Posted: 5/18/2015 5:07:00 AM
Author: Ari Soffer
Source: This article weas first published on the Arutrz 7 website on May 18, 2015
BDS - A Fronmt For Genocidal Anti-Semitiosm'?
Why are US state legislatures condemning the anti-Israel boycott campaign as anti-Semitic?
by Ari Soffer
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The president and founder of Proclaiming Justice To The Nations (PJTN) is in Israel to film and promote a new film exposing the anti-Israel BDS (Boycott Divestment and Sanctions) Movement as "inherently anti-Semitic," as well as to take part in the upcoming Moskowitz Prize for Zionism.
But that's just the latest project in a tireless campaign waged by Cardozo-Moore, a native of Tennessee and committed Christian Zionist.
Speaking to Arutz Sheva, she explained her group's objective as "raising awareness among Christians of our biblical duty to stand with Israel and the Jewish people."
That "Biblical duty" is drawn in part from the better-known sources of Christian Zionist doctrine; namely, God's various covenants with the Biblical Patriarchs, as well as the children of Israel as a whole, in which He explicitly gives the land of Israel to the Jewish people.
But it is also drawn from a lesser-known verse in the book of Ovadiah (Obadiah), in which the prophet tells of God's future destruction of the people of "Edom" for standing by and watching as the Jewish nation was attacked, persecuted and exiled - after gloating at or even taking part in the Jews' misfortune themselves.
"Edom" is often seen as a reference to the Christian or western world, and for Cardozo-Moore that verse serves as a call and a warning to Christians to actively fight "the rise of global, genocidal anti-Semitism."
"We accomplish that goal by educating Christians through the powerful medium of the media, including several award-winning films and TV programs, which have been showcased at the largest Christian media convention in the world - the National Religious Broadcasters Convention," she explained.
On a mission: Laurie Cardozo-Moore PJTN
Thousands of broadcasters attend the convention, held each year in Nashville, Tennessee, and Cardozo-Moore says it has allowed PJTN to broadcast its message to a staggering 900 million households worldwide.
Beyond education and awareness-raising, PJTN also emphasizes taking direct political action. To that end, the group most recently successfully lobbied state legislatures in Tennessee and Indiana to adopt anti-BDS resolutions.
The resolutions - which are non-binding but highly symbolic - brand BDS as "one of the main vehicles for spreading anti-Semitism and advocating the elimination of the Jewish state," and note the boycott movement's objective to "undermine the Jewish people’s right to self-determination, which they are fulfilling in the State of Israel."
It also condemns BDS as "inherently antithetical and deeply damaging to the causes of peace, justice, equality, democracy and human rights for all the peoples in the Middle East."
And PJTN are only getting started: Cardozo-Moore says 15 other states are to consider adopting the resolution when state legislatures reconvene in January 2016.
She insists that a clear parallel can be drawn between contemporary boycotts of Jewish Israeli businesses and those carried out by the Nazis and their supporters against European Jews during the 1930s.
"The rise of global genocidal anti-Semitism today is similar to that of Nazi Germany - with some slight differences.
"The goal remains the same: by delegitimizing Israel's rights to the land they seek ultimately to dehumanize the Jewish people."
"Our goal is to pass a resolution condemning BDS in every state in American," she declares.
While only symbolic, such resolutions are "a powerful psychological tool against the anti-Semites pushing BDS," and a natural expression of the will of the American people - the vast majority of whom staunchly support Israel, she says.
"We're pushing back against BDS, showing them that they have no support in the US."
