EU envoy refuses to condemn Israeli threats against BDS activists

Ali Abunimah-8 April 2016

The EU’s top envoy in Tel Aviv has refused to condemn the latest Israeli threats against Palestinian human rights defenders.

Ambassador Lars Faaborg-Andersen, who heads the EU diplomatic mission to Israel, was responding to questions about the threats made by Israeli intelligence minister Yisrael Katz and other top officials against activists and leaders in the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement.

Faaborg-Andersen wrote to The Electronic Intifada that he “will not enter into a discussion about the interpretation of Minister Katz’s comment or the comments of any other speakers” at the “Stop the Boycott” conference held in Jerusalem on 28 March.

The EU envoy spoke at the same conference alongside a leader of Israel’s settler movement, despite Palestinian objections.

Faaborg-Andersen insisted however that his presence “should by no means be seen as endorsement of statements – including the threats… made by others at that conference.”

Threats

In Hebrew, Katz called for “sikul ezrachi memukad” against the “BDS leadership.”

According to professional translator Dena Shunra, sikul memukad literally means “targeted prevention” or “targeted thwarting,” but is the precise term the Israeli military uses for “targeted killing” – an extrajudicial execution.

By adding the word ezrachi – civil – Katz’s phrase may be translated as “civil targeted prevention.”

At the same conference, Gilad Erdan, the Israeli minister for public security, strategic affairs and public diplomacy who has been charged with leading the attack against the BDS movement, said that Israel would have to “act at the individual level” against activists in organizations supporting the BDS campaign.

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