Our Fight Continues Against the Latest Anti-Israel Movement

The enemies of Israel continue to pull out every weapon in their arsenal to destroy Israel and Jewish people everywhere. The ACLJ continues to fight at every stage and in every place. The latest battleground is the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.

Earlier this week, Congressman Peter J. Roskam of Illinois’s 6th Congressional District wrote a great piece in The Wall Street Journal on the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, an issue that we are heavily engaged in through our work at the ACLJ. As our attorneys have written previously, “[T]he primary aim of the movement is to marginalize and delegitimize Israel on the national scene by pressuring corporate and government entities to participate in economic boycotts against Israeli institutions, pull resources and investments from those institutions, and impose sanctions against the state of Israel because of the ways in which it has chosen to defend itself from the hostile, anti-Semitic forces in the Middle East that seek the outright demise of Israel as a political state.”

In short, BDS seeks to discriminate against Israel and Jews everywhere, in any way it can.

In Rep. Roskam’s op-ed, he thoroughly notes all of the challenges that Israel has faced since its inception as a nation-state, and how this most recent attempt to destabilize and delegitimize Israel’s standing globally through the BDS movement is a moment in time where “we must seize the historic opportunity to push back forcefully against the BDS movement to ensure the strength of the U.S.-Israel relationship.”

We at the ACLJ could not agree more with this position. Like the Congressman suggested, Israel has faced decades of rocket attacks, bombings, and threats from every direction in a region of the world that does not want to live in peace with Israel.

So why would these radical jihadists who are open about their destructive desire to bring annihilation to Israel and all Jewish people stop now?

After all that Israel has endured, now is not the time to remain silent as this newly developed campaign seeks to bring Israel to its knees economically and politically. Israel is not going to back down and we need to stand firm with them as their close ally and friend.  

The BDS movement is no stranger to the ACLJ.

We have already achieved victories against the BDS movement when it attempted to expand on college campuses. You can read more about it here.

We also recently told you about the movement’s attempts to influence the United States Congress.  We believe this will most likely end in a major defeat as Congress is already considering multiple options in addressing the BDS movement.

In the upcoming months, as Congress begins to move forward in finalizing a bill that will address the attacks Israel is currently facing from the BDS movement, our government affairs team based in Washington. D.C. is already on the front lines.

We are also tracking the many new developments throughout the nation as state legislatures begin to consider anti-BDS legislation. We have a team at the ACLJ advocating on this issue at the state and local levels.

In order to combat and achieve victory against many of the complex challenges we face like the BDS movement, it takes many different approaches and the help of all of our members.

But the good news is – we have a record of success against this anti-Israel campaign and we will continue to move forward in this fight.

As always, we want to thank you for your continued support that makes these victories possible. As you continue to stand with the ACLJ and Israel, add your name to our petitions to Protect Jewish Students on Campus and to Stop President Obama from Bullying Israel.