Germany designates BDS Israel boycott movement as anti-Semitic

[question everything]

BERLIN (Reuters) - The German parliament voted on Friday to condemn as anti-Semitic a movement that calls for economic pressure on Israel to end the occupation of Palestinian land, grant Arab citizens equal rights and recognize the right of return of Palestinian refugees. In a move welcomed by Israel, a majority of lawmakers in the Bundestag voted in favor of a motion to label the international Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement as an entity that uses anti-Semitic tactics to fulfill its political goals.

“The argumentation patterns and methods used by the BDS movement are anti-Semitic,” read the motion submitted by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives, their Social Democrat coalition partners as well as the Greens and Free Democrats. Securing Israel’s survival has been a priority for Germany since the defeat of the Nazi dictatorship that committed the Holocaust, in which an estimated six million Jews were murdered.

(snip)

Lawmakers from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party abstained during the symbolic 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 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 U.N. Security Council resolutions. Its motion was also defeated.

(snip)

With Friday’s Bundestag motion, Germany has effectively backed Israel’s position that international boycotts are discriminatory and anti-Semitic. The motion said a BDS campaign calling for Israeli products to be labeled with “Don’t Buy” stickers was reminiscent of the Nazi-era boycott of Jewish businesses, known in German as “Judenboykott”, which used slogans such as: “Don’t buy from Jews.”

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-bds-israel/germany-designates-bds-israel-boycott-movement-as-anti-semitic-idUSKCN1SN204

[bitterross]

1. Where did Germany fall with respect to Apartheid in S. African in the 80s?

The courts in the US have found that BDS movements (not just the one with respect to Israel) are a matter of free speech. That people are free to join and promote them.

[question everything]

2. In this group we discuss how often anti-semitic comments hide behind anti Israel ones

You have no call to disrupt this group with your "righteous" indignation.

You should do the right thing and delete your post.

[JudyM]

3. Nazis marching in Skokie is free speech. That doesn't keep it from being antisemitic.

Germany was ultimately responsible for the brutal torture and slaughter 1/3 of Europe’s Jews. The horrors haunt the survivors and their children. Germany today is trying to own their role and honor the humanity of Jews by being sensitive to preventing any slide into complacency re: antisemitism. The fact that other countries are less concerned doesn’t validate anything.

[MosheFeingold]

4. Yeah, lots of people can say dumb things

In the USA. Any given tweet by President Orange Julius, for example.

Germany, however, restricts hateful and racist things like the BDS movement, which is all based on known lies (like the lie that Israel is an "apartheid state&quot .

So, presuming you are American, yes, you, too, are free to join the modern days Nazis like the BDS crew, if that's your thing.

Have fun blaming the Joooos for all your problems.