Palestine Solidarity Campaign on blacklist of groups barred from Israel

Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Friends of Al-Aqsa are among 20 global organisations who have been banned from Israel as a result of their support for BDS.

The two were named as part of a list announced by Israel’s Strategic Affairs Ministry on Sunday after the Hadashot news report, with all those cited as being supporters of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel.

European groups on the list include BDS France; BDS Italy; War on Want; Friends of Al-Aqsa; The European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine; and Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign. The BDS National Committee; BDS Chile; and BDS South Africa also are on the list.

They’re joined by the left-wing California-based Jewish Voice for Peace, which has which more than 200,000 online supporters, together with five other US groups; American Friends Service Committee; American Muslims for Palestine, Code Pink, National Students for Justice in Palestine; and the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights.

The groups that appear on the list are those that are “working in a clear and consistent manner to encourage a boycott of Israel and conduct a campaign of legitimisation against it,” Hadashot News reported.

The Interior Ministry will be responsible for enforcing the list, reportedly beginning in March.

Not every person who is a member of such an organisation or who has expressed support for such an organisation would be barred from entering Israel. It is reported to be limited to those who hold senior or key positions in the groups that appear on the blacklist, or important or high-profile activists.

operate consistently and continuously” against Israel using a “campaign of incitement and lies.”

The list is part of an Israeli effort against an international movement calling for boycotts, sanctions and divestment over Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians.

“The boycott organisations must know that the state of Israel will act against them,” said Mr Erdan.

“The creation of this list is another step in our struggle against the incitement and lies of the boycott organisations.”

American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker group on the list, said it would continue to work for “peace and justice.”

“We answered the call for divestment from apartheid South Africa and we have done the same with the call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions from Palestinians who have faced decades of human rights violations,” said Kerri Kennedy, an AFSC official.

“Israel’s decision to specifically ban JVP is disconcerting but not surprising, given the further erosion of democratic norms and rising anxiety about the power of BDS as a tool to demand freedom,” Jewish Voice for Peace wrote on Facebook in response to the decision.