UNITED NATIONS – More than 2,000 people attended on Tuesday the first-ever conference at the UN General Assembly aimed at combating the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement, the largest gathering to date focused on battling the attempt to pressure Israel over its perceived ill-treatment of the Palestinians.
Students, activists, dignitaries legal professionals and representatives of Jewish organizations took part in the “Building Bridges, Not Boycotts” day-long summit, a partnership between Israel’s Mission to the UN and a dozen pro-Israel organizations.
Among those who addressed the participants in the General Assembly were Justice Elyakim Rubinstein, Vice President of the Israeli Supreme Court, Jay Sekulow, Chief Legal Counsel of the American Center for Law, and Ronald Lauder, President of the World Jewish Congress. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the opening session via video.
In his opening speech, Israeli ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said that the BDS phenomenon amounted to “modern-day anti-Semitism,” and that those who wanted to fight it “must unite to reveal its true face and put an end to its ideology of hatred and lies.”
“Here, from the parliament of Nations, we commit to fighting BDS on campuses, in the courts and in the halls of the UN. We will not allow the forces of hate to demonize Israel. Together, we will defeat BDS,” Danon said.
Read the full article at Times of Israel
