Israel bans 20 foreign NGOs over BDS movement

08, Jan 2018 | CJP Team

The Guardian reported that Israel has released a list of 20 foreign non-governmental organisations (NGOs) “whose representatives are banned from visiting Israel” because of the groups’ backing of pro-Palestine boycott, sanctions, and divestment (BDS) movement. Israel’s rightwing strategic affairs and public security minister Gilad Erdan said that these groups “operate consistently and continuously” against the country through a “campaign of incitement and lies,” according to the Guardian. Erdan said the list indicated a shift “from defence to offence,” adding, “The boycott organisations need to know that the state of Israel will act against them and not allow [them] to enter its territory to harm its citizens…No country would have allowed critics coming to harm the country to enter it.” Hassan Jabareen, with the Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, told the Guardian that the “ban is an overt violation of the constitutional rights of Israeli citizens and the rights guaranteed to Palestinian residents of the OPT [Occupied Palestinian Territories] under international humanitarian and human rights law,” adding, “This move is reminiscent of South Africa’s apartheid regime which also prepared blacklists in order to punish people and prevent the entry of those opposed to its racist policies.”