The anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement is antisemitic, the German Bundestag ruled on Friday in a landmark vote. It called on governmental bodies not to finance or support any organizations that support BDS or question Israel’s right to exist.

Germany is the first European Union member state to approve such a measure.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli politicians immediately welcomed the German Parliament’s support for the longstanding battle against the BDS movement.

“I congratulate the German Bundestag on the important decision branding the boycott movement as an antisemitic movement and announcing that it is forbidden to fund it,” Netanyahu tweeted. “I hope that this decision will bring about concrete steps and I call upon other countries to adopt similar legislation.”


Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan said the vote was “an important step in the war against the boycott and the new antisemitism,” and argued that “the true face of the boycott movement had been exposed.”

The resolution, titled “Resisting the BDS movement decisively – fighting antisemitism,” stated, “The argumentation patterns and methods used by the BDS movement are antisemitic.”