A large majority of the German Bundestag on Thursday passed a motion defining the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement as anti-Semitic and called on government bodies to refrain from funding or supporting any groups that question Israel’s right to exist.
The motion was supported by Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the Social-Democrat Party (SPD), the Green Party and the Free Democrats. However, the motion is not legally binding.
Palestinian Authority (PA) Arabs and BDS activists slammed the resolution as “fascist” and “racist.”
Mahmoud Nawajaa, the General Coordinator for BDS, said that his movement would coordinate actions with other Arab organization to repel the German motion and would petition a German Constitutional Tribunal on the issue.
Nawajaa conceded that the motion consisted of a dangerous precedent for the BDS as it could generate similar resolutions in other countries. He rejected the German motion as “a racist a fascist decision.”
The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) terror group condemned the move as an encouragement for Israel’s occupation and its suppressing of human rights, its expansion of the “settlements” in Judea and Samaria and its destruction of the PA’s economy.
The DFLP further charged that the decision served the Trump administration and its “Deal of the Century” peace plan for the Middle East, and that Germany’s true face was exposed, despite its declared support for a two-state solution, human rights and democracy.
BDS activist Salah Khawaja wrote on Facebook that the German resolution counters legitimate international decisions and the international treaty on human rights and that the German parliament has officially joined the Neo-Nazi alliance with President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
While BDS supporters were enraged by the resolution, Israel warmly welcomed it.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated the German Bundestag “on the important decision.”
Israel’s Ambassador to Germany Jeremy Issacharoff welcomed the initiative, saying it has a “broader European significance given that BDS makes no attempt to build coexistence and peace between Israel and all of its neighbors.”
Israel’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon stated that Israel’s welcomed the Bundestag’s resolution which “recognized the anti-Semitic nature of BDS and its illegitimate boycott activities. This is an important step which we hope will be adopted by other European legislative bodies.”
Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, on Friday welcomed the decision and crowned it is “a crushing victory for the truth and a great achievement in the struggle against Israel’s detractors.”
“Germany proved to BDS supporters that its lies do not go unnoticed, but will pay a price. I congratulate the German parliamentarians who took part in passing this historic decision and call on the rest of the world leaders to join Germany, and work towards shaping a future without hatred against Jews and against Israel,” he added.
In 2016, Berlin’s Mayor Michael Müller observed that a tactic adopted by the BDS campaign of “standing with anti-Semitic signs in front of Berlin shops” is the functional equivalent of “the intolerable methods used in the Nazi era.”
Intelligence agencies in three German states, Baden-Württemberg, Berlin, and Rhineland-Palatinate, have identified the BDS campaign as anti-Semitic.
In August 2017, Frankfurt became the first German city to pass a bill outlawing municipal funding for the BDS’s activities.
In May 2017, the SPD passed a resolution in support of Israel and condemning BDS as anti-Semitic, while in December 2016, Merkel’s CDU announced the passing of a resolution declaring BDS anti-Semitic.