But for Israel partisans – including many Democrats and Republicans in Congress – BDS smacks of anti-Semitism and poses a threat to Israel. But Republicans saw their support for BDS as both a threat to Jews and an exploitable rift among Democrats. “Democrats have made it clear that hateful, bigoted rhetoric toward Israel is not confined to a few freshman members. This is the mainstream position of today’s Democratic Party and their leadership is enabling it,” Republicans said in a statement on January 29. But a significant number of Democrats opposed it, because, they said, it violates constitutional guarantees of freedom of expression.

Source: The Express Tribune February 10, 2019 06:00 UTC