July 23, 2021 | Jewish News Syndicate

Germany must implement its anti-BDS policy

Pro-boycott sentiments are present in many federal ministries and state governments.
July 23, 2021 | Jewish News Syndicate

Germany must implement its anti-BDS policy

Pro-boycott sentiments are present in many federal ministries and state governments.

The German parliament, or Bundestag, passed a resolution in 2019 declaring that the “arguments and methods of the BDS movement are anti-Semitic.” The tactics of the BDS campaign “inevitably evoke associations with the Nazi slogan, Kauft nicht bei Juden! (‘Don’t buy from Jews!’),” the motion stated.

Regrettably, there has been little tangible progress on the ground in Germany since the Bundestag passed the resolution. One of the more disturbing examples of the German government’s failure to combat BDS is Chancellor Angela Merkel’s failure to act against Kuwait Airways’ boycott of Israeli passengers in the Federal Republic.

In 2016, an Israeli student in Germany sued the state-owned airline after it canceled his booking on a flight from Frankfurt to Bangkok with a stopover in Kuwait City. In 2017, a German court ruled that Kuwait Airways can boycott Israel. The Central Council of Jews in Germany said, “It is unacceptable that a foreign company operating on the basis of deeply anti-Semitic laws should be allowed to do business in Germany.”

When Kuwait Airways similarly discriminated against Israel in the United States in 2015, the American authorities threatened legal action. As a result, the airline ended all flights from New York to London rather than sell tickets to Israeli citizens.

Issues:

Issues:

Israel Lawfare Palestinian Politics

Topics:

Topics:

Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Facebook Germany Israel Israel Defense Forces Israelis Jewish people London Nazism New York The Holocaust United States Zionism