Radio Islam News and Agencies | 19 Rabi uth Thani 1439/07 January 2018

Israel’s Strategic Affairs Ministry has released a ‘blacklist’ of 20 organizations from around the globe whose key members will be banned from entering its ‘borders’.

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 delegitimization against it,” Israeli media outlet 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 organization or who has expressed support for such an organization 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.

According to Ha’aretz, for months the Strategic Affairs Ministry had refused to divulge which organizations are on the list. However, a joint team from the Strategic Affairs and Interior ministries had previously determined the parameters that serve as a basis for barring activists from coming into the country.

These criteria dictated that those who hold senior or important positions in blacklisted organizations will be denied entry, as well as key activists, even if they hold no official position. Mayors and establishment figures who actively and continually promote boycotts will also be prevented from entering, as will activists who arrive to Israel on behalf of or as part of a delegation initiated by one of blacklisted groups.

Noteworthy inclusions on today’s released list are UK- based Friends of Al Aqsa as well as Johannesburg-headquartered BDS South Africa which has vociferously lobbied the ruling African National Congress to adopt the BDS platform and officially downgrade South Africa’s diplomatic ties with Israel. The California-based Jewish Voice for Peace, which has over 200,000 online supporters and 70 chapters, has also been targeted.

Bottom line: this new blacklist of “BDS supporters” is the newest example of the level of panic the Zionist regime is in & how fragile it actually is

— Asaf Ronel (@AsafRonel) January 7, 2018

In previously querying the details of the then alleged blacklist, Israeli lawmaker Mossi Raz suggested the initiative was borne out of desperation and failed to acknowledge the harms of a continued Zionist occupation of Palestinian lands.

”Instead of dealing with the root of the problem, the occupation, the ministers are using up public resources to create a list of the kind that McCarthy could have signed,” said Raz, as quoted by Ha’aretz, referring to U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s campaign of political repression.

“It’s clear that there’s an attempt here to pour oil on the bonfire of delegitimization of the Israeli left and to collect votes based on polarizing and dividing Israeli society. Democracy is also the understanding that everyone has freedom to express any political opinion, as long as it does not include incitement. The attempt to silence opinions that don’t accord with the ultranationalist views of Erdan and [Interior Ministe Arye] Dery is another crack in the democratic values of the State of Israel.”

The following is the full list, as published by Israeli media:

European organizations:

■ The France Association Palestine Solidarity

■ BDS France

■ BDS Italy

■ The European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine

■ Friends of Al-Aqsa

■ Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign

■ The Palestine Committee of Norway

■ Palestine Solidarity Association of Sweden

■ Palestine Solidarity Campaign

■ War on Want

■ BDS Kampagne

American organizations:

■ American Friends Service Committee

■ American Muslims for Palestine

■ Code Pink

■ Jewish Voice for Peace

■ National Students for Justice in Palestine

■ US Campaign for Palestinian Rights

Other regions:

■ BDS Chile

■ BDS South Africa

■ BDS National Committee