British Dwelling Secretary, Priti Patel, mentioned the non-violent Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) marketing campaign to finish Israel’s unlawful occupation of Palestinian territories was “racist” and “anti-Semitic”.
“Holding the Jewish neighborhood collectively liable for what occurs within the Center East by my definition is racist,” Patel mentioned in a speech on the Conservative Pals of Israel’s annual parliamentary reception on Monday.
This comes after the UK authorities revealed its long-anticipated plan to ban the BDS campaign during the Queen’s Speech final week. The anti-BDS laws will curtail the liberty of public our bodies from adopting moral positions in opposition to human rights abusers by proscribing boycotts and divestment campaigns in opposition to international international locations. Although Israel shouldn’t be talked about within the Queen’s Speech, it’s extensively understood that the goal of the Tory authorities is to defend Israel from the rising BDS motion, which seeks to finish Israel’s apartheid regime in Palestine.
Addressing an viewers of 140 CFI supporters, together with 50 parliamentarians, the Dwelling Secretary confirmed she is a “robust defender” of Israel.
She additionally praised Israeli Ambassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely, who was additionally in attendance, for “who you might be and what you do”, and for the “wider help” that she mentioned Israel provides to the UK.
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Patel added “every part we’ve got seen across the BDS motion is racist.”
The UK Authorities, Patel added, “will proceed to ship out the strongest messages round zero tolerance in direction of terrorist actions, but in addition in direction of the kind of actions which can be aimed and focused at hurting the State of Israel, Jewish communities and the folks of Israel.”
In response, Israeli Ambassador Hotovely recommended the Dwelling Secretary for her work in “combating terrorism, combating all kinds of extremism and combating antisemitism.”
She additionally praised CFI for “its unimaginable work that basically contributes to the prosperity of our fantastic democracies”, describing CFI as “an organisation that stands behind actions.”
Hotovely mentioned that CFI is “all the time there on the entrance line to assist us to battle BDS.”
A Nakba denier, Hotovely has mentioned it’s an “Arab lie” and a “made up story”. She additionally beforehand asserted that the complete occupied West Financial institution belongs to Israelis alone – “This land is ours. All of it’s ours. We didn’t come right here to apologise for that.”
