The War on BDS: Israel to Spy on Foreign Activists, Deport Them
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A task force will identify foreign BDS activists and collect intelligence on them in order to make the case for denying them entry to Israel.
Israel will be spying on hundreds of activists and organizations in the Palestinian West Bank, as a new task force has been charged with suppressing foreign activists who support the Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment Movement against Israel.
The move was announced Sunday by Israel's Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan and Interior Minister Arye Dery, TeleSUR reported.
The joint task force will identify organizations and activists that support BDS with the intention of gathering intelligence on their activities in order to collect enough evidence to present in favor of legally deporting them.
Israel, which has one of the most right-wing regimes in its history, sees critical and leftist human rights groups as organizations seeking to destroy Israel by documenting and uncovering abuses by Israeli security forces.
Israel has already begun a clampdown on local Palestinian activists who support BDS. In May, the regime imposed a travel ban on Omar Barghouti, one of the founders of the peaceful movement.
BDS has been growing into an effective international effort as many companies and celebrities are joining efforts to hold Israel accountable for illegal actions against Palestinians, such as settlement building in the occupied West Bank.
Israel has been feeling the effects of that boycott campaign and has been trying in recent months to take legal actions against it in Israel, as well as lobbying its Western allies to reject it and crackdown on BDS in their own countries.
