Combating Anti-Semitism and the BDS Movement

Floor Speech

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Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to highlight the troubling rise of anti-Semitism and to call for action against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement--a hateful weapon intended to delegitimize Israel and the Jewish community.

According to Pew Research Center, instances of anti-Semitism are at a 7-year high. It is getting worse everywhere, particularly in the Middle East, but also in Europe and even in the United States.

That's why I've cosponsored the Combating BDS Act of 2016 (H.R. 4514). This legislation clarifies that state and local governments have the authority to pass and enforce laws that prohibit public funding to institutions that engage in the odious BDS campaign, the purpose of which is to apply double standards that delegitimize and demonize Israel.

Thankfully, many states have responded to the BDS campaign by enacting legislation that denies public support to any organization engaged in the campaign--just last month my home state of New Jersey became the 11th state to enact such a law.

The boycott campaign against Israel is a complete discredit to its organizers--the government of Israel has by far the best record for human rights, democracy, rule of law, and general humanity toward both its own citizens and its neighbors' citizens, including the Palestinians--of any country in the Middle East. This despite the fact that some of its neighboring governments support or harbor terrorists whose goal is the genocidal annihilation of Israel.

Congress must not only commend Israel's record, and applaud those state and local governments that seek to withdraw public funding from the BDS campaign, we must also support and sustain the state and local initiatives.

Combating BDS Act does exactly that. I encourage my colleagues to support it and also encourage my colleagues to read the Simon Wiesenthal Center's report, ``Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions Against Israel: An Anti-Semitic, Anti-Peace Poison Pill,'' which details the disgusting anti-Semitic record of the BDS movement, particularly making use of Natan Sharansky's ``3Ds test for anti-Semitism.

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