Democratic Rep. Brad Schneider called the boycott, divest, and sanction movement “bigoted” and argued that those who support it don’t understand its “impact.”
CNN’s Dana Bash interviewed Schneider on Tuesday about a House resolution he is co-sponsoring that is expected to be voted on later in the day.
“It condemns the global BDS movement, boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, because it opposes two states, it denies the Jewish connection to the land of Israel and it is seeking to delegitimize and ultimately destroy the state of Israel,” Schneider began. “So this resolution bringing the House together, as you noted it has almost 350 co-sponsors, three-quarters of both the Democratic and Republican sides support this resolution and I expect it to pass overwhelmingly tonight.”
Bash then brought up his colleagues Reps. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, who have expressed opposition to the resolution. They both support the movement and question if a law prohibiting the movement would be constitutional. The two of them and Rep. John Lewis of Georgia introduced a counter resolution implicitly supporting the movement last week.
“This resolution recognizes the right of Americans to petition their government and to take actions to express their views,” Schneider responded, and added, “but not every boycott is legitimate or just.”
He was not willing to call Omar and Tlaib anti-Semitic.
“The expression of BDS, what we see on college campuses, the intent to create harassment, hostile environments for supporters of Israel on college campuses, to make it difficult for companies that are doing business with Israel in the United States and around the world, that is by its very nature anti-Semitic,” the congressman later added. “Very simply, the fact that they support this movement, I believe they have an understanding of what they believe the movement does without fully understanding the impact of it.”
