Israeli Minister Denounces BDS at EU Conference in Brussels

Pro Palestinian demonstrators march through central London on July 25, 2014 in London, Eng
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Israeli Minister for Social Equality Gila Gamliel condemned the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement during a European Union conference on Monday.

“All European countries must send a clear message against boycott, as they did in Britain and Germany,” Gamliel said at the conference titled “Israel: Include. Invest. Involve.”

The gathering in the European Union parliament in Brussels was organized by the Europe Israel Public Affairs lobby.

“The BDS movement, which has in recent years encouraged diplomatic terrorism against the State of Israel by spreading lies on campuses and at anti-Semitic events around the world, is not interested in finding a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but rather works to isolate Israel from the rest of the world and undermines its right to exist as a democratic and Jewish state,” Gamliel, a member of Israel’s ruling Likud party, said, according to the Algemeiner.

The Hebrew paper Israel Hayom reported that the European Parliament hosted a conference in support of the BDS movement on the same day as the pro-Israel event.

Great Britain in October issued new regulations aimed to “stop politically motivated boycott and divestment campaigns” states the Algemeiner.

Boycott measures, supported by Labour party leaders and left-wing councils, “use their pension policies to punish both Israel and the UK defense industry” — something that “faith leaders” are concerned might “fuel anti-Semitism,” the British government said at the time.

BDS activists in Britain sued the government in December over the new regulation, which they argued infringes on their right to promote boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel.

“While our government tries to take our right to this form of peaceful protest away, we are standing strong — we are going to make them answer their case in court,” the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) said in a statement last month.

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