Press Release:
European Funds for BDS NGOs and the Antisemitic Matisyahu Affair
Jerusalem – Responding to BDS antisemitism surrounding the Jewish-American singer Matisyahu’s scheduled appearance at the Rototom Sunsplash Music Festival in Spain, and the Spanish government’s rejection of BDS and antisemitism, Jerusalem-based research institute NGO Monitor released the following statement:
“This is an important illustration of the antisemitism that is inherent in the BDS movement” said Prof. Gerald M. Steinberg, President of NGO Monitor. “The Spanish government must follow its denunciation of BDS by ending funding for NGOs that promote campaigns of hate and demonization against Israel.”
In Rototom Sunsplash’s apology, the organizers admitted their mistake, which they attributed to “the boycott and the campaign of pressure, coercion and threats employed by the BDS País Valencià … which prevented the organization from reasoning clearly….”
NGO Monitor notes that the music festival received public funds from local and regional governments. Likewise, leading BDS groups, including Who Profits (via Spanish NGO Nova), Alternative Information Center (via Mundubat), Applied Research Institute Jerusalem (ARIJ), Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC), and Al Haq, have received substantial funding from the Spanish federal government.
“The deep embarrassment should give pause to the Spanish government, as well as other European governments and the EU,” continued Steinberg. “Will they learn the lessons from the antisemitism directed at Matisyahu by BDS activists, and reconsider NGO support that enables and bolsters such campaigns?”