Human rights defender Omar
Barghouti is urging people around the world to increase boycott, divestment and
sanctions (BDS) campaigns as the best way to show support for him – and for the
Palestinian people – as he faces escalating repression by the Israeli
government.
“Finally, I was allowed to
access my email account after 12 days of being banned from doing so during the
most intense phase of the ongoing interrogation I am subjected to by the
Israeli authorities,” Barghouti wrote in an email to supporters on Saturday.
In what is his first public
statement since his interrogation began in mid-March, Barghouti condemned
Israel’s “McCarthyite witch hunt” against him and the BDS movement.
“Due to a gag order, I am not
allowed to delve into any facts about the case,” Barghouti added. “I am thus
denied the ability to even refute the vicious lies published by Israel’s regime
against me. I am in no hurry to do so, though, as their main objective –
attempting to tarnish my reputation and, by extension, hurting the BDS movement
– has clearly failed.”
Barghouti says that a statement
issued last week by the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) “accurately
sums up this latest chapter in the Israeli regime’s war on the BDS movement.”
Israeli media have reported
that Barghouti, who lives in the coastal city of Akka in present-day Israel, is
suspected of tax evasion. The BNC, the civil society coalition that guides the
BDS movement, has accused
the Israeli government of “fabricating a case” against Barghouti.
“More BDS”
Barghouti was due to travel to
the US this month to receive the Gandhi
Peace Award. But by preventing him from doing so, “Israel’s regime has
inadvertently increased the publicity around this award,” Barghouti asserted.
Israel’s strategic affairs
ministry last year created a “tarnishing unit”
to assist its efforts to thwart the growth of Palestine solidarity around the
world.
“This devious unit’s key
function is summed up in ‘digging up dirt’ against human rights defenders and
networks associated with the BDS movement and, if no dirt is found, in
fabricating it,” Barghouti said.
Barghouti thanked well-wishers
for messages of solidarity. He added: “Many of you have asked how best you can
support me to face this latest persecution. My answer is, without hesitation …
more BDS!”
Barghouti stated: “We need to
expand, mainstream and build on our many inspiring BDS campaigns, academic,
cultural and economic, as the most effective way to respond to the new
McCarthyism designed by Israel’s regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and
apartheid and exported to states where its lobby groups enjoy massive
influence.”
Open threats
In the past year, Barghouti
has been subjected to a travel
ban and open threats by Israel’s top ministers.
During a “Stop the Boycott”
conference held in Jerusalem last year, Gilad Erdan, Israel’s public security
and strategic affairs minister, vowed
that BDS activists “will know they will pay a price for it.”
Singling out Barghouti, Erdan,
who is responsible for spearheading Israel’s assault on the global BDS
movement, added, “We will soon be hearing more of our friend Barghouti.”
During the same conference, which
was attended by EU and US diplomats, Israel’s intelligence minister Yisrael
Katz called for the thwarting of the BDS leadership, using the same Hebrew term
used by the military for “targeted killing,” or extrajudicial execution.
Israel’s interior minister
Aryeh Deri told conference attendees that he was considering revoking
Barghouti’s residency permit.
In response, Amnesty
International expressed
its concern for the “safety and liberty of Palestinian human rights
defender Omar Barghouti, and other boycott, divestment and sanctions activists,
following calls alluding to threats, including of physical harm and deprivation
of basic rights, made by Israeli ministers.”
Barghouti’s message indicates
that the barrage of threats and actual repression has done nothing to temper
his determination.
“As humans, we need permission
from no one to pursue our inherent rights,” he said. “As human rights
defenders, no degree of intimidation and bullying can deter us in our
passionate, nonviolent resistance to injustice, inequality and colonial
slavery.”
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