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Former NY Assemblyman Slams BDS in New Video: ‘My Tax Dollars Do Not Have to Support Your Discrimination’

[additional-authors]
April 3, 2019
Screenshot from Twitter.

Former New York Democratic Assemblyman Dov Hikind released an April 3 video on Twitter criticizing the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement as “discrimination.”

Hikind began the video by pointing out that the BDS movement singles out Israel, yet ignores countries like China, which has imprisoned 1 million Muslims, or Russia, a country that has murdered journalists. He added that supporters of the BDS movement frequently invoke freedom of speech, but “that is not the issue,” Hikind argued.

“My tax dollars, the tax dollars of the 26 states that have passed anti-BDS legislation, do not have to support your company that makes a decision to boycott the people of Israel, the Jewish state,” Hikind said. “My tax dollars do not have to support your discrimination.”

Anti-BDS legislation typically involves states barring companies that engage in boycotts of Israel from receiving government contracts and/or preventing such companies from receiving public investment funds.

Hikind concluded the video by highlighting that “the biggest supporters of BDS are the leaders of Iran, the leaders of Syria, the leaders of Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela.”

“BDS equals anti-Semitism,” Hikind said.

In the tweet posting the video, Hikind wrote, “BDS targets Israel while ignoring rest of the world.” He added that BDS is “the same force” that removed New York City Councilman Kalman Yeger from his spot on the council’s immigration committee for tweeting that “Palestine does not exist” but shields Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) “a free pass on her anti-Semitism.”

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