Various Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) groups from within the United States and Europe joined together with the known terrorist organization Hamas and the Iranian regime to partake in a January 2021 International Forum pushing for the delegitimization of Israel.
The event took place in Gaza and Tehran simultaneously and was broadcast over various networks in a split-screen format, including a pro-Hezbollah network out of Tehran, as reported by The Jerusalem Post.
The dual events were titled “Year to Confront Normalization and “Together Against Normalization,” in an apparent response to the recent success of the Abraham Accords, which have brought about official recognition of Israel’s right to exist by the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco and established economic relations between the countries.
The event in Gaza was hosted by The Global Campaign to Return to Palestine, which includes a wide array of BDS groups specifically focusing on “the right to return” for Palestinians and “denouncing and rejecting normalization with the Israeli occupation”, according to the campaign’s Facebook page.
The BDS movement views Israel as an apartheid state and is actively working to strip Israel of its sovereignty as a Jewish state through economic and political pressure.
An independent investigation conducted by Zachor Legal Institute and published in 2018 found that “five designated foreign terrorist organizations…are coalition members of the [BDS National Committee] BNC,” including Hamas, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Palestinian Liberation Front.
It was also determined that “the government of Iran and backers of a number of other foreign designated terror organizations are associated with the formation and continuing operation of the BDS movement and BDS activity carried out by other organizations.”
Despite the BDS movement’s apparent connection to known terrorist organizations, it continues to garner support within the U.S. by “[describing] themselves as progressive” when “at their core, they are about eradicating or enabling the elimination of a country with a population of nine million” said Resident Scholar at American Enterprise Institute Michael Rubin to The Foreign Desk.
“BDS is just lipstick on a pig for Iran’s ayatollahs. It’s about legitimizing the genocide the Iranian regime has sought for so long but making it palatable for the Western audience. Iran’s most regressive ayatollahs aren’t stupid. They recognize like-minded, hate-filled activists when they see them,” said Rubin.
BDS continues to receive positive media coverage by many left-wing outlets caused by “the crossover between the Marxist Black Lives Matter movement and BDS,” which “gives BDS the type of media attention that some (wrongfully) believe reflects popular support,” said Zachor Legal Institute President Marc Greendorfer to The Foreign Desk.
“It is indeed unfortunate that the American left has chose to support terror and discrimination in a bizarre reaction the real problem of racism in the United States, but they have the attention of the media and the Democrats, which has resulted in an out-of-proportion sense of support for the genocidal BDS movement,” said Greendorfer.
