BDS in France suffered another setback by losing a source of revenue after an important account was closed.
By: The Tower
PayPal has again closed an account of a major pro-BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) organization in France, Benjamin Weinthal reported for The Jerusalem Post Friday.
The PayPal link on the website of Agence Media Palestine, a BDS organization that is based in Paris, now says “This recipient is currently unable to receive money.”
The organization’s website is clear about its leanings, stating, “The campaign for Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions against Israeli occupation and settlements is growing in the world and in France.”
BDS organizations, according to legal scholars, violate France’s anti-discrimination Lellouche Law, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of national origin.
Agence Media Palestine still has donations handled by the French company, HelloAsso, which specializes in online financial transactions. A number of French pro-BDS organizations have switched to HelloAsso, after having their PayPal accounts canceled.
HelloAsso did not respond to questions. The Post reported that legal action against HelloAsso for discriminating against Israelis is being initiated.
PayPal has closed accounts of several French pro-BDS organizations this year. In 2016 both PayPal and French banking giant Credit Mutuel closed the account of Campagne BDS France after the Post ran an expose about the organization.
In 2015, France’s highest court, the Court of Cassation, ruled that BDS was an illegal form of hate speech. The ruling was based on France’s anti-discrimination act of 1981, which forbids “discrimination, hatred or violence toward a person or group of people on grounds of their origin, their belonging or their not belonging to an ethnic group, a nation, a race or a certain religion.”