Austrian Parliament to Declare BDS Movement as Anti-Semitic

by Soeren Kern • December 16, 2019 at 5:00 am

The initiative is being spearheaded by Sebastian Kurz, a former (and most likely the next) chancellor of Austria who also leads the center-right Austrian People's Party (Österreichische Volkspartei, ÖVP).
"For Austria, Israel's right to exist is non-negotiable, and any form of anti-Semitism, including Israel-related anti-Semitism, is unacceptable and must be severely condemned. Of course, factual criticism of individual measures by the government of Israel must be allowed." — Austrian Parliamentary Resolution condemning the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement as anti-Semitic.
"This [BDS] movement calls for a boycott of... Israeli artists, scientists and athletes. It demonizes and measures Israel by double standards, makes Austrian Jews jointly responsible for Israeli politics, and by calling for the right of return for Palestinian refugees and all their descendants, it questions the right of existence of the Jewish state." — Austrian Parliamentary Resolution condemning the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement as anti-Semitic.
The BDS campaign "undermines the possibility for a negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by demanding concessions of one party alone and encouraging the Palestinians to reject negotiations in favor of international pressure." — U.S. House of Representatives Resolution 246.

All of the major parties represented in the Austrian Parliament have agreed to support a resolution condemning the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement as anti-Semitic. Pictured: The Parliament of Austria, in Vienna. (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

All of the major parties represented in the Austrian Parliament have agreed to support a resolution condemning the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement as anti-Semitic.

The measure calls on Austria's federal government to fight anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism, and to withhold any form of financial and other state support from anti-Semitic organizations and advocates of BDS principles.

The resolution will be submitted to the lower house of Parliament, the National Council, in January 2020. It is expected to be passed with an overwhelming majority. While anti-BDS laws have been passed in Vienna and Graz, the largest and second-largest cities in Austria, this would be the first time that such a measure is enacted at the federal level.

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US: Rep. Adam Schiff's Telephone Subpoenas

by Chris Farrell • December 16, 2019 at 4:00 am

The House of Representatives, under Speaker Nancy Pelosi, will not punish Schiff. Unethical, invasive, illegal activity is permissible as long as its focus is against President Trump.
If all political enemies can be "legally" targeted under the Schiff template, we can slide further and faster towards the failed state we are incrementally becoming.
Schiff's conduct is outrageous and is a threat to the Constitution. He is operating outside the law.... Expulsion from Congress seems appropriate. One thing is for certain: if Schiff's conduct stands unchallenged, the country and our Constitution will have suffered irreversible harm.

The House of Representatives, under Speaker Nancy Pelosi, will not punish Rep. Adam Schiff for targeting his political enemies with secret subpoenas of their phone records. Unethical, invasive, illegal activity is permissible as long as its focus is against President Trump. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

With the both the Democrats' furious drive to impeach the president and the Justice Department Inspector General's report on FBI surveillance abuse swirling on Capitol Hill, it's easy to miss something that seems to be a footnote or detail. In "normal" times, the subject would be a banner headline, not a footnote, but we hardly live in such times now.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), chairman of the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, targeted his political enemies with secret subpoenas of their phone records and then made those records public. Were his enemies the subject of the Intelligence Committee investigations? No. The victims of Schiff's criminal abuse of his subpoena power – his personal political enemies – were the Ranking Member of Intelligence Committee, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA); veteran, award-winning, journalist John Solomon; and the personal attorney of the President of the United States, Rudy Giuliani.

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