The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved 398-17 a bipartisan resolution opposing the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement which calls for a worldwide boycott of Israel.
Reps. Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez were among the 16 Democrats who voted against House Resolution 246. Rep. Thomas Massie was the only Republican to oppose it.
The BDS movement attempts to undermine and destabilize Israel and use economic tools to boycott Israeli goods and services and punish individuals and entities supporting Israel. It uses harassment and intimidation to turn Israel’s supporters against the country and distorts reality and facts to apply maximum, harmful pressure on the Jewish state of Israel and on the Jewish people. Neither those who support the BDS movement as a whole nor its individual supporters are distancing themselves from Hamas, a designated foreign terrorist organization that rules the Gaza Strip. Hamas declares jihad against Israel as an obligation, uses women and children as human shields, denies humanitarian aid to its own people, and engages in many more deadly and dangerous terror-inspired activities.
In the United States, Jewish students on college campuses are being subjected to blatant anti-Semitism and threats. At New York University, following the student government’s passage of a resolution supporting BDS, the Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life was temporarily closed after a student issued threatening messages on social media expressing his desire for Zionists to die. A University of Michigan professor also refused to write a letter of recommendation for a qualified student to study abroad solely because she was seeking to study abroad in Israel.
Rep. Lee Zeldin co-authored the resolution and condemns the blatantly anti-Semitic and anti-Israel BDS movement. In a Tweet Zeldin wrote, “Israel is our best ally in the Mid East [sic]; a beacon of hope, freedom & liberty, surrounded by existential threats. Shame on Rep Omar for bringing her hateful twist on that reality to House Foreign [Affairs] today, propping up the BDS movement & blaming Israel for all of its challenges.”
Liberty Counsel’s Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “Israel is a leader in economy and a world leader in technology, business, agriculture and more, and this resolution acknowledges Israel as America’s greatest ally in the Middle East. It’s time to stop the hate-fueled speech and actions of Reps. Omar, Tlaib, and Ocasio-Cortez who want to delegitimize Israel by cutting off all trade, tourism, military, diplomatic and cultural ties with the rest of the world. That is anti-Semitic at its core. Israel has more legitimate and historical right to its land than any country in the world. Divesting in Israel will only harm those who divest.”
