Qais Abu Samra
22 May 2019•Update: 22 May 2019
RAMALLAH, Palestine
Palestinians on Wednesday protested the German Parliament's recent decision to label the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement as “anti-Semitic”.
On Saturday, the Bundestag adopted a resolution equating BDS with “anti-Semitism”. The resolution also calls for cutting the funding of organizations that “actively support” the movement.
Dozens of protesters gathered outside the German embassy in Ramallah on Wednesday to urge Germany’s parliament to revoke the decision.
Speaking at the demonstration, Mustafa Bargouthi, a prominent Palestinian activist and BDS Movement secretary-general, condemned the resolution, describing it as “unjust and undemocratic”.
BDS was first established in 2005 by 170 Palestinian civil-society and human rights groups.
It calls for the boycott of Israeli firms complicit in the violation of Palestinian rights. It also calls on institutions, public and private, to divest from these firms as a means of exerting pressure on Israel.
It further calls for sanction campaigns as a means of pressuring governments to fulfill their legal obligations to hold Israel to account for its crimes against Palestinians.
According to its website, BDS aims to end international support for Israel and pressure the self-proclaimed Jewish state to comply with international law.
*Writing by Mahmoud Barakat
