New bill submitted to withdraw funding from political parties calling for boycott

The controversial leader of the Yisrael Beiteinu Party submitted a draft bill on Thursday calling for any political party represented in the Knesset to have state funding withdrawn if it supports boycott campaigns. Avigdor Lieberman included opposition to the misleading labelling of products from illegal West Bank settlements in the draft legislation.

According to Yedioth Ahranoth newspaper, far-right extremist Lieberman said that he has no doubt that the calls for a boycott, “which hurts Israel and its citizens”, are much more damaging and severe when coming from within Israel’s own legislature. “It is not logical that Israeli taxpayers fund those who call for acts hurting their income and the state’s economy,” he insisted.

The former foreign minister described the boycott (BDS) movement as “a new form of anti-Semitism” and said that it has no place in Israel’s parliament. “This legislation seeks to give the Speaker of the Knesset the power to form guidelines for defunding Knesset parties who call for a boycott of Israel,” he explained.

Lieberman said that the draft was submitted as a reaction to statements from Joint Arab List MKs, and after the left-wing Meretz Party tried to promote legislation that would label settlement products accurately as such, and not as originating “in Israel”.

In response to the proposed law, Basil Ghattas MK of the Joint Arab List said, “It is our right to call for a boycott of Israel as long as the occupation continues and the siege remains in place against Gaza.”

Israel fears an escalating wave of boycott calls, especially amongst European student unions. President Reuven Rivlin described them as “very serious.”

Haaretz has noted that the Israeli right-wing is seeking to encircle media and human rights organisations critical of Israel’s actions.