Anti-Israel demonstration supporting the BDS movement, Paris France, June 8, 2024. Photo: Claire Serie / Hans Lucas via Reuters Connect
Germany’s federal domestic intelligence agency has classified the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel as a “suspected extremist case,” according to German media.
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) on Tuesday issued a new report stating that after the Hamas terror group’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, groups linked to the BDS movement “frequently took part in anti-Israel gatherings” and called for “an end to the state existence of Israel,” the German news site Watson reported.
The BfV report also cited BDS’s links to “secular Palestinian extremism” and noted the movement is not a homogeneous association, party, or organization. The agency’s designation allows the German government to more closely monitor BDS activities, as they may be in support of an extremist movement.
BDS seeks to isolate Israel from the international community as a step toward the Jewish state’s eventual elimination. Prominent leaders of the movement have frequently declared their intention to abolish the Jewish state.
The BfV report is not the first time the German government has acted against BDS. In 2019, Germany’s parliament voted to condemn BDS as antisemitic. Israel’s then-ambassador to Germany, Jeremy Issacharoff, praised the move on X / Twitter, writing, “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 its neighbors.”
The new report was issued by German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, who since Oct. 7 has challenged Muslim associations in Germany to condemn antisemitism without reservation and expressed support for deporting Hamas supporters from the country. Germany has experienced a sharp spike in antisemitic incidents since Hamas’ invasion of Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza.
Germany is not the only country to act against BDS. Spain, Canada, and the Netherlands are among the other countries that have passed anti-BDS legislation. In the US, 38 states have adopted laws, executive, orders, or resolutions designed to discourage boycotts against Israel, according to Jewish Virtual Library.
In the aftermath of the Oct. 7 atrocities, proponents of BDS have continued to call for a complete boycott of Israel and repeatedly referred to Israel’s defensive war in Gaza as a “genocide” while accusing the Israeli military of war crimes. According to the Anti-Defamation League, BDS “demonizes the Jewish state” and openly calls for policies that “if implemented, would result in the eradication of the world’s only Jewish state.”
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Author: Jacob Frankel
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