ISRAEL COMPILES BLACKLIST OF BDS GROUPS TO BE BARRED FROM COUNTRY:

The Strategic Affairs Ministry under Gilad Erdan has compiled a list of organizations it says promote the boycott of Israel, and will cooperate with the Interior Ministry to block members of those groups from entering the country, media sources reported 6 Jan 2017. The blacklist currently covers around 20 groups the ministry says are part of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement (BDS) and which it says consistently and openly work to delegitmize Israel. These include BDS groups from Italy, France, South Africa, Scandinavia, and the Jewish American group Jewish Voice for Peace. The ministry plans to begin enforcing the blacklist in March 2018. Last week the government approved a plan setting aside $75 million to fight BDS. The plan, which would entail the largest monetary investment yet by Israel specifically toward combating the boycott campaign, calls for setting up a not-for-profit organization whose board will be made up of government officials and donors from abroad. The new organization’s avenues for action would include public campaigns, lobbying, arranging for solidarity visits to Israel by opinion shapers, establishing new and social media presence, and interacting with pro-Israel organizations worldwide for coordinated action with a focus on Europe. (Times of Israel)