Diaspora minister tells U.S Jewish gathering: Israel protesters ‘worse than BDS’
Israel’s Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli, in May 2023. Photo by Ilan Assayag
This article originally appeared on Haaretz, and was reprinted here with permission. Sign up here to get Haaretz’s free Daily Brief newsletter delivered to your inbox.
Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli took advantage of an opportunity to address a large gathering of American Jews to incite against pro-democracy demonstrators, comparing them to activists in the anti-Israel Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
“We are used to seeing, from time to time, in lectures, BDS activists trying to harass and to prevent Israeli speakers and Israeli leaders from speaking at conferences,” he said on Wednesday at the opening of his 10-minute address to the American Jewish Committee, which is holding its annual gathering in Tel Aviv this week.
“Unfortunately, today, some of us are acting even worse than those BDS activists, harassing Knesset members and ministers – sometimes even with violence – in the streets of New York, even though this was a government that was elected by an overwhelming majority” Chikli added, though the current government only holds 64 of the 120 Knesset seats.
Chikli, who was invited to speak at the closing plenary of the gathering, compared the hundreds of thousands of Israelis who have been protesting the government’s planned judicial overhaul to the “spies who spoke badly about the Land of Israel,” mentioned in the Torah portion read this week in synagogues around the world.
While attending the Israel Day parade in New York last week, Chikli was caught on camera making what appeared to be an obscene gesture to Israeli protesters participating in the event. He was part of a large delegation of Israeli ministers and Knesset members visiting the United States, who were repeatedly targeted by Israeli expats active in the protest movement.
In a television interview this week, Chilkli referred to J Street, the U.S.-based liberal Zionist advocacy group, as a “hostile organization,” citing the funding it received from George Soros, whom he denounced as “one of the greatest haters of Israel in our times.”
The AJC rejected demands by various groups active in the protest movement to rescind its speaking invitation to Chikli given these and other remarks and actions.
Chikli’s address to the closing plenary was greeted with polite applause, and his remarks went uninterrupted. While he spoke at the David InterContinental Hotel, about 50 protesters were gathered outside. Many carried a poster featuring the now-famous photo of Chikli taunting protesters at the Israel Day parade that had the word “Shame” written across it.
The protesters invited delegates entering the hotel to come join them across the street. None did, though some took photographs of their signs.
Before Chikli addressed the plenary, leaders of the AJC met privately with representatives of the protest movement at a restaurant in the hotel. Participants from the Israeli side said they came away feeling that the American Jewish leaders did not fully appreciate the threats facing Israeli democracy under the new government and that the AJC was “still on the fence.”
The private meeting with the Israeli delegation was arranged at the last minute, after the AJC turned down ongoing requests to allow representatives of the protest movement to address the full forum.
Shikma Bressler, a key leader of the protest movement, told the AJC delegation that she often speaks on Zoom with Jewish audiences abroad and is constantly “astounded” by their lack of understanding of the critical situation facing Israel.
“We should have been on the main podium, rather than here in a small, closed room,” she said.
Tamir Pardo, the former Mossad chief who is also active in the protest movement, explained to the AJC delegation that this was not “a dispute between Republicans and Democrats.”
“We are in a place now where nobody has the privilege of sitting on a bench and watching this play out from the sidelines” he said, and urged the Jewish-American leaders to join the protesters in the streets “if you want a future for your children and grandchildren.”
The AJC delegation included CEO Ted Deutch, President Michael Tichnor, Board of Governors Chairman Bobby Lapin, and Board of Trustees Chairman Steven Wisch.
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