Herzog wrote that giving a stage to Barghouti undermines efforts to advance Middle East peace and help the Palestinian people.

Opposition leader Isaac Herzog asked a European Union parliament member to rescind an invitation to the co-founder of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement, Omar Barghouti, to speak at an event on ‘The Israeli Settlements in Palestine and the European Union” set for Wednesday at the EU parliament in Brussels.

Barghouti was invited by Ana Maria Gomes, a member of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament and a former diplomat. Herzog wrote Gomes that giving a stage to Barghouti undermined efforts to advance Middle East peace and help the Palestinian people.

“On the basis of my commitment to a peaceful two state solution, I am deeply concerned by your plans to include BDS activist Omar Barghouti in your event,” Herzog wrote Gomes. “The BDS movement promotes an extreme and entirely one-sided position. This movement not only promotes unjust discrimination against Israel and its citizens, but its supporters unashamedly call for dismantling Israel and replacing it with a single Arab majority state. This is against the policies and values of the EU and its members, and in opposition to the preferences of a majority of Israelis and Palestinians who favor a two state solution.”

Herzog wrote Gomes that BDS is an ineffective tool for promoting Palestinian rights in the West Bank. He explained that boycotts targeting settlement industries in particular hurt those they claim to support, because tens of thousands of Palestinians rely on these industries for their livelihood, enjoying salaries and benefits far greater than average Palestinian incomes.

He added that BDS activities in Europe harm primarily European Jews, who are frequently confronted by attempts to intimidate and ostracize those who wish to engage and identity with Israel. Herzog wrote that BDS activities have become platforms for legitimizing outright expressions of antisemitism.

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