Image by StandWithUs

By Thea Glassman September 9, 2016

Protests erupted during a New York City Council hearing on an anti-BDS bill — so much so that City Councilwoman Helen Rosenthal called for the crowd to take a “deep yoga breath.”

Dozens of people were forced out of the hearing on a resolution to condemn “all efforts to delegitimize the state of Israel and the global movement to boycott, divest from, and sanction the people of Israel,” the Daily News reports.

While @NYCCouncil discusses anti-#BDS resolution #Israel haters disrupt – again showing their childish tactics pic.twitter.com/L4tknYSnDN

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

— StandWithUs (@StandWithUs) September 8, 2016

The measure claims that BDS targets not only Israeli policy and the occupation of Palestinian lands, but a number of other facets of daily life, including culture and academics.

City Councilman Rory Lancman, one of the resolution’s 33 supporters, called BDS a “suppression of viewpoints and free speech.” Mayor Bill de Blasio has also spoken out strongly against BDS.

Opponents argued that the proposed resolution puts a kibosh on free speech, and that the committee misunderstands the intentions of the BDS movement.

One member was confused why the hearing was even happening in the first place.

“The fact that members of the New York City Council want to engage on a divisive issue that has no direct impact on New Yorkers at a time when they should be bringing New Yorkers together is, in my opinion, irresponsible,” Linda Sarsour, director of the Arab American Association of New York, told the New York Post.

The resolution will have a committee vote by the end of this month, before being brought to the full City council.

Thea Glassman is a Multimedia Fellow at the Forward. Reach her at [email protected] on on Twitter at @theakglassman.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount