Last month, the port city of Valencia, Spain’s third largest city, declared itself an “Israeli apartheid free zone” and joined the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Valencia is just the latest city to join the growing list of now 60 cities that call for a complete and total boycott of Israel. According to Jewish News, Spain’s courts have voided a total of 16 boycott motions passed by municipalities and another 7 have scrapped theirs under threat of legal action; Valencia is challenging the court decisions with this move.  

The willingness of Spanish cities to accept these BDS and anti-Israel resolutions reflects the increasing levels of antisemitism in Spain, and in Europe as a whole.
In recent times, the largest expression of antisemitism in Europe has been the explosion of the demonization and delegitimization of the Jewish State.

The cities in Spain that have adopted BDS measures have also, according to the BDS movement's website: “denounced President Donald Trump's decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem and slammed Israel's latest massacre of Palestinians in Gaza. Many have called for an arms embargo on Israel and urged governments to ensure its implementation.”

The lies of the BDS movement are plain, and we can see from this statement its subjective bias, more precisely, hatred, against Israel. They call Israel’s defense of its border against thousands of violent rioters, a massacre when nearly all of the 62 people killed were later revealed to be Hamas members.

It is true that in recent years more and more people have become aware of what BDS truly stands for: the destruction of Israel. But even as many are abandoning the BDS movement as the virulently anti-Semitic and terrorist affiliated movement that it is, BDS continues to gain traction in European governments local and national, and institutions and universities worldwide.

Here are a few examples of recent adoptions of BDS:

• The motion passed in Valencia adopting BDS was promoted by the far-left Podemos party, whose leader has called Israel a “criminal” and “illegal” country.
• Earlier this year, a bill was introduced in the upper chamber of Ireland’s legislature, the Seanad, to ban the import and sale of products from Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria. The bill has previously been delayed but is now moving forward towards a vote.
• Just last week, Socialist International – an organization of 140 global political parties - adopted BDS and called for a “total embargo on all forms of military trade and cooperation with Israel.” 35 members of Socialist International are currently in government in countries around the world.

These are unfortunately, just a few of the recent incidents of governments and institutions adopting and endorsing BDS. To effectively oppose the BDS movement, we must respond to it in two ways: Oppose what it stands for and seeks to do, and pursue the opposite of what it seeks to do by supporting Israel. It is not enough to simply oppose evil. We must advocate and stand for what is good to bring an end to it.

Blessed Buy Israel gives you the opportunity to stand against BDS by directly supporting the people and businesses of Judea and Samaria. Spain is the largest producer and exporter of Olive Oil in the world. In light of the antisemitism spreading across the country, we are calling on people to stop buying olive oil from Spain, and instead purchase it from Israel.