Free Republic

Controversial congresswoman says "existence" of PM is "contradictory" to peace, reiterates support for BDS.Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar called Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's "existence" a problem in an interview with CBS' Face the Nation program. "I certainly hope that the people of Israel make a different decision. And my hope is that they recognize that his existence, his policies, his rhetoric really is contradictory to the peace that we are all hoping that that region receives and receives soon," Omar told host Margaret Brennan. The congresswoman then reiterated her support for the anti-Israel BDS movement. "Just right now if you...

The United Nations is set to vote next week to fund a "blacklist" of Israeli and international companies operating in Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and in Judea and Samaria. The vote, which will take place in the Fifth Committee which oversees the UN's budget and administration, will authorize funding for the UN's Human Rights Council to compile the list. The intent to create the list, which is expected to be utilized by Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) activists for anti-Israel activities, caused an international uproar when it was announced last March. Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, announced...

Hard left activists are trying to exclude Jews who do not renounce Israel from "progressive" organizations. Last year, Rabbi Susan Talve, a longtime activist on race issues in the St. Louis area was told that her advocacy for Israel was incompatible with the objectives of Black Lives Matter: "Solidarity from Ferguson to Palestine has become a central tenet of the movement" she was informed, because "Israeli and U.S. state oppression are deeply interconnected." Similarly, a student who attended a Black Lives Matter rally at Northwestern University last year was told "you support Israel, so you cannot also support us." Recently,...

US Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro addressed the 2016 Herzliya Conference on Wednesday, noting the close social, economic, and political ties between the US and Israel. “Israel is home to over 2,500 US firms,” Shapiro said, pointing out that there “are more Israeli companies listed on the NASDAQ exchange than Indian, Japanese, and Korean listings combined.” Looking to shore up President Barack Obama’s pro-Israel bona fides after more than seven years of diplomatic tensions with the Israeli government, Shapiro claimed the US President admired Israel for its many accomplishments. “’Americans admire a people’, said President Nixon, “who can scratch a...

BDS Flounders Amid String of Humiliating Defeats How anti-BDS legislation has neutered the group and hampered its ability to function. May 31, 2016 Ari Lieberman    It’s been a really bad month for the anti-Semitic BDS movement, a strange alliance of radical leftists and Islamists who advocate the destruction of Israel through economic and cultural boycotts.  The hate group suffered a number of major setbacks in recent weeks. Some of these reversals represent mere moral victories but others have far reaching consequences that may well spell doom for BDS’s future operations and ability to function.  In May, the Strasbourg-based...

To defeat the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel, it is first necessary to understand it. The BDS campaign is an extraordinary phenomenon. Activists from US coast to coast robotically parrot the same lies, employ the same tactics of bullying, intimidating and silencing pro-Israel activists and speakers on campus after campus. Their goals are uniform. They seek to silence pro-Israel voices in US academia as a means to destroy general public support for Israel in America. And they seek to make Jew-hatred socially acceptable in elite circles in America for the first time since the Holocaust. This month it...

An Italian academic appeal to boycott Israeli universities succeeded in obtaining 336 signatures. Of these teachers and researchers, a tenth come from the University of Bologna. But in this oldest university in Europe, no one has shown enough concern to raise a moral issue about the big deal that the Alma Mater Studiorum of Bologna has just signed with Saudi Arabia. Not only that, but some of the protagonists of this academic pact appear in the appeal against the Israeli teachers. It should have been enough to read the report of Freedom House on Saudi universities to figure that maybe...

President Barack Obama has announced in a rare statement that he will not follow newly passed measures aimed at boosting the Israeli economy and strengthening ties between the United States and the Jewish state, according to a statement issued by the president. Obama stated that while he would sign the new trade resolution, portions of which focus on combatting economic boycotts of Israel, he would not enforce certain pro-Israel provisions that order the United States to stop partnering with countries that support the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, or BDS, which aims to isolate Israel. The president’s rejection of these...

A mail from the Cargo Systems Messaging Service of the US Customs and Border Protection dated to this Saturday, and revealed by Channel 1's "Mabat" show on Thursday, shows the US is now required products from Judea and Samaria to be labeled differently. In new instructions on marking requirements sent out to American importers, goods from Judea and Samaria are not to be marked "Israel." Those who do not comply are to be sanctioned. "West Bank Country of Origin Marking Requirements," reads the title of the mail, which begins by clarifying that "the purpose of this message is to provide...

It further notes: "There are specific times, however, when we must recognize that a company is very unlikely -- or unable to -- discontinue activities in certain parts of the world that we have classified as 'high-risk.' When activities in high-risk countries and areas represent a significant part of a company's business, we will avoid investing until the company has changed its business practices. Avoiding such investments supports our commitment to sustainable investing, which we believe ultimately improves the performance of our investment funds." Israel-Palestine, North Korea and several African and Middle Eastern countries round out a list of 14...

From BDS to Ferguson: Columbia U. Panel Takes Aim at Israel Profs declare: 'There's no future for a Jewish state.' January 13, 2016 Mara Schiffren The nexus between boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) and Black Lives Matter activists that began with the 2014 protests following the police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri culminated in a recent panel discussion at Columbia University. The second in an annual BDS series sponsored by the Center for Palestine Studies, "The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement: Struggle and Solidarity" took place at Columbia Law School. Students, faculty, BDS activists, and community members...

The pension board of the United Methodist Church -- one of the largest Protestant denominations in the United States, with more than seven million members -- has placed five Israeli banks on a list of companies that it will not invest in for human rights reasons, the board said in a statement on Tuesday. It appeared to be the first time that a pension fund of a large American church had taken such a step regarding the Israeli banks, which help finance settlement construction in what most of the world considers illegally occupied Palestinian territories. Wine being prepared for export...

"Ins'Allah!": Obama Chanukah Party Attacks Islamophobia, Calls for "Justice" for Palestinians "I stand here to light these lights to say no the darkness of Islamophobia" December 10, 2015 Daniel Greenfield Obama's Chanukah parties have had issues in the past. But this time it teetered over into full-blown violently offensive territory. Obama's own remarks were boilerplate inoffensive stuff. Israel's President Rivlin, a political hack who desperately sucks up to the media, was equally insipid. But the White House chose Susan Talve to light the Menorah. Talve is a member of the anti-Israel group T'ruah which is currently promoting assorted "soft BDS"...

Leave to Barack Obama to turn what should be a celebration of the Jewish people’s survival in the face of adversity into a politicized rant celebrating the cause of the Palestinians, who want to “drive them into the sea,” as has been promised since the birth of the modern State of Israel. Daniel Greenfield reports on what should have been the highlight of this year’s White House ceremony at Front Page Magazine: …the White House chose Susan Talve to light the Menorah. Talve is a member of the anti-Israel group T'ruah which is currently promoting assorted "soft BDS" programs. She's...

The one saving grace about anti-Semites is that, contrary to Barack Obama’s famous claim, they generally are irrational and, therefore, they often overreach. The anti-Israel boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement has been doing exactly that recently. In the past month alone, it has suffered three resounding and damaging failures. The first, of course, was its “success” in pressuring a Spanish reggae festival to disinvite American Jewish singer Matisyahu unless he issued a statement backing a Palestinian state. Matisyahu, to his credit, didn’t merely refuse; he also made sure the world knew why he wouldn’t be appearing as scheduled. The subsequent...

The Icelandic capital of Reykjavik has announced that it will boycott all products made in Israel “as long as the occupation of Palestinian territories continues.” The boycott not does limit itself to Judea and Samaria, but instead targets all of Israel. An explanatory memorandum claims that it is merely a symbolic gesture, though, and there is no list of specific Israel companies or products included. Björk Vilhelmsdóttir, an outgoing councilwomen representing the Social Democratic Alliance, introduced the bill. This is expected to be her last major action as part of the city council. …

Scientists in Israel have announced a breakthrough in HIV research, a development that will leave Israel boycotters with their latest ethical dilemma. The team from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev say their finding will result in a “revolutionary diagnosis and the key to the clinical solution that will prevent infection with HIV and will destroy the deadly virus.” i24News reports that Dr Ran Taube of the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Genetics at the southern Israeli university said his team has discovered similarities between HIV (the virus that leads to AIDS) and leukemia. Conducted in collaboration with Dr. Uri Rubio...

At a Congressional hearing on the BDS movement (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions), CEO of SodaStream Daniel Birnbaum gave gripping testimony that left no question about the impact of the movement on the people and businesses in Israel and the West Bank. Legal Insurrection collected and posted video Wednesday of Birnbaum's powerful testimony. "The BDS are in the business of manipulation, violence, and destruction," says Birnbaum, as he gives a laundry list of heinous activity taken against the company for the crime of operating an open business with fair treatment of all workers from any background. "BDS tactics include intimidating, harassing,...

On June 30, 2015, the General Synod of the United Church of Christ voted to single out Israel for an economic and propaganda war. Ignoring the violent state of affairs in an unstable region, the plague of terrorist groups, and the victimization of millions of Christians and other minority groups, the UCC elected to boycott Israel, the only functioning democracy in the Middle East. Giving a pass to Hamas rockets aimed at Israeli children and the prohibition of any Jews to enter Palestinian-controlled territory, the UCC jumped on the bandwagon of slander to demonize Israel. Deletion and Replacement of Jews...

Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz has long been a champion of the nation of Israel, but at a recent conference, he made a bold political proposal that solidified his support of the Jewish state.Speaking at the Champion of Jewish Values International Awards Gala, where he received the Defender of Israel Award, Cruz announced to the primarily Jewish crowd — which included at least one billionaire Jewish Republican with deep campaign-backing pockets — that he would call for the federal defunding of any colleges that boycott Israel.Cruz was referring to the “Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions” movement, an attempt by liberal college...