South Africa must not fall for the lies of BDS

The BDS movement relies on convoluted, twisted, and at times completely fabricated “facts” to delegitimise the state of Israel due to a political conflict. Look no further than their website which absurdly states that Israeli-Arabs like myself “are subjected to a system of racial discrimination…” and that, “the Israeli government continues to forcibly displace Palestinian communities in Israel from their land.” As an Israeli-Arab myself, I am outraged to see such a movement spreading untruths around the world that harms not only my country, but the prospects for peace with Palestinians as well. Even more perturbing, they do so in South Africa using the horrors of apartheid to incorrectly accuse Israel of the same. Such false equivalencies between Israel and South Africa’s history of apartheid disrespects the true victims of apartheid in South Africa.