Michael Gove: Anti-semites behind BDS and opposition to Israel

1st April 2016

British Justice Minister Michael Gove has used a speech in Berlin to label those who oppose Israel and support the Boycott Disinvestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS) as “anti-semites.”

Gove was speaking at the Inter-Parliamentary Coalition For Combating Anti-Semitism, hosted by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and involving politicians from nearly 40 countries.

“Anti-semitism has changed and now it finds its expression in opposition to the Jewish people’s collective identity and the existence of the State of Israel,” he said. “Across the world the new anti-semites rally behind the Boycott Disinvestment and Sanctions Campaign … and the people behind it have the temerity to compare Israel to Apartheid South Africa even though Israel gives all of its citizens – whatever their background, whatever their ethnicity – a vote and a say.”