US: Virginia governor hopeful backs BDS

The candidate for Virginia Governor Lee Carter on Tuesday said he backs Palestinian calls to boycott the Israeli occupation.

During a virtual session for the Virginia People’s Debates series, Carter was asked whether he would approve of issuing a directive against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. “No, I will never do that. I’m a supporter of the BDS movement. I believe that the human rights abuses that are being inflicted upon the Palestinian people are among the worst currently ongoing in the world,” he said.

Thank you @carterforva … this is how a politician shows solidarity with Palestinians and our just struggle! Great job by @ZeinaHutchison as moderator of this Virginia Gubernatorial Debate. #virginia #Palestine #FreePalestine #BDS pic.twitter.com/0lEKHKlFei

— Amer Zahr (@AmerZahr) March 19, 2021

Criticising the Virginia Israel Advisory Board (VIAB), he said it is “dedicated to increasing its trade deficit with a foreign country . . . that has a military occupation over a captive population like the Israeli government does with the Palestinian people.”

Adding: “I don’t think we should have an agency like that for any country.”

The 2021 Virginia gubernatorial election will be held on 2 November and includes 15 declared candidates: eight Republicans, five Democrats and two independents. Carter co-chaired the Democratic presidential campaign in Virginia of Senator Bernie Sanders.

READ: Don’t let the Israeli lobby fire David Miller 

Note: This article was updated at 13.28 UTC on 21 March 2021. A previous version of this page incorrectly stated that there were 7 Republican and 1 independent candidate.