Samaria Regional Council chairman Yossi Dagan met with Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, and spoke with him about the decision of Ben & Jerry's Global and Unilever to boycott Judea and Samaria.
Dagan told Lee that the BDS campaign continues to raise its head all over the world and seeks to harm the State of Israel in general and the settlement enterprise in Judea and Samaria in particular. "You have the tools to stand firm with us and help fight this immoral thing."
"If in the past the fight against Israel was conducted by tanks and missiles, today, they understand that, thank G-d, the IDF is the strongest army in the Middle East and the country cannot be destroyed with weapons. So they are trying to destroy the State of Israel with this new war: a war of defamation and delegitimization, the economic war of BDS," Dagan said.
Dagan also referred to Eli Singer, Ben & Jerry's franchisee in Israel, who refused Ben & Jerry's global demand to boycott Judea and Samaria, "This is a brave man who needs to be strengthened, but the boycott law must be imposed on international society."
"Activating the boycott law in this case is essential to protect the State of Israel from increasing attacks by anti-Semitic boycott organizations and is no less essential to the United States, as the United States and Israel face the same enemies and the same challenges," the Samaria Regional Council chairman explained.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee was impressed by the remarks and instructed his staff to consider the request. Already during the day, a professional meeting of the governor's staff headed by the chief of staff was held together with Dagan's professional staff, in order to examine how the request could be implemented.
The governor of Tennessee told Dagan: "We stand by the people of Samaria, and we will continue to do so." Dagan said after the professional meeting: "I congratulate the Tennessee Governor for his clear stand on the side of the State of Israel and the residents of Samaria. I was pleased to instruct the Governor to examine the matter in all seriousness prior to its promotion, I was also glad that an initial working meeting was held immediately, we will continue to work together my staff and the Governor's professional team in order to achieve the desired result and for an effective war against BDS."