The global success of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement has been asserted by Israeli newspaper, Maariv, which is in direct contrast to claims made by Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, Al-Resalah newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Netanyahu had previously claimed that BDS is busy in side battles related to defending its legal status – claims which have been refuted by former Israeli Ambassador to Amman, Oded Eran.

Eran stated that Netanyahu’s reports were “exaggerations” because BDS is supported in many countries that have good relations with Israel.

Netanyahu spurs growth of BDS https://t.co/7NmoGWbALa pic.twitter.com/kBUc4Ue7Mm

— The IMEU (@theIMEU) August 2, 2016

Eran, who is currently a senior research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel-Aviv, further stated: “What Netanyahu has said was not precise because the global boycott organisations are still active and none have stopped its work.”

“If they do not cause much harm to the Israeli economy, it does not mean that they were beaten. Some of the boycott activists around the world had some setbacks and retreats, but at the same time they achieved several successes,” he was reported as saying.

Eran told Maariv that a sure-sign of the success of BDS was the latest petition which was signed by 400 global artists supporting the boycotting of Israel.

(PC, MEMO)