Today, Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee who represents the West Side of Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn, published a statement on the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign recently launched at New York Univesity.

Below is an excerpt of Congressman Nadler's statement, which can be found published in full on his Medium page here:

"Earlier this month, the small pro-BDS student constituency at NYU convinced over fifty student organizations to support a statement backing the key tenets of BDS and calling on the university to divest from companies engaged in business with Israel. And in an unprecedented fashion, the student organizations also pledged to boycott two NYU pro-Israel student groups as well as a range of national pro-Israel and Jewish organizations. 

"I proudly represent the Congressional District within which much of NYU’s campus is located, and my son is a graduate of NYU Law School. Due to my long-standing ties to the university, I feel that it is important to offer my support to the students working to counter these divisive and wrong-headed efforts and instead promote an environment of respectful dialogue between the two sides. I sincerely hope that in doing so they are able to educate the NYU community about the true nature of the BDS movement. As I have stated previously, the global BDS movement, despite deceptively presenting itself as both progressive and pro-peace, in reality advances neither of these principles.

"The tactics used by the BDS movement do not reflect progressive values, and often smack eerily and hypocritically of fascism. Its proponents advocate for a complete boycott of Israeli businesses and institutions, ironically seeking to deny Israelis and their commercial and academic partners the same rights and freedoms that BDS supporters often claim they themselves are denied. BDS leaders denounce and actively prevent partnerships between Israelis and Palestinians. The BDS movement supports a full boycott of Israeli scholars and academic institutions, directly undermining the ability of these largely progressive intellectuals and activists to work at the core of the pro-peace movement in Israel advocating for the rights of Palestinians by blocking their interactions with like-minded individuals around the world."

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