Palestine lashes out at Germany's anti-BDS motion

Palestine’s foreign ministry lambasted the German parliament’s vote which branded the nonviolent Boycott Divestment Sanctions movement as anti-Semitic.

On Friday, Germany’s parliament sparked global outrage after voting in favour of a motion which claims the BDS movement uses anti-Semitic tactics to fulfill its “political” goals.

The Palestinian foreign ministry in a statement strongly condemned the motion, saying it “disregards the fact that Israel is a state of ethnic cleansing, a state of racial discrimination, an outlawed state that commits crimes against the Palestinian people and occupies the Palestinian land while going unpunished.”

“The decision came under the pretense that BDS aims to strip Israel of its right to self-defence, which reflects first that the role and action of the organisation is so influential that Israel and its supporters began to look for a pretext or justification for attacking the organisation and distorting its image”, the ministry said.

The statement continued to add that Israel is taking advantage of Germany’s notorious anti-Semitic history to reach its own political goals.

“Israel continues to impose its wishes on the representatives of the European peoples by blackmail them using the historical German stigmatisation of the Jews to achieve what it wants”, its statement, released on Sunday, added.

The Israeli government, which has spent years trying to tackle the BDS movement abroad, has welcomed the decision.

Smearing non-violent activism

The nonviolent BDS movement says it is inspired by the campaign that targeted South Africa's apartheid regime and is seeking an end to Israel's brutal occupation.

Israel sees BDS as a strategic threat and accuses it of anti-Semitism - a claim activists firmly deny, calling it an attempt to discredit them.

But the movement, which adheres to peaceful resistance, aims to pressure Israel to adhere to international law and human rights by lobbying various states, institutions and personas to understand its oppression of Palestinians and take action as a result.

BDS operates by pressuring corporations, artists and academic institutions to sever ties with Israel with supporters saying activities are aimed at promoting a Palestinian statehood.

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