The radical “Black Lives Matter” movement released a formal platform on Monday, singling out Israel for what it calls the “genocide” against Palestinian Arabs and “Israeli Apartheid”.
BLM, which emerged in the summer of 2013 following the acquittal of George Zimmerman, a Hispanic man who shot and killed an African American teenager in self-defense, aims to combat what it calls the “War on Black People”.
The Black Lives Matter movement alleges that the United States actively targets and oppresses African Americans, while promoting “global imperialism” abroad.
In the new BLM platform, the movement claims American society is driven by “white supremacy, imperialism, capitalism and patriarchy”.
“As oppressed people living in the US, the belly of global empire, we are in a critical position to build the necessary connections for a global liberation movement. Until we are able to overturn US imperialism, capitalism and white supremacy, our brothers and sisters around the world will continue to live in chains.”
While the bulk of the BLM platform lambasts the United States for what it deems systemic racism, the document also singles out one foreign country for not only criticism, but specific policies.
In fact, while there is scant reference to other countries in the document, Israel is mentioned 10 times, and “Palestine” 9 times.
And while other countries are mentioned in passing, Israel is the only foreign country targeted by the platform. Israel is referred to as a “human rights violator” in the BLM platform, and indeed is the only country mentioned by name in that regard.
After accusing Israel of “systematic discrimination” against Palestinian Arabs, apartheid-like policies, and even outright genocide, the platform calls for an end to US foreign aid to the Jewish state, which should instead be diverted to reparations for “victims” of “American war-making” like Iraq, and Libya, as well as African Americans descended from slaves in the American South.
“Israel is an apartheid state with over 50 laws on the books that sanction discrimination against the Palestinian people,” the platform claims, alleging that there is an Israeli “genocide taking place against the Palestinian people”.
The Black Lives Matter platform also calls active opposition to legislation intended to curb the BDS movement, warning the “anti-BDS bills being passed in states around the country,” harms “the movement to end the Israeli occupation of Palestine”.
Last week a delegation representing BLM arrived in Israel and participated in an Arab demonstration in the Samarian village of Bilin.
“The Movement for Black Lives is committed to the global shared struggle of oppressed people,” the organization stated in a Facebook post, “namely the people of occupied Palestine and other indigenous communities who for decades have resisted the occupation of their land, the ethnic cleansing of their people, and the erasure of their history and experiences.”
“In this violent, political climate, it is urgent that we make clear the connection between violence inflicted on Black people globally that is encouraged and permitted by the state and the profiling, harm, and genocide funded by the United States and perpetrated by Zionists vigilantes and the Israeli Defense Forces on Palestinian people. Our collective oppression mandates that we work together across geography, language and culture to decry and organize an end to capitalistic, imperialist regimes.”
