Pro-BDS Group Links Israel to Minneapolis Police Violence, Causing Outrage

“The police violence happening tonight in Minneapolis is straight out of the IDF playbook,” the group tweeted, citing no evidence for the outrageous claim.

By Benjamin Kerstein, The Algemeiner

An attempt this week by the Democratic Socialists of America’s BDS national working group to tie Israel to recent incidents of US police violence against minorities has sparked outrage.

Referring to unrest on the streets of Minneapolis following the recent police killing of an unarmed African-American man, George Floyd, the group tweeted, “The police violence happening tonight in Minneapolis is straight out of the IDF playbook,” adding, “US cops train in Israel.”

“The racist and brutal tactics used by Israeli military and US cops are purposefully one and the same,” it charged, citing no evidence.

“So-called ‘less lethal’ weapons like tear gas are manufactured in the US and sold to Israel where they are tested and used on Palestinians,” the group claimed, before going on to say, “Surveillance tech is made in Israel & brought to the US to invade the privacy of Black, brown, Muslim, poor, and otherwise marginalized people.”

“This is the ‘special relationship’ between Israel and the United States,” it continued.

The DSA group’s statements were part of an ongoing organized campaign called “Deadly Exchange,” which posits that racist police tactics in the US are Israel’s fault.

Critics say that such claims are a blood libel and responsible for inciting incidents of anti-Semitic violence.

In response to the DSA group’s tweets, B’nai B’rith International told The Algemeiner, “This is a case of exploiting the tragic and tense situation in Minneapolis to advance the motives of the BDS movement to demean and delegitimize Israel.”

Rabbi Abraham Cooper — associate dean at the Simon Wiesenthal Center — said that, similar to previous attempts to exploit such incidents, “non-existent dots were connected” to portray “the Palestinians as people of color fighting white Israel. … We Jews know all about anti-Semites connecting non-existent dots to denigrate our people.”