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The Israeli minister, who runs a heavily funded government campaign against the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, said on Tuesday that the international group posed no threat to the local economy.
"From an economic point of view, the so-called BDS [movement] Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan told a large gathering of evangelical Christians in Tel Aviv.
"Foreign direct investment in Israel continues to increase, our credit rating is at its highest level, we have more startups per capita than any other country and last month we had a record number of tourists ", did he declare.
However, roughly in the same breath, Erdan likened those who supported the boycott of Israel to those who had supported the boycott of Jewish businesses in Nazi Germany.
"Just as the Nazi party called for a boycott of Jewish businesses as a first step in their plans to eliminate the Jewish people, the BDS campaign calls for a boycott of the Jewish state as a means of erasing the map, " he said.
Erdan then quoted "Mein Kampf," noting, "As Adolf Hitler explained in his book, if you repeat a big lie long enough, people will come to believe it. The big lie that Hitler repeated was that the Jews were responsible for all the problems of Germany. The big lie that the BDS movement repeats is that the Jewish state is responsible for all the problems in the Middle East, indeed all the countries of the world.
The BDS movement defines its mission as "to end international support for the oppression of Palestinians by Israel and to pressure Israel to comply with international law."
As part of the ongoing campaign of his ministry against the BDS movement, Erdan has ordered that a number of leftist militants criticizing the Israeli occupation be arrested and interrogated at the country's borders. In some cases, they were deported after being questioned. The Israeli government has allocated tens of millions of dollars to Erdan's ministry to fight the BDS.
Erdan was the guest speaker at a unique conference for investors from the evangelical community. Some 500 evangelical businessmen and church leaders from more than 40 countries attended the event, organized by the US non-profit organization ARISE (Alliance to Strengthen Israel's Security and Economy). The Israeli government and the International Christian Chamber of Commerce were among the sponsors.
The minister told the audience that the only victims of the boycott were the Palestinians, who risked losing their jobs in what he described as "Israeli-Palestinian joint industrial areas." It was a reference to Israeli companies in settlements that depend heavily on Palestinian labor.
"The common economic zones are islands of coexistence," continued Erdan. "Thousands of Jews and Arabs work together every day in harmony, and the Palestinians manage the Israelis and the Israelis manage the Palestinians." With few exceptions, the Israelis are the managers and the Palestinians the Palestinians. workers of West Bank factories.
"BDS extremists do not support the idea that Israelis and Palestinians, Jews, Muslims, Christians and Druze work together in peace," Erdan added, noting that Israeli companies in the West Bank were a prime target of BDS Movement.
Last month, two Israelis were murdered during a terrorist attack at a plant in the Barkan Industrial Zone, located near the Ariel settlement in the West Bank. The attack was perpetrated by a Palestinian previously employed at the factory.
In establishing relations with Israeli companies, Erdan told event attendees that they would be "better prepared to fight misconceptions about the BDS campaign".
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