BDS Co-Founder: Several Congressional Dems ‘On Their Way’ to Supporting BDS, It’s ‘Next Step’ from Opposing Military Aid

On Thursday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Ayman Mohyeldin Reports,” Omar Barghouti, the co-founder of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, stated that several Congressional Democrats are “on their way” to supporting the movement. He specifically cited rhetoric from Reps. Cori Bush (D-MO) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and said that if you believe Israel is an apartheid nation, you should oppose sending military aid to them, and “The next step would be supporting BDS.”

Host Ayman Mohyeldin asked, “[T]here have been several Congressional Democrats who have publicly called for the U.S. to stop selling weapons to Israel. They are big supporters of the Palestinian people, but they’re not supporters of BDS and they think that it’s actually harmful for the broader cause of what they’re trying to do. Your reaction to what you’re seeing play out among members of Congress trying to help Palestinians but don’t support BDS.”

Barghouti responded, “They don’t support yet. They’re on their way. They’re getting there. Now, they realize Israel is an apartheid state. That was an absolute taboo just a year ago. Today, how many members of Congress are saying Israel is an apartheid state? How many members of Congress are calling for conditioning aid to Israel or cutting military funding for Israel altogether? Cori Bush, for example, Congresswoman Cori Bush connected Palestinian liberation with the Black Lives Matter movement, saying that let’s not send any military funding to an apartheid regime, we must be anti-apartheid, period, she said. AOC said apartheid is no democracy. So, those voices are rising. The next logical step is, what do you do with apartheid? … U.S. laws themselves say the U.S. should not be selling weapons, giving military funding to a regime like Israel’s, an apartheid regime that’s committing horrific war crimes and crimes against humanity. So, increasingly, members of Congress are saying that should be done. The next step would be supporting BDS. But the most important demand of BDS in the U.S. is end U.S. military funding to Israel and spend it on social, health, education in the United States.”

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