The Zachor Legal Institute, a legal think tank and advocacy group, is urging the outgoing Trump administration to publish a list of anti-Israel BDS groups.
In a letter sent to Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism Elan Carr, Zachor identifies more than two dozen organizations tied to the BDS movement. Among those are several domestic organizations such as Jewish Voice for Peace, the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, IfNotNow and American Muslims for Palestine.
“The enclosed report identifies a number of organizations that promote BDS. While some of the identified organizations are not based in the United States, they often work together with domestic groups that should be covered by the BDS Statement,” the letter reads.
In November, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s announced that America would withdraw funding from groups that support the BDS movement, which he called “anti-Semitic.”
Pompeo said he had instructed Carr’s office “to identify organizations that engage in, or otherwise support, the global BDS campaign” to “consider whether an organization is engaged in actions that are politically motivated and are intended to penalize, or otherwise limit, commercial relations specifically with Israel or persons doing business in Israel or in any territory controlled by Israel.”
In line with Pompeo’s announcement, a senior Trump administration official told JNS that the administration plans to release the list in the next few weeks.
Marc Greendorfer, president of the Zachor Legal Institute, told JNS that with the incoming Biden administration “it is more important than ever to establish a clear and constitutional foundation that the federal government will not support anti-Semitism either here or abroad. There is no reason for the federal government to work with groups that promote the terror-backed global BDS movement, and this program simply ensures that the government will know who the anti-Semites are so they can prevent federal funds from being provided to the groups.”
He said that “we have needed a clear and concise statement from the federal government that all forms of anti-Semitism, including anti-Zionism, are unacceptable and must be confronted, and now we have that statement.”
