The BDS movement is racist and antisemitic, British Home Secretary Priti Patel told a gathering of Conservative Friends of Israel.
'Holding the Jewish community collectively responsible for what happens in the Middle East by my definition is racist,' Patel said.
She spoke at a CFI Independence Day event on Monday that included an audience of 50 parliamentarians and Israel Ambassador to Great Britain Tzipi Hotovely.
Patel’s Conservative Party intends to present legislation that would prevent British public bodies from engaging in boycott activities such as BDS.
'Everything we have seen around the BDS movement is racist,' she said, including 'the antisemitic tropes, the cartoons, the chants [and] the flag-waving.'
Patel said that growing up, she did not recall antisemitism being a feature of British life, but that has changed.
'In my 12 years in parliament, it is utterly appalling that antisemitism has been on the increase,” she said. It has infiltrated our politics, our political dialogue and discourse. That is completely unacceptable. Antisemitism is racism in my book, it really is. That is why we are united in standing up and speaking out against antisemitism.'...”