A small group of Palestinian Authority organizers converged on the Representative Office of Germany in Ramallah last week to protest against the German Bundestag’s recent condemnation of the BDS movement as anti-Semitic.
According to a press release from Israel’s Strategic Affairs Ministry, the protest “was led by members of the BDS National Committee [an umbrella group of 28 BDS organizations] based in Ramallah, including the Palestinian National and Islamic Forces (PNIF), which includes members of the internationally recognized terrorist groups Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Islamic Jihad.”
PNIF member Salah Khawaja, who has spent time in an Israeli prison, said, “We consider this to be the start of protests, in all their forms, including diplomatic and political protest against German institutions around the world.”
On May 17, German lawmakers approved a resolution condemning BDS, the first such resolution in Europe. Though non-binding, the resolution stated that “the pattern of argument and methods of the BDS movement are anti-Semitic.”
“The campaign’s calls to boycott Israeli artists, along with stickers on Israeli goods that are meant to dissuade people from buying them, are also reminiscent of the most terrible phase of German history,” the resolution stated.
Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan published a report in February titled “Terrorists in Suits,” revealing the links between BDS organizations and known terrorists.
Erdan took to Twitter to praise the Bundestag for its decision.
“An historic day in the fight against the anti-Semitic #BDS campaign! Germany’s @Bundestag just passed a resolution condemning BDS & anti-Israel delegitimization, and calling on government offices not to support or fund BDS. The true face of BDS is being exposed!”
