Pro-Israel Group Convinces Software Company To Block BDS ‘Terrorists’

(JTA) — Donorbox, a U.S. software company, blocked a fundraising account of the Palestinian-led boycott movement against Israel.
The firm announced the move Friday, saying it followed a complaint by a pro-Israel group that said the campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel has links to militant organizations, the Associated Press reported.
The decision came in response to a complaint from Shurat HaDin, an Israeli advocacy group that files lawsuits around the world against Israel’s foes.
“This decision does not mean that we consider BDS to be a nefarious organization. We are merely reviewing evidence following this complaint. Their donation forms were closed as a precautionary measure,” Donorbox said in a statement. The San Francisco firm, whose product is used by BDS and other nonprofits to collect online donations, gave no indication how long the review would take.
The complaint noted that the boycott movement’s membership includes the “Council of National and Islamic Forces in Palestine,” an umbrella committee representing all major Palestinian political factions. Committee members include Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, groups that the United States and other countries consider terrorist organizations.
“We have no intention to allow terrorist organizations and their accomplices to raise money online without interference,” Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, president of Shurat HaDin, told AP.
Omar Barghouti, a founder of the BDS movement, called Shurat HaDin a “repressive organization with clear connections to the far-right Israeli government” that is “engaging in McCarthyite … tactics.”
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