Queen's Park rejects boycott, divestment and sanctions movement

Thornhill MPP's motion passed

Yorkregion.com
Dec. 2, 2016
By Simone Joseph

The Ontario legislature passed a resolution this week rejecting the differential treatment of Israel, including the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement.

“It’s a glorious day for the Jewish community, for the people of Ontario and for all those against discrimination and racism,” said Berl Nadler, co-chair of The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) in the GTA.

Introduced by Thornhill MPP Gila Martow, the resolution stated that the legislature “stands firmly against any position or movement that promotes or encourages any form of hatred, hostility, prejudice, racism and intolerance in any way.” It said the legislature “recognizes the mutually beneficial political, economic and cultural ties between Ontario and Israel and endorses the Ottawa Protocol on Combating Antisemitism”.

Before the vote, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, in partnership with Jewish Federations and Hillels across the province, launched a campaign encouraging thousands of Ontarians to contact their MPP in support of the motion. CIJA is the advocacy agent of the Jewish Federations and other organized Jewish communities across Canada.

Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) is “a Palestinian-led movement for freedom, justice and equality,” according to the BDS website. The movement “upholds the principle that Palestinians are entitled to the same rights as the rest of humanity”.

The website (bdsmovement.net/) also explains: “The BDS movement for Palestinian rights challenges the support Israel receives from governments, corporations and institutions across the world.”

The site goes on to say: “Israel is occupying and colonizing Palestinian land, discriminating against Palestinian citizens of Israel and denying Palestinian refugees the right to return to their homes. It is maintaining a regime of occupation, apartheid and settler-colonialism over the Palestinian people.”

But Martow’s motion suggested that BDS promotes or encourages "hatred, hostility, prejudice, racism and intolerance."

The BDS movement has said it only targets businesses and institutions that are directly helping in the ongoing violation of Palestinians' human rights.

Nadler said BDS unfairly takes aim at Israeli businesses, academics and artists, adding that it can provide cover to anti-Semites.

“The BDS movement rejects and negates the very idea of a Jewish state,” Nadler said in a speech Thursday. “The leaders of the BDS movement, including its founder, Omar Barghouti, have openly declared that their goal isn't a peaceful resolution of the conflict, but rather the total destruction of Israel. BDS has led to rising hostility to Jewish students and others who express support for Israel,” he told legislature. "Time and time again, Jewish students are maligned by BDS activists for speaking positively about Israel or for celebrating their connection as Canadian Jews to the Jewish State - a natural connection that is an inherent part of their Jewish identity. Canadian Jewish Students are labeled as 'racists' simply for being who they are.”

Steven Del Duca, MPP for Vaughan, said that the Ontario government strongly rejects the BDS movement.