Israel to use ‘cyber abilities’ to fight BDS

The third annual Cybertech conference in Tel Aviv held a special session Wednesday “devoted to using Israel’s cyber abilities to fight the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement.”

Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan, who oversees the government’s efforts to undermine BDS and Palestine solidarity campaigning globally, attended and spoke at the meeting.

The session on BDS was organised by Adam Milstein, chair of the Israeli American Council, and a real estate mogul with a conviction for tax evasion.

According to The Jerusalem Post, Milstein “is promoting ways to use cyber technology to tackle BDS”, which he called an “existential threat”, and a “war against Israel by non-military means.”

Milstein told the gathering that “around 40 student groups have passed resolutions to boycott Israel. The State of Israel is boycotted by churches, unions. The numbers are on the rise. There are such incidents every two weeks.”

The paper reported that one of the goals of the session was “to generate ideas about how best to gather information on BDS – know who their leaders are and what they have planned – in order to thwart their campaigns.”

Erdan highlighted the NIS 100 million budget his ministry has for fighting BDS, and said that he believes that this amount will grow.

Amos Yadlin, head of the Institute of National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, also spoke, and described ‘delegitimisation’ as Israel’s Achilles heel. “The most dangerous country in the Middle East is the State of Facebook,” he said.

Tweet: Minister Gilad Erdan with Adam Milstein

כנס הסייבר השר גלעד ארדן מגייס את חברות הסייבר למלחמה נגדBDS @AdamMilstein @giladerdan1 אדם מילשטיין יו״ר IAC pic.twitter.com/9dy85i64zF

— Moshe Debby (@MosheDebby) January 27, 2016