Alleged anti-Jewish hatred from the far-left is more significant than that from the far-right; Israeli Diaspora Minister Naftali Bennett has told the Times of Israel.
In an interview last week, Bennet argued that the sight of Nazi flags at a rally in Charlottesville, as well as white supremacist slogans “Jews will not replace us”, were not as significant a form of anti-Semitism as the Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israeli produce.
“We see the lions’ share of anti-Semitism is actually BDS, pro-Arab, anti-Israeli anti-Semitism, which is on the rise. That would be, let’s call it, radical left anti-Semitism.”
Video highlights of great picket to Boycott HP, Vancouver, Aug. 26. Boycott HP – Technology of Israeli Apartheid! pic.twitter.com/V4LnmVbF21
— BDS Vancouver (@bds_vancouver) August 28, 2017
Bennett, who leads the right-wing Jewish Home party and has been termed “Minister of the Jews”, called on national leaders to do more to protect their Jewish citizens from such anti-Semitic behavior, but refrained from criticizing the muted responses of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump following the alt-right rally.
“We view ourselves as having a certain degree of responsibility for every Jew in the world, just for being Jewish. But ultimately it’s the responsibility of the sovereign nation to defend its citizens.”
His comments echo those recently made by Netanyahu’s son, who identified “Antifa [anti-fascist] bandits and Black Lives Matter” movements as more dangerous than neo-Nazis whose influence was allegedly waning on a Facebook post. Yair Netanyahu criticised the popularity of such movements, especially at universities where student activism for Palestine has surged.
This will be voted on in a few weeks. It must be challenged in court in two grounds: one, BDS isn't antisemitic,… https://t.co/myu5LF1pdV
— Avigail Abarbanel (@aabarbanel) August 28, 2017
(MEMO, PC, Social Media)
