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“The BDS movement – urging the use of boycott, disinvestment and sanctions against Israel – claims to draw inspiration from the struggle against apartheid.

But the comparison is offensive. Israel is a democracy in which all citizens are equal: whether Jewish, Arab, Christian, Muslim, of Ethiopian heritage, Bedouin and Druze – all have the same votes and rights, which is why Arab Muslim politicians sit in the Knesset and a distinguished Arab lawyer sits on Israel’s Supreme Court.

More than that – the BDS campaign indulges prejudice rather than fighting it. It calls for the shunning of Jewish academics, the boycott of Jewish goods, the de-legitimisation of Jewish commerce. We have seen these all before. And we know where it takes us.” (Justice Minister Michael Gove’s speech to the Inter-parliamentary Coalition for Combating Anti-Semitism Conference, 15/03/2016)