SCOOP: Top lawmakers condemn anti-Semitic boycotts of Israel by United Kingdom, France, Canada, and other western countries

Top congressional lawmakers fumed at countries that announced embargoes on Israeli-made goods days before the Jewish New Year. At the forefront of their ire is the United Kingdom’s new Foreign Minister, Ed Miliband, a self-identifying Jew who defended the boycott by noting that he never goes to synagogue. 

Sen. Rick Scott (R., Fla.), one of the Senate’s top Republicans, immediately condemned the move by the UK and others, calling it “alarming to see UK, France, and Canada enacting these anti-Israel policies that will only help terrorists around the world.”

“How far are they willing to go to protect evil regimes and threaten a key strategic ally?” Scott asked. “America stands with Israel and we will not forget this.”

Rep. Claudia Tenney (R., N.Y.), one of the GOP’s leading voices on foreign policy, compared Miliband to one of the United Kingdom’s most feckless recent leaders: Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, whose record of appeasing Adolf Hitler led directly to World War II.

“Learning nothing from history, the UK is leading other countries to take the Neville Chamberlain approach of appeasing terrorists,” Tenney explained. “It is incredible that the nation of Churchill refuses to stand with our ally Israel and instead chooses to side with Hamas and Hezbollah. I’ve already urged [the Treasury Department] to invoke Section 999 of the IRS Code against anti-Israel boycott measures in Ireland and Spain. Every other country joining them MUST face the same penalties.”

But the United Kingdom was not alone in launching a salvo at Israel right before Rosh HaShannah; countries like France and Canada joined it in announcing their own boycotts of Jewish goods.

For Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R., Fla.), one of the foremost defenders of human rights in Congress, the move directly supports Palestinian terrorism. “The UK, France, Canada continue to undermine their relationship with the US by continuing to carry water for Hamas terrorists who seek to destroy Western civilization — everywhere,” Gimenez said. “The Jewish State of Israel will always be America’s closest ally [and] we reject all of these pathetic attacks on our Israeli friends.”

Following Israel’s announcement that it is banning 11 British Members of Parliament and one activist from entering its borders, Gimenez added that he believes that “these pro-Hamas, anti-semites should also be barred from entering the USA.” The dozen Brits who Gimenez wants banned from American soil are Jeremy Corbyn, ⁠Zarah Sultana, Fahad Ansari, Naz Shah, ⁠Diane Abbott, ⁠Hannah Spencer, Carla Denyer, Sian Berry, Ellie Chowns, John McDonnell, Richard Burgon, ⁠and Adrian Ramsay.

Gimenez’s fellow Floridian, Rep. Randy Fine (R., Fla.), noted that there are likely to be consequences for the countries that plan to boycott Israel.

“Canada and France’s embrace of Muslim terror will not exempt them from Florida’s anti-BDS law,” Fine said; he knows the ins and outs of that law better than most, since he wrote it while he was in the state legislature. “If they want to end their access to the third largest state in the number one market in the world, that is certainly their choice, but Florida has spoken almost unanimously. Boycott Israel and Florida boycotts you.”

Both Fine and Gimenez believe that countries that boycott Israel “should also be barred from having consulates in Florida,” Gimenez said. “Who are they to think they can just violate our laws, hurt Floridian businesses in Israel, & carry water for pro-Hamas terrorists?!?”

But the criticisms extended well beyond the halls of Congress; Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R., Ark.), a close ally of President Donald Trump who spent most of his first term defending him as his Press Secretary, said the move by Arkansas to boycott companies that boycott Israel is “simple.”

“Boycotting the world’s only Jewish state is antisemitism,” Sanders explained. “Arkansas law makes clear that we won’t do business with any company that deliberately chooses to engage in BDS activities. Period.”

While most view the moves by the western countries as ways to appease the growing anti-Semitic voting blocs in their left-wing parties, the boycotts on Jews did not go without criticisms domestically.

In Canada, Melissa Lantsman — the Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada —spoke directly with Gideon Sa’ar, Israel’s Foreign Minister. Lantsman, Sa’ar said, “reaffirmed the Conservative Party’s strong support for Israel and its firm opposition to the Canadian Government’s intentions in this regard.”

Shuv Majumdar, Canada’s Shadow Minister for Canada-United States Relations, noting the timing of his government’s boycott on Israel. “Liberals issue a trade ban with no law cited and no standard set, announced on the eve of the Jewish High Holidays and New Year, Rosh Hashanah,” Majumdar noted. “They rewarded the ancient hate with a terror state, on the eve of the last Rosh Hashanah. This is not diplomacy. It is appeasement.”

“Canada will one day again chart its own course,” Majumdar added. “Restoring a bilateral relationship with Israel built on mutual respect and mutual benefit, the kind that once made Canada a trusted and credible voice in the region. Today, we’re very far from that.” 

In Israel itself, Caroline Glick, the International Affairs Advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, called Miliband’s move “pure anti-Jewish discrimination.”