BDS’ Omar Barghouti: Israel ‘effectively declared itself an apartheid state’

Responding to Israel’s passing of a new “Jewish nation state” bill earlier this week, Omar Barghouti from the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) said yesterday that “Israel is effectively declaring itself an apartheid state and dropping its worn-out mask of democracy”.

From now on, it will not just be legal to racially discriminate against the indigenous Palestinian citizens of the state. It will be constitutionally mandated and required. This should stir people, institutions and governments to take effective action to hold Israel accountable

he added.

In a statement published on the official BDS website, Barghouti said that “if ever there was a time for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel’s system of oppression, it is now.”

According to Barghouti: “Israel’s official adoption of apartheid opens the door for the Palestinian people, Arab nations and our allies around the world to pressure the UN to activate its anti-apartheid laws and impose serious sanctions on Israel like those imposed on apartheid South Africa.”

Striking a note of defiance, Barghouti declared: “No Israeli law will erase our right to self-determination in our homeland or the right of our refugees to return home.”

Read: Alliance of 140 global political parties endorses BDS, urges military embargo on Israel