Drawing on a report released yesterday by Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs and Public Diplomacy, Natan Sharansky explains why the movement to boycott the Jewish state, which in the U.S. has gained footholds in academia, left-wing activism, and even Congress—and in Europe is far more influential—is, at its heart, just a new window-dressing for the hatred of Jews:

Many who support the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement may do so out of a naive belief that it is working to achieve a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

It has but one goal: the destruction of the state of Israel, . . . cleverly masked behind the veneer of fighting for human rights. . . . When caricatures of Israeli leaders employ the worst anti-Semitic stereotypes of tsarist Russia or Nazi Germany, only this time it is Israelis who are crucifying Palestinians or making ritual use of their blood, and when Palestinians are portrayed as living in Nazi death camps—that is . . . the blood libel of today; that is anti-Semitism.

When the legitimacy of the Jewish state is denied and, in the language of some of the founders and key promoters of BDS, there is no place for a Jewish state in the Middle East in any borders—that is . . . anti-Semitism. The true aim of many of the movement’s key figures has been the destruction of Israel as we know it. Indeed, the movement’s co-founder and leader Omar Barghouti has said so, unequivocally: “Definitely, most definitely, we oppose a Jewish state in any part of Palestine.”

Just as the anti-Semites of yesteryear sought to prepare the ground for the expulsion and murder of Jews, leaders and key figures in the BDS movement seek . . . to bring the level of hatred against Israel today to what existed in the past, to delegitimize the Jewish state to the point where it is seen by the world as a cancer that should be removed.

As this has led to bloodshed in the past, writes Sharansky, such anti-Semitic propagandizing will inevitably lead to bloodshed in the future.

For some time, opponents of U.S support for Israel have been urging the White House to end the war in Gaza, or simply calling for a ceasefire. Douglas Feith and Lewis Libby consider what such a result would actually entail:

Ending the war immediately would allow Hamas to survive and retain military and governing power. Leaving it in the area containing the Sinai-Gaza smuggling routes would ensure that Hamas can rearm. This is why Hamas leaders now plead for a ceasefire. A ceasefire will provide some relief for Gazans today, but a prolonged ceasefire will preserve Hamas’s bloody oppression of Gaza and make future wars with Israel inevitable.

For most Gazans, even when there is no hot war, Hamas’s dictatorship is a nightmarish tyranny. Hamas rule features the torture and murder of regime opponents, official corruption, extremist indoctrination of children, and misery for the population in general. Hamas diverts foreign aid and other resources from proper uses; instead of improving life for the mass of the people, it uses the funds to fight against Palestinians and Israelis.

Moreover, a Hamas-affiliated website warned Gazans last month against cooperating with Israel in securing and delivering the truckloads of aid flowing into the Strip. It promised to deal with those who do with “an iron fist.” In other words, if Hamas remains in power, it will begin torturing, imprisoning, or murdering those it deems collaborators the moment the war ends. Thereafter, Hamas will begin planning its next attack on Israel:

Hamas’s goals are to overshadow the Palestinian Authority, win control of the West Bank, and establish Hamas leadership over the Palestinian revolution. Hamas’s ultimate aim is to spark a regional war to obliterate Israel and, as Hamas leaders steadfastly maintain, fulfill a Quranic vision of killing all Jews.

Hamas planned for corpses of Palestinian babies and mothers to serve as the mainspring of its October 7 war plan. Hamas calculated it could survive a war against a superior Israeli force and energize enemies of Israel around the world. The key to both aims was arranging for grievous Palestinian civilian losses. . . . That element of Hamas’s war plan is working impressively.