The list will be available to the public and be based on “credible information”.
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In May, the Freedom to Boycott Coalition wrote to NY state legislators calling on them to oppose similar anti-BDS bills, which they described as unconstitutional. He’s also attended several Celebrate Israel Parades in NY, including last year’s.
“As a Democrat, I always took for granted that there was a natural relationship with Israel that was unquestionable”, Cuomo said.
In solidarity with Israel, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced an executive order against the BDS Movement.
Mahmoud Nawajaa, general coordinator of the Palestinian BDS National Committee, a coalition that leads the global movement, said: “These attacks smack of Israel’s despair at its growing isolation around the world, after failing for years to stem the growing support for the nonviolent BDS movement as a strategic and effective means to achieve Palestinian rights under worldwide law”.
“This order sends the message that this state will do everything in its power to end this hateful, intolerant campaign”, he said. BDS was founded in 2005 to protest Israel’s actions toward Palestinians by boycotting Israeli products and companies. The first-in-the-nation action will ensure that no state agency or authority engages in or promotes any investment activity that would further the harmful and discriminatory Palestinian-backed Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign in New York State.
Cuomo is the first governor to sign such an order, which takes effect immediately, and he urged other governors to follow suit. [Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images]”Having lost many battles for hearts and minds at the grass-roots level, Israel has adopted since 2014 a new strategy to criminalize support for B.D.S. from the top”, said Barghouti.
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Legal organizations have previously called attempts to push forward anti-BDS legislation “21st Century McCarthyism”, and warned that it would create a “blacklist” of human rights advocates, mirroring the treatment of those who campaigned against Apartheid in South Africa.
