In 2015, President Obama and Congress passed a law making it illegal to boycott Israeli products or Israeli professors, which is encouraged by the BDS movement. In 2017, President Trump made this law even stronger by allowing prosecution of organizations or companies that adhere to the BDS movement (Boycott, Divest, Sanction).
This past week, Germany’s legislature passed the strongest law in Europe, making the BDS movement equivalent to anti-Semitism. It stated, as I have said in a past letter, that “boycotting Israel, the only Jewish state in the world, is certainly anti-Semitic,” and “boycotting Israel to try to destroy the Jewish state is very reminiscent of the Nazi government boycotting Jewish businesses, to destroy the Jewish people.” Germany also said it will prosecute any organization or individual who advocates the BDS movement. Other European countries are soon to follow Germany’s lead.
Since President Trump strengthened the anti-BDS law, we are now able to prosecute any organizations or individuals who advocate for the BDS movement.
All of the Southern Baptist churches are vociferously against the BDS movement because they know and have said that it is an anti-Semitic movement. If a religious institution advocates for the BDS movement to destroy Israel, it should lose its tax-exempt status if not prosecuted.
Advocating for the BDS movement is not an opinion, guaranteed by free speech, it is anti-Semitic and against the law and should be prosecuted as it is in Germany.
Marshall Hubsher
Port Washington
