Joe Zevuloni, a Miami-based anti-BDS activist recently spoke to Arutz Sheva about Israel's decision to ban Dem. Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib from entering Israel.
"Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar have been leading the BDS fight against Israel," Zevuloni began. "They're singling out the only democracy in the Middle East in a hypocritical way. They claim to be concerned about human rights. I suggest that if they're so concerned about human rights they should go to Gaza, where women can't run for any political office or even participate in a simple thing like a marathon. Gays and lesbians get thrown off buildings."
"If they go over to Jordan, 75% of their population is Palestinian and they're not allowed to vote. But they choose the only Jewish state in the world. Their motive is one and only one - anti-Semitism. It's good old fashioned anti-Semitism that they basically call anti-Israelism—that's the new slogan for the anti-Semites.
"Israel is a sovereign state and we as Americans should respect its sovereignty. Israel has its own laws and it implemented an anti-BDS law in 2017. BDS is the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement, an anti-Semitic movement singling out Jews, Israelis or anyone that supports the Jewish state and promoting boycotts against them, sanctions, even divestment. When Israel implemented the anti-BDS law, it did it to protect its citizens like it should do, like any democracy should do. If someone wants to cross the border into the United States, do you think the agent would let him in if he said, 'I'm going to boycott America' or 'I'm an activist against the US?' Of course not!
"Israel is no different. Israel has become the punching bag of the world. Enough is enough! The Jewish state has laws and people have to respect those laws, and if they don't they're not welcome.
"Rashida Tlaib is an anti-Semite and anti-Israel. When she asked permission to visit her 90-year old grandmother on humanitarian grounds, Israel immediately agreed with only one condition - don't harm our citizens while you're here. That's all that Israel asked for— meaning—don't promote boycotts against the Jewish state while you're in the country. And then the truth came out, her true agenda came out. Her hatred for the Jewish state is stronger than her love for her own family and that's a shame.
"What more and more US citizens understand is that BDS is nothing more than a bigoted anti-Semitic movement targeting Jews and Israelis. America was established on different values. Those values do not coincide with BDS and its values and BDS is slowly getting defeated all over. There are 22 states that already passed resolutions against BDS. Recently Airbnb backed away from its decision to boycott home listings in Judea and Samaria because we fought against it. BDS is against American values."