Joint Arab List MK Yousef Jabareen of the faction publicly called to boycott Israel in a speech at a conference in support of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement in London, Channel 11 News reported.
"The international community has all the tools to deal with war crimes – to boycott settlers, to boycott settlement products, to boycott international companies," said Jabareen at the Palestine Expo conference.
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Organized by the pro-BDS nongovernmental organization "Friends of Al-Aqsa," the Palestine Expo boasts of being the "biggest Palestine event in Europe."
According to the conference schedule, Joint Arab List MK Ahmad Tibi and Haaretz journalist Gideon Levy also spoke at the conference.
In his speech, Jabareen accused Israel of being an "apartheid state," and urged more "mobilization" against it.
"There needs to be a more mass mobilization of our people on the ground, in [the] Gaza [Strip] but also in the West Bank," he said, adding that Israel is "exactly like the South African Bantustan. And it's a combination of apartheid and occupation."
Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan had tried unsuccessfully to prevent Jabareen from attending the conference.
In a letter to Knesset Legal Counsel Eyal Yinon, Erdan argued that Jabareen should not be allowed to make the trip because the group that funded his ticket, Middle East Monitor, is an extremist organization with ties to BDS.
Similarly, the right-wing Im Tirtzu organization sent a letter to Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, demanding Jabareen and Tibi be sanctioned for their participation in the conference.
"This is a dark day for the Knesset," said Im Tirtzu's policy director Alon Schvartzer. "Arab MKs are abusing their positions to participate in pro-BDS conferences and spew lies and hatred against Israel."
Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.
