The Ministry of Strategic Affairs presents:
“Behind the Mask”

MSA report exposes the antisemitic nature of BDS and how it generates antisemitism worldwide.

Minister of Strategic Affairs Gilad Erdan at the release of the report in Brussels at the European Parliament in the presence of Special Envoys against antisemitism from the US and EU, Elan Carr and Katharina von Schnurbein:

  “I call on the member states of the EU not to take part in the discriminatory and antisemitic BDS campaign the goals of which include the destruction of the Jewish State.”

Brussels, Belgium― September 25, 2019― Today, Minister of Strategic Affairs Gilad Erdan revealed at the European Parliament in Brussels a new report from the Ministry of Strategic Affairs, “Behind the Mask: The Antisemitic Nature of BDS Exposed”. The event was organized by the European Jewish Association (EJA), led by Rabbi Menachem Margolin, and included in attendance are the special envoys charged with combatting antisemitism from both the US, Elan Carr, the EU, Katharina von Schnurbein, members of European Parliament, and leading Jewish organizations. Tomorrow (Thursday, September 26), Minister Erdan will deliver and discuss the report in Berlin with the German Minister of Interior Horst Seehofer and Dr. Felix Klein, the Federal Commissioner of Jewish Life in Germany and the Fight against Antisemitism.

A live feed of the event can be found on the Ministry’s website 4IL starting at 15:00 (Israel).

Behind the Mask reveals how the BDS leadership hides behind a mask of liberal values and human rights, while disseminating content relating to Israel which is blatantly antisemitic.

As part of Minister Erdan’s policy of ‘going on the offensive’, numerous examples from within the report of the antisemitism of the BDS leadership were showcased today in European Parliament, including calls for Jews to “go back to the ovens!”, poison water supplies, accusations of a global “Jewish lobby”, equating Nazi Germany and Israel, and calls for the destruction of the Jewish State. Jews and Israelis were shown to be represented with vulgar antisemitic stigmas including being shown as pigs, octopuses, having big noses, having an obsession with wealth, and controlling the world.

Recently, there has been an increasing international interest regarding antisemitism in relation to the boycott and delegitimization of Israel. In addition to the important decision by the German Bundestag to condemn BDS’s “methods and motives” as anti-Semitic, this week the UN’s Ahmed Shaheed released a first report of its kind on antisemitism titled, “Report of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief”. The report mentions contemporary antisemitism and BDS, noting: There is an alarming rise in “antisemitism of the extreme left, in which individuals claiming to hold anti-racist and anti-imperialist views use antisemitic narratives or tropes in the course of expressing anger at the policies or practices of the Government of Israel” (Article 17 of the report). Shaheed even refers to the UN Secretary General’s view on the matter in which he stated the denial of the right to Israel to exist is a contemporary form of antisemitism. In Article 18 Shaheed stated those who reject “the right of Israel to exist, or advocates discrimination against Jewish individuals because of their religion should be condemned.”

The report shows how over the past 15 years the BDS campaign has promoted demonization and delegitimization of the State of Israel, and, in so doing, has exacerbated anti-Semitic rhetoric against Jews worldwide.

Behind the Mask documents numerous examples in which leading BDS activists or organizations disseminated content that meet the internationally accepted definition of antisemitism as defined by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism which has been formally adopted by 15 countries and the European Union.

The examples cited in this report are divided into three main sections: expressions of classic antisemitism; Holocaust inversion; and denial of the Jewish people’s right to self-determination – all forms of antisemitism under the IHRA Working Definition.

Last February, the Ministry of Strategic Affairs released the “Terrorists in Suits” report, which revealed more than 100 links between the terrorist groups Hamas and the PFLP with prominent BDS organizations. Following the report, several European countries expelled BDS activists, cancelled BDS events, and closed BDS bank accounts. The new “Behind the Mask” report is another step in the Ministry of Strategic Affairs campaign to reveal the true motives of the BDS leadership.

Minister Gilad Erdan: “Today we have proven beyond a doubt that BDS is an anti-Semitic campaign led by supporters of terror with one purpose: the elimination of the Jewish State. I urge Western countries not to take part in the anti-Semitic lies of BDS, not to legitimize its racism, and surely not fund it.”

Please find attached the full report.

Media Contact
Ben Moore
Foreign Media Spokesperson
Ministry of Strategic Affairs
benm@pmo.gov.il

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