The German parliament on Friday condemned the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement as fundamentally “anti-Semitic.”
By Algemeiner Staff and Agencies
Top Israeli officials welcomed the German parliament’s condemnation on Friday of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement as “anti-Semitic.”
The non-binding motion — submitted by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives, their Social Democrat coalition partners, as well as the Greens and Free Democrats — read, “The argumentation patterns and methods used by the BDS movement are anti-Semitic.”
“The campaign’s calls to boycott Israeli artists, as well as stickers on Israeli goods that are meant to deter people from buying them, also recall the most terrible phase in German history,” it continued. “The BDS movement’s ‘Don’t Buy’ stickers on Israeli products inevitably arouse associations with the Nazi slogan, ‘Don’t Buy from Jews!’ and similar graffiti on facades and shop windows.”
Securing Israel’s survival has been a priority for Germany since the defeat of the Nazi dictatorship that committed the Holocaust in which some six million Jews were murdered.
“I congratulate the German Bundestag on the important decision branding the boycott movement (BDS) as an anti-Semitic movement and announcing that it is forbidden to fund it,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday. “I hope that this decision will bring about concrete steps and I call upon other countries to adopt similar legislation.”
Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan — who has been in charge of the Jewish state’s anti-BDS efforts in recent years — called Friday a “historic day in the fight against the anti-Semitic BDS campaign.”
“The true face of BDS is being exposed!” he exclaimed.
Israel’s UN envoy, Danny Danon, stated, “This is a crushing victory for the truth and a great achievement in the struggle against Israel’s detractors.”
Danon went on to urge world leaders to “join Germany, and work towards shaping a future without hatred against Jews and against Israel.”
Israeli Ambassador to Germany Jeremy Issacharoff tweeted, “We welcome this initiative by its sponsors. It has broader European significance given that BDS makes no attempt to build coexistence and peace between Israel and all of its neighbors.”
The BDS movement slammed the motion.
“The German establishment is entrenching its complicity in Israel‘s crimes of military occupation, ethnic cleansing, siege and apartheid, while desperately trying to shield it from accountability to international law,” it said on Twitter.
Lawmakers from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party abstained during the vote. They had submitted their own motion calling for a total ban of the BDS in Germany. That motion was defeated.
A majority of the far-left Die Linke party had voted against the motion. The party also submitted its own proposal, which called to oppose the BDS and commit the German government to work toward a political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on UN Security Council resolutions. The motion was also defeated.
德国议会周五谴责抵制，撤资和制裁（BDS）运动从根本上说是“反犹太主义”。
由Algemeiner工作人员和代理商
以色列高级官员欢迎德国议会周五谴责抵制，撤资和制裁（BDS）运动为“反犹太主义”。
不受约束的动议 – 由总理安格拉·默克尔的保守派，他们的社会民主党联盟伙伴以及绿党和自由民主党人提交 – 上写着：“BDS运动使用的论证模式和方法是反犹太主义的。”
“该活动呼吁抵制以色列艺术家，以及以色列商品的贴纸，旨在阻止人们购买它们，也回顾了德国历史上最可怕的阶段，”它继续说道。以色列产品的BDS运动’不要购买’贴纸不可避免地引起与纳粹口号的关联，’不要从犹太人手中购买！’以及在外墙和商店橱窗上的类似涂鸦。“
自从纳粹独裁统治失败以来，确保以色列的生存一直是德国的一个优先事项，因为大屠杀造成大约六百万犹太人被谋杀。
以色列总理本雅明内塔尼亚胡周五表示：“我祝贺德国联邦议院关于将抵制运动（BDS）作为反犹太主义运动的重要决定，并宣布禁止为其提供资金。” “我希望这一决定将带来具体步骤，我呼吁其他国家采取类似的立法。”
以色列战略事务部长吉拉德·埃尔丹（Gilad Erdan）近五年来一直负责犹太国家的反BDS工作，他称这是“反对反犹太主义BDS运动的历史性日子”。
“BDS的真实面目正在曝光！”他大声说道。
以色列的联合国特使Danny Danon表示，“这是对真相的巨大胜利，也是在与以色列批评者的斗争中取得的巨大成就。”
达能继续敦促世界各国领导人“加入德国，努力塑造一个对犹太人和以色列人没有仇恨的未来。”
以色列驻德国大使杰里米·伊萨卡罗夫（Jeremy Issacharoff）在推特上写道：“我们欢迎赞助商的这项倡议。鉴于BDS并未试图在以色列与其所有邻国之间建立共存与和平，它具有更广泛的欧洲意义。“
BDS运动猛烈抨击了这一动作。
“德国机构正在加强其对以色列军事占领，种族清洗，围困和种族隔离的罪行的共谋，同时拼命试图保护它免受国际法的责任，”它在推特上说。
来自极右翼德国替代方（AfD）的立法者在投票期间弃权。他们提出了自己的动议，要求在德国完全禁止BDS。那个动议被打败了。
大多数极左翼的Die Linke党都投反对票。该党还提交了自己的提案，该提案呼吁反对BDS并承诺德国政府根据联合国安理会决议努力以政治方式解决以色列 – 巴勒斯坦冲突。这项动议也被否决了。