TORONTO

Ontario’s legislature rejected the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) movement in a controversial vote Thursday, with some MPPs saying it promotes hatred against Israel.

Both the governing Liberals and opposition Progressive Conservatives voted to endorse a private member’s bill introduced by Tory MPP Gila Martow. Only the NDP MPPs in attendance during the afternoon session voted against the measure.

The resolution, known as Motion 36, called on the legislature to stand against any movement that promotes hate, prejudice and racism, recognize the province’s ties to Israel, and reject the “differential treatment” of Israel by the BDS movement.

The BDS is a global campaign aimed at pressuring Israel into meeting political demands through actions intended to restrict trade with the country. Its activists target businesses, universities, religious institutions and trade unions that engage in trade with Israel or Israelis themselves.

Martow hailed the vote as a good first step, but acknowledged it won’t stamp out anti-Israeli sentiments.

“I don’t expect that this is some kind of magic wand that will make anti-Semitism disappear or anti-Israel bias disappear,” Martow said. “I hope it does create some positive dialogues.”

The motion was necessary because of growing concern on Ontario’s university campuses where members of BDS movements have harassed and targeted Jewish students under the guise of free speech, she said.

“We have to be responsible for what goes on on our campuses,” she said. “I’m hearing from way too many students and their families that they’re choosing which university to go to based on the BDS movement on campus. Sometimes that means they’re not in the program they want.”

Liberal Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca rose in support of the Tory motion during debate.

“We need to draw the line collectively and we need to draw the line in this chamber and beyond and send a very clear message,” he said. “To confuse the notion of free speech with what the BDS movement propagates is not appropriate.”

NDP Deputy Leader Jagmeet Singh said his party stood opposed to any movement that encourages hate or prejudice. But he argued that calling criticisms of Israel anti-Semitic detracts from arguments against true anti-Semitism.

“In our focus we can’t be distracted by conflating criticisms of a government or criticisms of government policies with anti-Semitism,” Singh said.

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) applauded Martow’s motion. CIJA’s vice-president, Sara Lefton, said the motion reflects the strong relationship between Ontario and Israel.

“It also demonstrates that elected officials across party lines recognize that BDS is tainted by anti-Semitism,” Lefton said. “Just as we are grateful that the legislature has taken this stand, we are proud that — in just a few short days — thousands of Ontarians took unified action to urge MPPs to support this motion.”

But a group called Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East denounced the motion, saying it targets people for their political views.

“This motion will surely put a chill on free speech in Ontario vis-a-vis Israel’s human rights abuses,” the group’s president, Thomas Woodley, said in a press release.

sjeffords@postmedia.com