
Jewish population 2020: 6,841,000
As you would say, not genocide.
The Palestinian population has also grown-not even a trace of your so called genocide
My so called genocide? Find where I said anything about genocide. I was just using the hasbara’s tactic.
The purpose of BDS is to eliminate the world’s only majority-Jewish state.
Omar Barghouti. Founder of the BDS Movement. Graduate of Tel Aviv University says, “definitely, most definitely, we oppose a Jewish state in any part of Palestine. No Palestinian, rational Palestinian, not a sell-out Palestinian, will ever accept a Jewish state”
Which models of democracy do Americans agree with and which model does Israel use? I kind of remember the history books saying that my ancestors came to the United States to escape religious bigotry. Americans would not support Saudi Arabia against it’s minorities if it were the last democratic Islamic state on earth, for the one simple reason that we deeply believe in full participatory pluralistic democracy.
Participatory democracy
is a model of democracy in which citizens have the power to decide
directly on policy and politicians are responsible for implementing
those policy decisions.
Pluralist democracy
is a model of democracy in which no one group dominates politics and organized groups compete with each other to influence policy.
Elite democracy
is a model of democracy in which a small number of people, usually
those who are wealthy and well-educated, influence political decision making.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
What do you believe?
Direct Democracy is the only upgrade i’m seeking…
Pluralist democracy
The new Jewish Nation-State Basic Law makes official that:
The land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people only (as God’s covenant to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob stipulates); from…
The Israelites’ ancient language, Hebrew, is now the official language of the land
The biblical calendar is now the official calendar of Israel
Keeping the biblical Sabbath is now a nationwide…
Yet street signs are in English and Arabic.what is the official language of the Arab states-Yoruba? There are more Arabs living well in Israel than there are Jews living in any Arab land.
We weren’t talking about the Arab states we were talking about Israel. And it doesn’t matter how “well” the Arabs are living in Israel. I responded to another comment that said Israel has a pluralist democracy while completely ignoring the Jewish Nation-State Basic Law which can’t remotely be considered anything resembling a democracy. But instead of refuting what I said you trot out the tried and true hasbara bullshit. Well done. I’m sure your check is in the mail.
Israel was ranked 28 out of 167 on The Economist’s Democracy Index. That’s better than Belgium, Italy, Greece, Cyprus & at least a dozen other European countries.
Once more, but go ahead and ignore it:
The new Jewish Nation-State Basic Law makes official that:
The land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people only (as God’s covenant to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob stipulates); from…
The Israelites’ ancient language, Hebrew, is now the official language of the land
The biblical calendar is now the official calendar of Israel
Keeping the biblical Sabbath is now a nationwide..
Where does it say “The land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people only?”
What point are you trying to make in talking about the Nation State Law? What reaction did you want from me?
Can’t you read? I quoted that, it’s not my opinion.
My point is that a country that says part of it’s citizens have a right to self determination while another part doesn’t isn’t a democracy. And I could care less what your reaction is.
Israel is ranked as a “flawed democracy” on the Economist’s Democracy Index. Only 22 countries are ranked as “full democracies.” Israel gets only 5.88 points out of ten on civil liberties. Last year, the Israeli regime banned candidates of three parties from even being allowed to run for office, let alone hold it.
“Better than that military dictatorship over there” /= “good.”
Meanwhile, in the supposedly better democracies such as Sweden,France or Britain, wearing a skullcap on the street will cause you to be abused, assaulted, or worse. The so called democacies will not deal with this
Israel is more democratic than 83% of the countries in the world! That’s an amazing accomplishment for a country that’s been under attack since day one.
By contrast, we Americans locked American citizens of Japanese descent in concentration camps during world war 2 & we confiscated Joe DiMaggio’s father’s fishing boat because he was of Italian descent.
So when yo have lost your argument you resort to name calling, Ha! Are you being paid?,or merely lost in your own dogma?
By the way,in the tragedy that is the MidEast, show me a country that approaches democracy better than Israel!
I didn’t call you any names. You don’t comment on anything other than to defend Israel. That’s a perfect description of what a hasbara trolls does.
Israel has a nation state law that only allows a certain segment of the population to have the right to self determination. If you want to call that a democracy, feel free.
What is the term “hasbara troll” if not a derogatory term.when you loose arguments, you resort to personal attacks. Typical half educated creature
“What is the term “hasbara troll” if not a derogatory term.”
An apt description.
In other worlds, when you have lost your argument, you resort to name calling. Very mature.
No, it was a description of someone who only comments on anything Israel and can find no fault with their budding apartheid. I didn’t lose any argument since you define exactly what I described. If I was inaccurate, you might have a case. But you don’t since you are what you are.
Johnson11b,
Whom am I to trust – you or my eyes and brain?
What did I say that you think is false? Please be specific.
Well – it is not what you said – it is what you don’t say, e.g. “The purpose of BDS is to eliminate the world’s only majority-Jewish state” – the (missing part – the reality) is that the purpose of BDS is TO PREVENT the non-majority Jewish state from denying the Palestinians their own portion of the original land of Palestine. I believe that given compensation for personal property originally stolen from them, most Palestinians would accept the separation done in 1947, as an old, but now unrepairable wrong.
In 1947, the scholars at Al-Azhar University (The highest authority in Sunni Islam.) declared holy war to return Palestine to Islamic rule. Therefore, as long as most Palestinians are devout Muslims (85% of Palestinian Muslims want sharia law.) and as long as the Jewish State controls even one square inch of land, peace is impossible.
There is no “highest authority in Sunni Islam.” Sunni Islam has neither a clerical hierarchy nor a centralized legal authority.
Benny Morris uses the words “the Ulama or chief scholars.”
I don’t care if Benny Morris uses the words onomatopoeia and supercalifragilisticexpialadocious. Al-Azhar is one of several competing centers of Islamic scholarship in both the religious and legal fields. Some Sunnis support it, some support other sources of “authority.”
Well, If quoting some obscure official makes such a statement into the unified opinion of a whole society – let’s examine the statement made once by some screwball Israeli politician who opined that the ideal place for the Palestinians was at the bottom of the Dead Sea. (and you know that that is true – enough of your Yeshiva tactics).
What the people would accept in order to have peace and spare the lives of their children is one thing, what the leaders would accept is another.No Arab leader will give up Jerusalem , or even agree to sharing it.By the way,who compensated the Jewish refugees expelled from their homes in the Arab world?.
I guess that means I’m an Anti-Semite.
abraham the progenitor of the hebrews was from the city of Ur in what today is Iraq.. interestingly, iraqis still look iraqi.. do those professing to be the descendants of abraham look remotely iraqi to anyone? NOPE!
Do you have nose charts and skin charts, ala the nazis? you will find people of varying appearances in both Iraq and among Jewish people.People interbreed voluntarily and involuntarily,populations migrate.There are many ethnic groups in virtually every country-they are all people.
And yet you’re constantly screeching that Israel has a “right” to “defend itself” against such interbreeding and migration.
Quite the contrary-I NEVER said that people should not mate or marry whom they wish. That is a purely personal matter. As far as migration-Israel represents a reservation of last resort-Could you or I live on a Native American reservation. Would I be allowed to migrate to Egypt?
By the way- show me where I have “screeched” or was otherwise intemperate.
You support the Israeli regime, and dismiss any complaints about its apartheid policies as unfounded because REASONS.
Borders are gang turf lines. That’s as true of Egypt’s borders as of Israel’s.
What apartheid policies?
You are conflating what others say and what I say.Bad logic.I do not “screech”-I am a person, not an owl Uncalled for denigration..Unfortunately, when your neighbors are out to kill you, you must separate themselves from them If a mass of pitiful homeless people camp on your property, would you allow it?.I do not support eviction of peaceful people from their homes, whatever their ethnicity.
What does your use of the word REASONS mean?
Since you don’t believe in borders. would you be pleased if a narcoterrorist moved in next door to you?
I would have no problem with a drug dealer moving in next door to me. “Narcoterrorists” are entirely a creation of borders-based drug prohibition. How much terrorism do you see around the provision of Prozac or aspirin?
The Romans dragged Jews to Europe to be slaves. Their DNA shows their Middle East roots. Arabs are also mixed. 13 million black Africans were brought to the Middle East as slaves so Arabs now are darker than Arabs 2,000 years ago.
bds is NOT anti semitic, its a righteous protest against israel for stealing palestine
It is the Arab nations who stole he homes of the Jewish peole living in their midst.
Israel did not steal Palestine.
Virginia used to be much bigger before it split into Virginia & West Virginia. Did West Virginia steal Virginia? Of course not!
Does Virginia occupy West Virginia? Do they bulldoze West Virginian’s homes? Do they have a Nation State Law that gives the West Virginian’s less rights than those in Virginia?
Before any bulldozing or Nation State Law, was the partition itself theft?
What rights did the average Arab Israeli lose when the Nation State Law was passed? Please be specific.
I didn’t reply to the partition itself. But that was a smooth way of avoiding justifying the bulldozing of people’s homes.
The right to self determination.
BDS demands free speech, yet they are quite disruptive of meetings of pro Israeli groups. They deny the reality that any Jews are native to Israel or the mideast-yet their own leader is a native of Qatar.
Has BDS managed to get US states to pass laws requiring government contractors to sign loyalty oaths to Palestine?
This is the nature of politics. Where was your concern when corporate America bowed to the Saudi boycott if of Israel in the 1950’s and 1960’s?
I wasn’t born until 1966. But when I was in Saudi Arabia and couldn’t get certain products because of the boycott, I thought it was idiotic and said so, in the hearing of someone I took to be a minor member of the Saudi royal family.
Zeeg heil, y’all!
As ludicrously Orwellian as banning the original anti Apartheid movement as being anti white.
BDS is a silly distraction; boycotts never succeed; neither do sanctions and tariffs ultimately