Opposing Global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement Targeting Israel

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I strongly support H. Res. 246. This is a bipartisan resolution I introduced with Brad Schneider, Jerry Nadler, and Ann Wagner to oppose BDS and efforts to delegitimize the State of Israel, which is now up to 350 cosponsors.

We must combat the BDS movement targeting our great ally in the Middle East. The BDS movement seeks to harm Israel today, tomorrow, and well into the future.

It is an American value to be able to express legitimate, reasonable criticism of any government in the world, including our own. The BDS movement, though, is different, and we must reject the blatant anti- Semitism injected throughout BDS and the delegitimizing of Israel.

We must educate and all be aware of the toxic, anti-Semitic words of the founder of BDS and how we have so many Jewish students on college campuses right here in the United States from coast to coast targeted with blatant anti-Semitism in the name of BDS.

Congress needs to make a very strong, bipartisan statement against BDS, and this resolution does just that. In addition, we should also enact legislation with teeth.

In February, the Senate passed anti-BDS legislation, S. 1, with a strong, bipartisan vote. This bill allows State and local governments to adopt laws to divest public funds from entities that boycott Israel. Lead Republican McCaul already has a bill in the House, H.R. 336, that is identical to S. 1 and contains the anti-BDS legislation.

I strongly encourage the Speaker to bring this bill to the floor as well so that not only are we making a strong statement, but we are also doing something about it.

I am grateful to House leadership for bringing H. Res. 246 to the floor today, for Chairman Engel's work and his team's work in the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and to lead Republican McCaul and his team.

Mr. Speaker, this is a big deal.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. ZELDIN. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. ZELDIN. Mr. Speaker, it is important to note, really, from coast to coast, we are hearing stories of students on college campuses, in the name of BDS, being targeted with blatant anti-Semitism.

For example, at New York University, after the student government passed a resolution supporting BDS, the Bronfman Center for Jewish Life was temporarily closed in response to threatening Twitter posts by a student who expressed ``a desire for Zionists to die.''

A University of Michigan professor refused to write a letter of recommendation for a qualified student solely because she wanted to study abroad in Israel.

A Students for Justice in Palestine cofounder and University of California, Berkeley, professor spoke at a national conference and shared the anti-Semitism meme of an Orthodox Jewish person in his presentation.

At Warren Wilson College, an invited speaker stated: ``Jews are doing the same thing to the Palestinians as the Nazis did to the Jews.''

A Yik Yak posting at the University of California read: ``Gas them, burn them, and dismantle their power structure. Humanity cannot progress with the parasitic Jew.''

More globally, University of Durban in South Africa called for the expulsion of Jewish students who did not support the BDS movement at the university.

It is really important for people who may just be getting familiar with what BDS is to know that, right now, we have so many Jewish students who are being targeted with this blatant anti-Semitism, and that is why today's statement sends such a powerful message.

Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, some supporters of the BDS movement--in fact, the movement, in total, makes the argument that Israel is the bad guy on humanitarian issues, on human rights.

It is important to note, Israel has a long history of LGBT protections and women's rights enshrined in Israeli law that is in stark contrast to its Middle East neighbors.

Regardless of ethnicity or religion, there are broad freedoms in Israel, including the right to vote, freedom of speech, equal access to education and the workplace, and no special restrictions on the way women dress. By law, women are protected from discrimination.

In fact, Israel's declaration of independence grants all Israel's inhabitants equality of social and political rights, irrespective of religion, race, or gender. Even Palestinians in the autonomous regions have voting rights and receive social services.

Under Israeli jurisdiction, some 350,000 Palestinian residents in Jerusalem receive certain civilian welfare, health, and municipal services. In other parts of the Middle East, it is a monarchy with no voting rights whatsoever.

Hamas has repeatedly denied humanitarian aid offered by Israel. In May 2018, when there were clashes on the border, Gaza refused two truckloads of aid from Israel to relieve medical shortages.

There are so many falsehoods that have been perpetrated by supporters of the BDS movement, and that is, again, another reason why today's resolution is such a powerful statement.

Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Suozzi just pointed out one quote. Earlier, we heard another quote from the BDS founder. I will share one more. He also stated--and this is the founder of the BDS movement: ``Many of the methods of collective and individual `punishment' meted out to Palestinian civilians at the hands of young, racist, often sadistic and ever impervious Israeli soldiers . . . are reminiscent of the common Nazi practices against the Jews.''

The list goes on and on. As people out there are listening to this debate, becoming familiar with what the BDS movement is, just understand and take heed of the words from the BDS movement founder, Omar Barghouti.

Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

BDS supporters also claim that the BDS movement is nonviolent. The BDS movement does not distance itself from Hamas, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization. BDS supporters, individually, are not distancing themselves from Hamas either. Instead, their criticism is focused on attacking Israel and, in many cases, the Jewish people specifically.

Two Fridays ago, Fathi Hammad, a senior Hamas official, called upon Palestinians worldwide: ``Our brothers'' in the diaspora ``are still preparing. They are trying to prepare. They are warming up. A long time has passed with them warming up. All of you 7 million Palestinians abroad, enough of the warming up. You have Jews everywhere, and we must attack every Jew on the globe by way of slaughter and killing, if God permits. Enough of the warming up.''

Where are all the supporters of BDS condemning these remarks? This is two Fridays ago, calling for the murder of every Jew in the world.

During a closed meeting in October 2017 between Hamas chief Sinwar and Gazan youth about reconciling with the Fatah movement, Sinwar stated that the time spent discussing recognition of Israel is over and that now Hamas will, instead, discuss when they will wipe out Israel.

Hamas uses women and children as human shields. They deny humanitarian aid to their own people. They incite violence. They have launched rockets into Israel, killing innocent civilians. They have declared that jihad is an obligation. That list goes on.

The Palestinian Authority, not only do they incite violence, but they financially reward terror, by policy. If you kill an Israeli or an American, you get called a martyr. You will have streets and football stadiums renamed after you. You and your family will get paid money.

There are existential threats all around Israel. To the north, with Hezbollah, another designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, they have built terror tunnels. They have amassed tens of thousands of rockets on the border between Lebanon and Israel.

Every year, Hamas mobilizes Palestinians in their Days of Rage to attack Israelis at the border, calling on people to throw rocks and fire missiles at Israel, which often result in actual violence, including death, targeting innocent civilians.

This past May, Hamas fired approximately 700 rockets into Israel, killing innocent civilians. Hamas has used incendiary kites and balloons, which have destroyed some 8,000 acres of Israeli farms, parks, and forests.

Earlier this year, Hamas carried out the Salift operation, sending out operatives to murder Israelis, including Rabbi Achiad Ettinger, a father of 12.

Where are all the BDS supporters in the United States, on college campuses, people who are involved in American politics, those who are at the United Nations, those who are abroad? Where is their voice right now? If everything that they say about their cause is legitimate and reasonable, that their concern is one that the entire world should be taking heed of and caution to, where is their voice condemning all the actual violence right now of Palestinian terrorists murdering innocent Israelis and, in some cases, Americans?

Taylor Force--the Taylor Force Act that this Chamber passed and was signed into law--he was a United States Military Academy graduate, an Army veteran, a United States Army veteran, who was killed. The PA pays those terrorists and their families to commit those terrorist acts.

We are here in this Chamber to call that out for exactly what it is, in bipartisan fashion.

I appreciate Chairman Engel's work at the Foreign Affairs Committee. I see Chairman Deutch is still here, along with many other voices around this Capitol who believe strongly in this effort on the other side of the aisle. We need to work together to combat the BDS movement. This is an important next step.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. ZELDIN. Mr. Speaker, how much time do I have remaining?

Mr. Speaker, with regard to the BDS movement, the supporters make territorial claims as it relates to Gaza, Judea and Samaria, the West Bank.

Let's clear up the record a little more on that. Judea and Samaria, often referred to as the West Bank, contain disputed territory, not occupied territory. Israel ended up with this territory after it was attacked, before there was even a Palestinian Authority. Time and again, the PA has rejected peace proposals because they refuse, publicly and privately, to accept a Jewish state in Israel. That is on them. In 2008, Israel offered to withdraw from 93 percent from Judea and Samaria.

As for Gaza, Hamas, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, they are in charge. There is no Israeli occupation there. This small strip of land is packed out with 1.7 million people living in sub-Third World country conditions because of Hamas. As was pointed out earlier, Hamas refuses humanitarian aid, uses women and children as human shields, calls jihad as an obligation, and murders innocent civilians.

One of the most important reasons we are here today is not only making a strong statement in opposition to the BDS movement but also to refute all the lies that are being told out there.

People will speak up to try to justify the hate that is filling the ranks of the BDS movement, and they will never tell you the other 100 percent of the story. This Chamber today comes together, Republicans and Democrats, both sides of the aisle, to make that powerful statement.

There is a list of victims--we don't have enough time to go through it--of Palestinian violence and terrorism in 2019. Mr. Speaker, 1,355 people have been killed by Palestinian violence and terrorism since September of 2000--1,355 people.

Never will the BDS supporters take any opportunity to set the record straight on any of that, but we will here.

I see that Brad Schneider is with us as well, the main author of the bill. This is a bipartisan effort that I am very proud to be part of today.

Mr. Speaker, I thank all of my colleagues for speaking today, as well as Chris Smith and Minority Whip Scalise. This is something that we are very passionate about.

We also believe that the strong statement that is going to be made here today with this vote is not the last step of this Chamber's speaking out. I really hope that we all can work together in a bipartisan fashion to figure out how to do something about it, to be able to pass legislation with teeth.

Today is nothing short of progress, and it is something for all of us to be proud of around our country and around the world because it should be an American value to stand strong, shoulder to shoulder with our great ally, our greatest ally in the Middle East in Israel. It is a beacon of hope, freedom, liberty, and opportunity.

Americans, in our day-to-day lives, don't even realize just how much we are using Israeli technology, American companies that have used Israeli technology. We probably have used it multiple times just today.

You can't boycott Israel and, at the same exact time, spend your entire day using Israeli technology. You can't boycott Israel and travel to Israel.

We are going to call out the hypocrisies that exist. Ultimately, as we flush this out, let's work together. This is about advocacy. It is also about education.

When I came to Congress in 2015, honestly, there were a lot of Members of Congress that, if you asked them, ``Where do you stand on the BDS movement?'' their answer would have been, ``What is BDS?''

Now, in 2019, here we are, July 2019, coming together. We know what BDS is: Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement. We know it is filled with anti-Israel hate. We know it is about delegitimizing Israel. We know that it is filled with anti-Semitism, from the founder of BDS to those in the name of BDS on college campuses from coast to coast.

I plead with all of my colleagues, if we can all work together as we move past this great vote today, that we can next pass legislation that has teeth in it.

Mr. Speaker, I thank, again, Brad Schneider, Jerry Nadler, Ann Wagner, the 350 cosponsors, and, hopefully, everyone today voting ``yes.'' I thank lead Republican Michael McCaul on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

This is a resolution for us all to be proud of. We should all vote ``yes,'' tell all of our constituents about it, and redouble our efforts to do something about it right after that vote.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source