Israeli Strategic Affairs Ministry: Abraham Accords bad news for BDS

Israel’s Strategic Affairs Ministry on Wednesday said on Wednesday that Israel’s peace agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain are likely to interfere with the BDS movement’s ability to implement initiatives.

In a memorandum dispatched to diplomatic and defense officials, the ministry, which is led by Orit Farkash-Hacohen, said that Arab countries’ willingness to normalize relations with Israel also threatens the ideological underpinning of the BDS movement.

Opponents of normalization, chief among them the Palestinian Authority, and possibly Hamas and Iran, can be expected to tighten cooperation, the memo warned. They will likely focus their efforts on international institutions, specifically the International Criminal Court at The Hague and the United Nations Human Rights Council, where their views are broadly supported, said the ministry.

“The [normalization] treaties are a clear message to all our enemies against hate and boycotts,” said Farkash-Hacohen. “They prove to these organizations—which have incessantly preached against normalization and invested resources in entrenching their screed across the Arab world—that the path to stability in the Middle East only goes through cooperation and dialogue.”

She added: “I sincerely hope that our closest neighbors realize that opposition to normalization won’t lead to a sustainable peace and will only perpetuate the circle of violence. This is a historic turning point in terms of economic, tourist, cultural and commercial cooperation, pertaining to all aspects of life in the Middle East, and it will help legitimize Israel in the minds of many. These partnerships will create the change for which we yearn.”

This is an edited version of an article that first appeared in Israel Hayom.

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