Anti-Israel activists. (Shutterstock) Shutterstock
Anti-Israel activists

Israel’s Strategic Affairs Ministry named 42 anti-Israel groups that are affiliated with ‎Palestinian terror groups and ‎receive their orders from the Palestinian Authority.

By: Ariel Kahana/Israel Hayom via JNS

The Strategic Affairs Ministry on Tuesday named 42 major anti-‎Israel organizations as having clear ties to Palestinian terrorist ‎groups.‎

According to the ministry’s data, these groups – part of a network ‎of 300 BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) organizations operating ‎worldwide – have traceable ties to Hamas and the Popular Front ‎for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and receive their orders directly from the ‎Palestinian Authority (PA). ‎

This network is directed by the BDS National Committee, which is headed ‎by the co-founder of the global BDS movement Omar Barghouti, who holds ‎permanent Israeli residency status and lives in the northern city of ‎Acre.‎

The Strategic Affairs Ministry, tasked by the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet ‎with heading ‎Israel’s efforts to counter the BDS movement and its efforts to ‎delegitimize Israel, has spent the past two years mapping what it ‎calls the “network of hatred.” ‎

Terrorists Lead ‘Human Rights’ Groups

The ministry’s data shows that not only do Hamas and the PLFP ‎support BDS activists in theory, their operatives take an active part ‎in BDS initiatives. ‎

The report names, for example, the Al-Haq human rights ‎organization, Defense for Children International – Palestine, and the Al-‎Dameer Association for Human Rights as being headed by former ‎PFLP operatives. ‎

Al-Haq is chaired by Shawan Jabarin, of Ramallah, who served 13 ‎years in an Israeli prison for being a member of the PLFP’s military ‎wing. ‎Jabarin is a leading figure in the BDS movement’s lawfare campaign ‎against Israel, especially its attempts to pursue legal action against ‎Israeli officials in the International Criminal Court in The Hague. ‎

Other examples include groups such as the Palestinian Return ‎Center, which the ministry says promotes Hamas interests in ‎Europe; and members of the U.K.-based Palestine Solidarity ‎Campaign and Friends of Al-Aqsa group, which the ministry says have neem with Hamas ‎leader Ismail Haniyeh, participated in the 2010 Navi Marmara ‎flotilla that sought to breach the maritime blockade on the Gaza ‎Strip, and have recently held a demonstration outside the British ‎Prime Minister’s Office in support of Hamas so-called “March of ‎Return” or Gaza border riot campaign.‎

PA Driving Force of Boycotts

Speaking at the biennial GC4I conference in Jerusalem Wednesday, ‎attended by the directors of over 150 pro-Israeli groups, as well as ‎Jewish community heads and activists from around the world ‎dedicated to fighting the BDS movement, Strategic Affairs Minister ‎Gilad Erdan said much of the anti-Israel group’s momentum is ‎fuel by the Palestinian Authority.‎

Ramallah is a longtime proponent of anti-Israel boycotts and the ‎National Palestinian Council has officially endorsed the BDS ‎movement during its annual meeting in May.‎

‎”We have seen the attempts led by senior Palestinian Authority ‎officials to suspend Israel from FIFA and to promote various ‎‎’blacklists‘ at the UN Human Rights Council. These campaigns ‎have all been widely promoted by the network of hatred exposed ‎by the Strategic Affairs Ministry,” he said. ‎

Erdan noted that leading world powers such as the United States, ‎Britain, Germany, France, Canada and others, were turning their ‎backs on the BDS movement, adding that in recent years, 25 states ‎in the U.S. have passed laws foiling BDS activities after their anti-‎Semitic and discriminatory nature was exposed. ‎

Erdan further said that the ministry has identified a new BDS trend – calling for trade embargos against the Jewish state, especially ‎with respect to its military industries, saying that BDS activists were ‎lobbying among parliamentarians worldwide to boycott Israeli ‎defense contractors. ‎

‎”Terrorist organizations and the BDS movement have never been ‎closer, ideologically and operationally. I will continue to lead a ‎counterattack against the perpetrators of the anti-Semitic hate ‎campaign emanating from Gaza and Ramallah.”

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