Jewish groups condemned the European Parliament on Wednesday for hosting Omar Barghouti, the founder of the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Barghouti was invited to address the European Union's legislature by the radical left-wing parliamentary group Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats.
In his address, Barghouti accused Israel of being an "apartheid state."
This comes several weeks after a Norwegian politician nominated the BDS movement for a Nobel Peace Prize, despite its anti-Semitic calls for Israel's destruction.
In light of recent political and legal successes in the battle against the BDS movement across Europe, BDS supporters have recently doubled down on efforts to promote the boycott efforts and drum up recognition for the movement.
Daniel Schwammenthal, a representative of the Jewish advocacy group American Jewish Committee in Brussels, where the European Parliament sits, remarked that Barghouti's address was "a grave assault on the dignity of the European Parliament, the Jewish communities in Europe and around the world and – not least – the Israeli-Palestinian peace process itself."
Schwammenthal leveled harsh criticism at lawmaker Ana Gomes, from the Portuguese Socialist Party, who spearheaded efforts to bring Barghouti to the European Parliament.
According to Schwammenthal, Gomes "has done a great disservice to the Palestinian cause and the peace process by giving a stage to an extremist activist who openly rejects the two-state solution."
He said the AJC hopes "responsible voices" in the faction, as well as European Parliament President Antonio Tajani, will "speak out against this shameful event."
Meanwhile, a court in the southeastern Spanish city Alicante set a legal precedent this week by ruling that local government-mandated boycotts of Israel are in violation of Spanish anti-discrimination laws.
The case in question dealt with a town that decided last June to ban bodies or individuals who do business with Israel from advertising there.
This ruling deals a blow to the BDS movement, which asserted several weeks ago that municipal decisions to boycott Israel are not illegal under Spanish law.
