Wiesenthal Centre Commends Paris City Council's Measures to Ban Activities of the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) Movement
“The Municipality prohibits calls for or measures taken to boycott Israel, gatherings in the public domain or in the streets of Paris, or such activities in public establishments or buildings subsidized by the City.”
Paris, 18 February 2016
The Simon Wiesenthal Centre commended the Paris City Council yesterday for its “prohibition of calls for or measures taken to boycott Israel, gatherings in the public domain or in the streets of Paris, or such activities in public establishments or buildings subsidized by the City,” adding that “this municipal ruling expands and reinforces the French anti-boycott law 77-574 of 7 June 1977.”
The Centre, in particular, applauded Socialist Mayor Anne Hidalgo who, together with the centre-right Republican and Democratic opposition parties, carried the vote against the Greens, Communists and other leftist factions on the council.
Paris municipality Republican Group President, Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, also denounced the recent demonstrations against Israeli Bat-Sheva dance performances and an anti-Israel exhibition of “Médecins sans Frontières” (Doctors without Borders).
Centre Simon Wiesenthal-France President, Richard Odier, thanked both Hidalgo and Kosciusko-Morizet, “for ensuring bipartisan solidarity against activities that contribute to antisemitic incitement and endanger Jewish security...” He urged other municipalities “to emulate the Paris prohibition.”
“BDS green tee-shirted squads invading French supermarkets, filling trolleys from the kosher shelves and terrorizing cashiers as they rush outside to bum their loot, is redolent of 1930's Germany and World War II occupied Paris attacks on Jewish stores... The call for 'Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions' is today's direct descendant of the Nazis 'Kaufen nicht bei Juden' (Do Not Buy from Jews)” claimed Shimon Samuels, the Centre's Director for International Relations.
“The BDS anti-peace movement never assisted a single Palestinian. It was designed only to delegitimize the Jewish State... We hope this move will inspire similar actions on both sides of the Atlantic,” commented Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the Centre's Associate Dean, who was in Paris together with Dr. Samuels to meet with government, diplomatic and Jewish community leaders.
