Democratic Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib has shared her support for a boycott of Israeli companies, but her campaign website was built using an Israeli-based website builder platform.
Tlaib was one of the first members of Congress to publicly support the Boycott, Divestment, Sanction (BDS) movement. The movement calls for Israel to be penalized for their treatment of the Palestinian people. Many Jewish organizations view the movement as anti-Semitic because it singles out Israel for alleged human rights violations while ignoring other countries. (RELATED: Zeldin Addresses Feud With Omar Over Her Support For BDS Movement)
BDSList.org has called for approximately 100 companies to be boycotted, including Wix.
Israel Advocacy Movement, a British-based organization, first published the fact that Tlaib campaign website was built through Wix in a video on Sunday.
A screenshot of the source coding of Rashida Tlaib’s “Rashida For Congress” website from 2/20/2019.
“These hollow threats of boycott are nothing but political stunts that could never be implemented,” Joseph Cohen, the founder of the organization, said in the video. “Could you imagine how many people would suffer because they were deprived of the medical breakthroughs and technological advances that come out of this small nation? It won’t bring peace between Israelis and Palestinians. It’s simply narcissistic self-gratifying virtue-signalling that makes the world a much more divided place.”
The Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI) issued a press release “[congratulating] Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib for breaking her boycott of Israel.”
DMFI President Mark Mellman was quoted in the statement, “We congratulate Congresswoman Tlaib for her decision to use the best products she can find instead of discriminating against Israel in way that increases hostility, thereby making peace between Israelis and Palestinians more difficult to achieve.”
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 09: U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) leaves after a caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol January 9, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
NBC News’ Allan Smith tweeted a statement from Tlaib’s spokesperson Denzel McCampbell. (RELATED: Ocasio-Cortez Spox Refuses To Divulge Where She Stands On BDS Movement)
“The Congresswoman is focused on protecting the constitutional right of Americans, including free speech. She’s also committed to working on policies that will bring peace and justice too her constituents, Americans, and people in the Middle East,” it reads. “It’s my hope that the Democratic Majority for Israel will too the same instead of pushing a non-story in an attempt to discredit her and her work.”
McCampbell declined to expound on this statement to The Daily Caller. Neither Wix or the BDS Movement responded to requests for comment.
