Fearless Flatbush City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov Pulls $50,000 Funding From Cuny Law School

 

New City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov is set to pull $50,000 in funding for the CUNY Law School over the faculty's support of a Boycott, Sanction and Divestment (BDS) movement resolution, New York Post reported on Friday.

Funding pulled over BDS

"I have pulled funding from the program and redirected it to Legal Services NYC,” Vernikov, who is a Ukrainian-born Jew, told The NY Post. “It seems as if antisemitism is the only politically acceptable form of racism which exists. We must stop handing out free passes to antisemites like candy.”

The institution has been embroiled in multiple scandals connected to anti-Israel sentiment, including having a BDS leader give the 2022 graduating class's commencement speech.

The faculty adopted a BDS resolution on May 11 that had been originally introduced and passed by the student government in December. The resolution officially endorses BDS, and calls on the institution to divest from Israel, end-all Israeli student exchanges, and cut ties with any groups that "repress Palestinian organizing."

The self-described "anti-Zionist" CUNY Law Jewish Law Students Association (JLSA) celebrated the faculty's decision "recognizing that the Palestinian people's struggle for freedom, justice and equality needs our support and calls for us all to fight against the institutional complicity that funds and supports their genocide."

“During a time when antisemitic hate crimes are up by 300%, it is incumbent upon our academic institutions to do everything in their power to protect their Jewish and pro-Israel students, not pass resolutions which directly place them in harm’s way.”

New City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov, to New York Post

Liberal Jews Don't Care About Anti-Semitism If It's From the left!!!

Jonathan Greenblatt, Chief Tuchis Lekker of the Goyim

By Karol Markowicz
Jew-hating has become too normal in America, and liberal Jewry keep mum about it. Left-of-center Jews speak out about white nationalists, but where are they on anti-Semitism when it arises from their own side?

Last week, Airbnb announced its decision to remove rental listings in the West Bank. But the apartment-sharing service didn’t touch listings in other disputed territories, like Russian-annexed Ukraine and Turkish-occupied North Cyprus. You would think liberal Jewish outfits would race to call out what lies behind this hypocrisy: anti-Semitism.

You’d think wrong. Anti-Defamation League boss Jonathan Greenblatt, for example, issued a tepid statement saying he was “dismayed” by the move. But he stopped short of calling out the blatant anti­Semitism.

Victory for BDS as SodaStream’s last Palestinian workers lose their jobs

The liberal-minded beverage firm used to employ hundreds of locals, until anti-Israel boycott pressure forced the closure of its West Bank factory.

Now the final 75 Palestinian staffers have been fired!

Viva Palestina!!

Two years ago, The Times of Israel reported on SodaStream’s plant at the West Bank industrial zone of Mishor Adumim, where the Israeli carbonated beverage company was employing 1,300 workers. 

Of that workforce, 350 were Israeli Jews, 450 were Israeli Arabs and 500 were West Bank Palestinians. 

Management and staff confirmed to our reporter that pay and benefits were identical for workers in comparable jobs, irrespective of their citizenship and ethnicity.

On Monday, SodaStream reluctantly announced that it was laying off its last 75 Palestinian workers, having failed to secure permits from the Israeli government for them to work at its new factory in the southern Israeli Bedouin town of Rahat. Under pressure from anti-Israel boycott groups, which launched a ferocious campaign against SodaStream and its spokeswoman Scarlett Johansson, the firm had closed its Mishor Adumim plant last October.

Hundreds of Palestinians who had been treated equitably by a fair-minded decent Israeli firm are now out of work.

There are over 200 territorial disputes in the world, but the European Union is boycotting Israel

Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely opened Israel's battle against the European Union's decision to label Jewish-made products from Judea and Samaria Tuesday, calling the EU out for "discriminating" against the Jewish state.

Earlier Tuesday senior EU officials stated to Arutz Sheva that there was "no room for negotiation" with Israel on the topic of labeling Jewish goods. 

Speaking at a press conference in the Barkan Industrial Region in Samaria, where Israelis and Palestinians work side-by-side, Hotovely stated that - despite EU officials' insistence - labeling Jewish-made products was a form of a boycott.

"Today the Foreign Minister is starting a battle against the idea of labeling," she said. "Labeling, it's very clear to say... it's a clear boycotting (of) the State of Israel."

Hotovely noted that targeting one specific region of Israel was essentially tantamount to "boycotting the State itself and creating delegitimization of the State."

She also claimed it marked the start of a slippery slope, again despite the EU's insistence to the contrary. "When you boycott Judea and Samaria you eventually boycott Tel Aviv."

The outspoken deputy minister also called the EU out on its "discriminatory" stance vis-a-vis Israel

"There are over 200 territorial disputes in the world, but the European Union is singling out Israel - this is discrimination, this is a boycott," she declared.

The "majority of Israelis" agree with her, Hotovely asserted.

She also noted that Palestinian employees in Judea and Samaria would be the first to suffer from such a boycott. Those purporting to support"coexistence" could not simultaneously target specifically those businesses which encourage Jews and Arabs to work together, she said.

"You're not harming Israel's economy when you do labeling, what you harm is over 10,000 Palestinian families who are going to lose their jobs."

"Whoever wants coexistence in the Middle East" should oppose the measure, she continued. "Labeling is distancing peace."

Hotovely then turned the incitement from the Palestinian Authority, which has helped fan the flames of the ongoing wave of terrorism buffeting Israel.

"We hear day after day strong incitement against Israelis and Jews - those are the things you need to fight! You need to fight violence, you don't need to fight coexistence.

"Just yesterday an 80-year-old woman was stabbed in the streets of Netanya," she said, apparently mixing up yesterday's attacks in Rishon Letzion and Netanya, both of which targeted elderly Israelis. 

"Terrorism doesn't see a difference between the Green Line" and the rest of Israel, she noted.

WATCH How American Reggae Singer Matisyahu Stands Up Against Modern Day Anti-Semites

A defiant Matisyahu stood up against anti-Semitic pro-Palestinian activists in the crowd by delivering a moving performance of his monumental hit "Im Eskachyich Yerushalyim"

A defiant Matisyahu stood up against anti-Semitic pro-Palestinian activists in the crowd by delivering a moving performance of his monumental hit “Jerusalem,” a modern day version of the ancient Jewish hymn “If I forget thee O Jerusalem (Im Eshkagech Yerushalayaim)” that is recited by the groom at the end of every Jewish wedding ceremony.

The song describes the 3000-year old bond between the Jewish people and Jerusalem and the current attempts by Israel’s enemies to deny Jewish history in the city (See lyrics below this article). Matisyahu performed the song in front of the pro-Palestinian activists who waved giant PLO flags and repeatedly heckled the singer during the concert.

A local pro-Palestinian group belonging to the global Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel had pressured the organizers of the festival into canceling Matisyahu’s performance after he refused to answer questions about his stance on a Palestinian state. Matisyahu was singled out by the organizers because he is Jewish; no other artist scheduled to perform at the festival was asked questions on the subject.

Matisyahu concert canceled in Spain because he refused to say that Arab Savages are entitled to a State!

It's ironic, the country that tortured Jews and then expelled them, is now banning a Jew from singing!

Jews for years would never even step into the country because of Spain's murderous past. 

Not to worry, the country will soon be taken over by ISIS! 

Now Read:

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is now causing a rift in reggae.

A music festival in Spain has canceled the performance of American Jewish rapper Matisyahu due to pressure from the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement and because the artist wouldn’t sign a pledge supporting the Palestinian state, according to Spanish media citing a statement from the event organizers.

Matisyahu, who is not Israeli but has visited the country several times, was to perform at the Rototom Sunsplash festival on Aug. 22. His concert slot was filled by Jamaican artist Etana.

The event director, Filippo Giunta, asked the singer on Thursday to issue a “signing statement or video” that expressed in a “very clear” way that Palestinians are entitled to their own state, according to Spanish newspaper El Pais. Other artists at the event threatened to cancel their own performances if Matisyahu was allowed to take the stage because he was “seen to represent Israel,” according to the Times of Israel. The local BDS movement accused Matisyahu of being a “Zionist” who supports the practice of “apartheid and ethnic cleansing.”

The festival, which began in 1994, has strong social justice overtones, including a particular affinity for promoting a Palestinian state. In a translated Facebook statement regarding the Matisyahu controversy, Rototom used the words “occupation” and “occupied” to describe Israel’s relationship with what the event organizers see as Palestinian territories. The festival’s website features a 2 ½-hour video focusing on pro-Palestinian activists, according to the Times of Israel.

The festival has a “social forum,” which has discussed the issue numerous times, according to the Facebook statement. Though permitting Matisyahu to perform his music, which is not characterized as pro-Israel but does draw on Jewish tradition, is apparently not part of that discussion.

Matisyahu, a Pennsylvania-born Jew whose real name is Matthew Miller, has not yet addressed the debate.

Exposé: Jewish Foundations That Fund Boycotts of Israel

Ronn Torossian

The author is CEO of 5WPR, 1 of the 25 largest PR Agencies in the US.

As CEO of one of the largest independently owned American public relations firms, it was interesting to find this week that The Jewish Communal Fund (JCF) is seeking a “Public Relations and Marketing Associate”, who can “write blog posts”, and “identify articles and blog posts that are relevant to JCF and gain permissions to re-post on the JCF blog.” 

There is much information available online that I have shared recently - and I give them full permission to use any of the articles which I have written about them that show their support for organizations that boycott Israel.

In the last few months, numerous organizations and individuals have written about The Jewish Communal Fund, (JCF) the largest Jewish donor advised fund in the United States, which manages $1.3 billion in charitable assets. An organization for the mega-rich, they facilitate and promote charitable giving – it has been demonstrated that the JCF has given millions to The New Israel Fund, which actively supports a boycott of Israel.  

The JCF has also granted thousands of dollars to A Jewish Voice For Peace - which the ADL said “..uses its Jewish identity to shield the anti-Israel movement from allegations of anti-Semitism and provide a greater degree of credibility to the anti-Israel movement.”

The policy governing the Jewish Communal Fund notes: "'The Jewish Communal Fund is committed to supporting causes that promote the welfare and security of the Jewish community here and abroad. Consequently, as part of the grant review process, the Board of Trustees of the Jewish Communal Fund retains the right to deny any grant request where the purposes and activities of the recommended charitable organization are deemed to be adverse to the interests of the Jewish Community.”

Funding those who boycott Israel, therefore, is clearly unacceptable for The Jewish Communal Fund – and instead of hiring PR people, they should stop funding boycotters. The uber wealthy in America create foundations through which they give to charities - from yeshivas to community centers, healthcare organizations to childrens projects – but nothing can justify their donating to organizations that support a boycott of the State of Israel.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently said that those who fund boycotts against Israel must be exposed.  As Netanyahu explained, “We must not cave into the pressure, expose the lies and attack the attackers.” Netanyahu is right.

Buried in the tax-returns of numerous foundations is funding for organizations that support boycotts of Israel – and they must be exposed. 

The Jewish Communal Fund, as well as foundations including

 The Lopatin Family Foundation, 

The Annenberg Foundation, 

the Lisa and Douglas Goldman Fund, 

The Russell Berrie Foundation,

 J.S. & S. Michaan Foundation, 

the Jim Joseph Foundation, 

Leichtag Foundation,

 David Hochberg Foundation

 must stop giving millions to help organizations like the NIF and Jewish Voice for Peace damage Israel.

Harvard professor Ruth Wisse rightfully has noted that, “the rapid demoralization of Jews in the face of anti-Zionism… shows the depth of the influence of the past, for many have yet to achieve the simple self-respect that has been eluding the Jews collectively since the dawn of modernity.”

Reject the extremist foundations who fund boycotts of Israel.

Unless the foundations themselves change their donating patterns.

‘Our mandate is to isolate Israel,’ BDS leader tells 'Post'

Kwara ' kockim'un' Kekana, BDS activist

The mandate of the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign is “to isolate Israel,” a spokeswoman for the movement told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.

Interviewed by The Jerusalem Post by phone, Kwara Kekana of BDS South Africa denied accusations leveled by Jewish organizations that her organization is anti-Semitic, a claim heard increasingly as companies such as France’s Orange appear to be buckling under pressure to severe ties with the Jewish state.

The BDS movement’s branch in South Africa has been one of the most vocal worldwide, and has been involved in a series of high profile incidents that have caused vocal outrage among Jewish communal bodies.

In 2013, one of the movement’s leaders justified calls to "shoot the Jew" heard during a protest against a concert by an Israeli musician. During that incident, protesters screamed at concertgoers slogans such as "Israel is apartheid" and "down, down Israel." Some also threw paper at the Jewish attendees.

The call to kill Jews was “just like you would say kill the Boer at [a] funeral during the eighties [and]  it wasn’t about killing white people, it was used as a way of identifying with the apartheid regime,” BDS coordinator Muhammed Desai said at the time.

Asked if the group was hostile to Jews, Prof. Farid Esack, writing on behalf of the board of BDS South Africa, expressed his opposition to "any and all incitement to violence and racism – including anti-Semitism and Zionism.”

More recently the movement hosted convicted Palestinian airline hijacker Leila Khaled on a nationwide speaking tour. In an email to supporters, organizers termed her an icon of the Palestinian struggle, showing an image of the PFLP member clutching an automatic weapon and comparing her to late South African president Nelson Mandela.

“Many Palestinians including Leila Khaled are today considered terrorists like the ANC and Nelson Mandela were once classified as terrorists,” the group declared. “The picture of a young, determined looking woman with a checkered keffiyeh scarf, clutching an AK-47, was as era-defining as that of Che Guevara, Ruth First and other political figures from our recent past.”

At the time, Kekana told the Post that she did not expect the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, which condemned the tour, to understand “the meaning of hosting someone like Nelson Mandela, the South African struggle icon, or Leila Khaled, the Palestinian struggle icon.”

The Jewish communal group, she said, had proudly supported the apartheid regime, just as it supports an Israeli “regime that is killing innocent Palestinians.”

Jewish ire at the group continued to build in April, when a diplomatic spat between Pretoria and Jerusalem prompted the BDS movement and allied organizations to threaten to “take it upon ourselves to be at the Israeli Embassy…to expel the Israeli Ambassador.”

The BDS movement also complained about what it called the “Israel lobby.”

Speaking with the Post on Tuesday, however, Kekana denied accusations of anti-Semitism, explaining that the campaign has Jews among its adherents.

“Oftentimes there is a discussion of BDS being anti-Semitic which is completely false. BDS if anything subscribes to peace. Against all forms of racism, which includes anti-Semitism, xenophobia, you can name it,” she said.

Asked if she believed that Israel has a right to exist or if Zionism is a form of racism, she responded by explaining that “the current form that Zionism as an ideology is being applied today” constitutes a “fundamental problem” for her.

Another such fundamental issue is “the way in which Israel wishes to exist at the expense of an indigenous population,” she said. “It wishes to exist in a state that wishes to exclude another group and also wants to exist at the expense of an indigenous population.”

Her mandate, she said, is to “isolate the apartheid state of Israel until it listens to international law” and gives in to three “non-negotiable” demands: the end of its occupation of lands claimed by the Palestinians, the end of “apartheid” and the acceptance of the Palestinian right of return.

Asked if going outside of the framework of negotiations to pressure Israel would make it less likely that a negotiated solution could be reached, she said that the issue of talks was up to the political leadership of the Palestinians and that her only concern was getting Israel to begin “complying with international law.”

Negotiations, she added, have to be undertaken in good faith and cannot go ahead while Arab “political prisoners” remain in Israeli jails or while there is any building in settlements.

Negotiations under such a state are ridiculous, she said, indicating that she believed that negotiations between the two sides could only commence once Israel has been isolated and made to comply with her movement’s demands.

The general consensus among the international community is that issues such as Jerusalem, borders and refugees must be dealt with in negotiations.

Despite the presence of Arabs in the Knesset and the supreme court, she insisted that Israel meets the definition of an apartheid state under a United Nations definition.

Asked how a right of return might be implemented, especially given the Israeli reluctance to give in on a point which many believe to be demographic suicide for the state’s Jewish majority, she said that she did not know what it would mean at the end of the day.

“What is a right of return. I think that we really need to start having those discussions. The preoccupation right now is not about creating peaceful agreements and I don’t think we are there yet. We are not at a point where we need to be discussing what the right of return itself needs to look like. For one, now Israel does not acknowledge the fact that Palestinians have a right to return to indigenous land,” she said.

The idea that Israel is an apartheid state is not restricted to South Africa. In an interview this week with the Arab website Bokra that was also run by 972 Magazine, Omar Barghouti, one of the founders of the international movement, stated that the “Oslo accords disenfranchised Palestinians in the 1948 region, causing a serious rift. On the contrary, the BDS movement insists on the right of all Palestinians to exercise self-determination as a unified people and as such, insists on the rights of all Palestinians, including ‘48 Palestinians.”

“Conflating time-honored, human-rights-based boycotts of Israel’s violations of international law with anti-Jewish racism is not only false, it is a racist attempt to put all Jews into one basket and to implicate them in Israel’s crimes against the Palestinians,” he said.

Jewish Billionairs Political Foes Unite to Fight Israel Boycotts

One donated more than $100 million to the Republicans, the other has been the Clintons’ biggest backer. Now billionaires Sheldon Adelson and Haim Saban, split on U.S. politics, have united to fight boycott threats against Israel.

Sheldon Adelson

Adelson and Saban hosted a conference of pro-Israel business executives and activists over the weekend in Las Vegas, to begin an initiative aimed at countering the growing threat of international sanctions against Israel.

“That he’s a Democrat and I’m a Republican has really very little to do with it,” said Las Vegas Sands Corp. founder Adelson, who holds the 25th slot on Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index, in a joint interview with Saban on Israel’s Channel 2 on Saturday. While you can “rest assured” the two men will not be supporting the same person in the 2016 presidential election, Saban said, “when it comes to Israel, we are absolutely on the same page.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has identified the global trend to boycott, divest and sanction Israel over its policy toward the Palestinians, known as the BDS movement, as a major threat.

The boycott issue gained new prominence after Stephane Richard, chief executive officer of Orange SA, said on Wednesday that the Paris-based telecom company would end its licensing deal with Israel’s Partner Communications Co. “tomorrow” if he wasn’t concerned about legal repercussions. Richard later apologized for his comments, made in response to a question over a threatened boycott of Orange’s Egyptian subsidy, Mobinil, and said they weren’t motivated by political concerns.

‘Blatant Lie’

The Israel-born Saban, who owns a controlling stake in Partner, called Richard’s clarification “a blatant lie.”

“Any company that chooses to boycott business in Israel, they’re going to look at this case, and once we’re done, they’re going to think twice about whether they want to take on Israel or not,” he said.

BDS supporters say their tactics are the only effective means of getting Israeli to stop building West Bank settlements that most of the world views as illegal under international law, and an impediment toward peace with the Palestinians.

Israeli officials view the BDS movement as part of a campaign by the Palestinians to delegitimize their country. West Bank settlements are not the real target of BDS supporters “but our settling of Tel Aviv, Beersheba, Haifa, and of course, Jerusalem,” Netanyahu said on Sunday.

Anti-Boycott Law

South Carolina on Thursday became the first U.S. state to enact a new law designed to counter Israel sanctions. The legislation prevents public bodies from doing business with those engaged in the “boycott of a person or an entity based in or doing business with a jurisdiction with whom South Carolina can enjoy open trade.” Other states are weighing, or in the process of approving, similar measures.

Adelson and Saban’s financial muscle and political influence may boost efforts to counter the BDS movement and score some individual successes, said Gadi Wolfsfeld, political science professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. It won’t be enough to counter the larger trend of Israel’s increasing diplomatic isolation, he added.

“If they sponsor serious research which comes up with damaging facts that can hurt the legitimacy of the BDS movement, and publicize that among the world’s political and business elites, that can have an effect,” Wolfsfeld said. “But the overall political movement, related to the general feeling that Israel has no intention of ever leaving the territories and the international community’s growing frustration over that, is not going to be stopped.”

Blames Netanyahu

Israeli lawmaker Isaac Herzog, head of the opposition (Anti) Zionist Union party, said Netanyahu’s policies must share some of the blame for the tide of international condemnation.

Contending against the sanctions movement requires “a strong and very close connection with the administration in Washington, and a diplomatic initiative to alter our situation,” Herzog said Sunday on Israel Radio. “Netanyahu has failed at both.”

Some members of Netanyahu’s Likud party and other factions in his government oppose any concessions to the Palestinians. One such politician, Education Minister and Jewish Home party leader Naftali Bennett, said Sunday that the best response to the BDS movement was building more Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

“We will attack our attackers,” Bennett said at a conference in Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv. “We will boycott our boycotters.”

BDS is anti-Semitism in new clothes

Ayelet Sheked

The boycott and divestment  sanctions movement is the new anti-Semitism and wants to destroy Israel, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked said Wednesday, in response to a motion to the agenda from coalition and opposition MKs calling to fight those who seek to delegitimize Israel.

The discussion was marked by shouting matches over whether BDS is an anti-Israel and anti-Semitic movement or simply seeks to bring an end to Israel's presence in areas liberated in 1967.

"BDS opposes Israel as the Jewish state. It wants to blacken us and destroy us as a Jewish and democratic state," Shaked explained. "The boycotters don't talk about Judea and Samaria, they talk about the state of Israel."

According to Shaked "it's not politically correct to be anti-Semitic today, but it's super-in to be anti-Israel," and as such, "people used to delegitimize the Jews and now they do it to our state."

"BDS is anti-Semitism in new clothes," she added.

Shaked called to fight back against BDS and "boycott the boycotters" and listed the many government ministries, including hers, that are taking part in the efforts to fight delegitimization, bringing MK Bassel Ghattas (Joint List) to interject: "It won't work."

"Israel will continue to be a light unto the nations," Shaked vowed.

Minister-Without-Portfolio Ofir Akunis posited: "Maybe, when radical Islam takes over Europe, people there will understand the real meaning of occupation."

After incessant interruptions from Joint List MKs, Akunis shouted to them: "Your narrative is a lie. It is violent and it encourages terrorism...Your narrative was based on terrorism even before the State of Israel was founded!"

Referring to the ambassadorial appointment Akunis is seeking, MK Ahmed Tibi (Joint List) shouted to Akunis to "go to the UN."

"OK, you go to Arafat's grave and I'll go to the UN. I"m not going to let someone who was an advisor to Arafat lecture me," Akunis said to Tibi, who used to work for the PLO chairman.

MK Nachman Shai (Labor) opened the discussion by saying that diplomatic pressure on apartheid South Africa began with its ejection from FIFA, and that is what the Palestinians were trying to do to Israel.

"We cannot let history repeat itself. If we do not act here and now, if we do not initiate diplomatic processes to break the blockade on us, we will be left alone," he warned.

Yesh Atid MK Aliza Lavie warned that the government does not have a "clear policy, no action, no strategy, no plan with a budget" to fight delegitimization.

"Israel is on the verge of the abyss, yet we're putting out fires instead of taking initiative," she lamented.

MK Michal Rosin repeated statements that BDS is "not against the occupation, they're anti-Semitic" in a mocking tone, adding "oy oy."

"The real issue is the policy of continuing the occupation and managing the conflict," she claimed.

MK Michael Oren (Kulanu), former Ambassador to the US, responded that "this isn't about settlements. BDS wants to erase Israel from the map."

Oren credited NGOs like StandWithUs, CAMERA and AIPAC for doing "holy work" to combat BDS, but criticized the government for "abandoning an important topic for our security."

"We have to take our security into our hands and launch a campaign against this strategic danger, which could become existential," he stated.

Oren called the cancellation of the vote to eject Israel from FIFA a victory, but warned "we cannot rest on our laurels. The danger hasn't passed; it's gotten worse."

Tibi, who took the stand next, asked Oren if he thinks it's alright that Israel doesn't let Palestinian athletes play and whether politics and sports should mix.

"Do you oppose BDS?" Oren retorted.

"Like a real Jew, he answers a question with a question," Tibi quipped.

MK Anat Berko (Likud), pointed out that there is precedent of athletes and other VIPs being allowed out of Gaza taking part in terrorist activities; therefore, athletes must go through checkpoints, as well.

When Berko called Palestinian Football Association President Jibril Rajoub "a terrorist from a family of terrorists," a Joint List MK asked "Who are you to decide?"

Berko is a world-renown expert on terrorism, who lectured on the topic at George Washington University and the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya.

The Likud MK recounted that when she and Oren started a caucus to fight delegitimization, the only factions whose members would not join were Meretz and the Joint List.

"We will fight delegitimization from the inside and the outside," she said.

"What does that mean?" Rosin asked.

"That you wouldn't join the battle," Berko retorted. "You're delusional. You think no one tried to delegitimize Israel before 1967?"

Meretz chairwoman Zehava Gal-On took umbrage with some MKs' rhetoric, saying her party "opposes boycotts of Israel, we just can't stand how you act like victims!

"You act like whoever criticizes the occupation is an anti-Semite. Calm down. Netanyahu's policies are what encourages those who boycott us," she stated.

Zionist Union MK Eyal Ben-Reuven pointed out that it was Unity Day, in memory of the three teens murdered by Palestinians last year, and called for MKs to unite to fight delegitimization, saying "there is no coalition and opposition on this matter."

Ghattas, however, disagreed with the sentiment.

"Even some people on the Left need to wake up," he said. "The world is sanctioning Israel because of the occupation."

In his usual flippant fashion, MK Oren Hazan (Likud) said to Joint List MKs: "You're Arab citizens of Israel. If you don't like it here, leave...We're here to stay, I'm not so sure about you.

"People keep talking about the occupation; I don't know about any occupation," he added. "The Land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel and not the Ishmaelites."

Dionne Warwick is coming to Israel, says won't succumb to BDS pressures

After entertainer Lauryn Hill cancelled her show in Israel for political reasons, American diva Dionne Warwick said Wednesday that she has no plans to cancel her upcoming Tel Aviv performance, saying that "art has no boundaries." 

A statement released to the press read that Ms. Warwick "would never fall victim to the hard pressures of Roger Waters, from Pink Floyd, or other political people who have their views on politics in Israel." 

Outspoken Israel critic Roger Waters and Pink Floyd frontman has called on entertainers to nix their Israel performances in line with the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. 

"Waters’ political views are of no concern to Ms. Warwick, as she holds her own unique views on world matters. Art has no boundaries. Ms. Warwick will always honor her contracts," the statement read.  

"If Ms. Warwick had an objection to performing in Israel, no offer would have been entertained and no contract would have been signed," the statement concluded. 

Answering questions from The Jerusalem Post via email ahead of her show in Tel Aviv at the Menorah Mivtachim Arena on May 19, Warwick said she was no stranger to Israel, and has visited the country several times. "I always enjoy the wonderful audiences that Israel brings out! I think of the colorful people and the beautiful scenery."

Tickets to Warwick’s show are available at *8780 or at www.leaan.co.il