Boycotting Israeli settlements is antisemitic, says US envoy

On Friday, the United States' Special Envoy on combating antisemitism stated that anti-Zionism is a form of antisemitism.

In an interview with the Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington-based think tank, Special Envoy Elan Carr reiterated the State Department's stance that boycotting businesses in Israeli-occupied territories is "a form of bigotry against the Jewish people".

The diplomat suggested that the Palestinian-led boycott, also known as the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement, is inherently bigoted as it targets Israel while ignoring other countries that abuse human rights - an argument dismissed by Palestinian advocates as a form of "whataboutism".

Carr stated that "Boycotts, isolation, de-legitimization, that's not the way you get peace. That's not the way you solve any conflict in the world. And so those who want to boycott Israel in effect are isolating Israel, and that's not coexistence. That's not peace. That's not how you get to a better world. That's the tactical side".

Carr added that "Why is it that we say very clearly now, BDS is a manifestation of antisemitism - then we define BDS, by the way, as boycotts not only of Israel, but of territories that Israel controls - because typically these boycotters of Israel don't boycott anybody else. And you know, there are horrendous human rights abusers in the world. Israel is not one of them".

Last month, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a decree labelling Israel the BDS movement as a "manifestation of antisemitism", tasking Carr with identifying groups that boycott Israel or territories that the Israeli government controls in order to deprive them of any US funding.