Catalonia BDS branch says Europe ‘responsible’ for Barcelona attacks

JTA

Local chapter of Israel boycott movement condemns attack, slams European governments’ ‘complicity in human rights violations worldwide’

Demonstrators protesting outside the Spanish government delegation in Barcelona, Oct. 20, 2015. (Albert Llop/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

Catalonia’s branch of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel suggested that European governments are “responsible” for a terrorist attack in the Barcelona area.
BDS Catalonia made the accusation on Friday, a day after the Islamic State terrorist group said its militants killed in the Spanish region 14 people and wounded another 100 in two incidents in and near its capital, Barcelona.
Following a paragraph that states that BDS Catalonia “wishes to condemn the attacks committed” and to “express solidarity with the victims and their relatives,” the statement asserts that “we also condemn the responsibility of European governments in what they are doing with their foreign and domestic policies, and their complicity in human rights violations worldwide.”

In the only reference to terrorism in the statement, the authors wrote: “We also do not forgot the victims of military occupations, of wars and terrorism in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestina, Lebanon, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Mali, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and many other places where what happened yesterday in Barcelona is a daily occurrence.”

People flee the scene in Barcelona, Spain, Thursday, Aug. 17, 2017 after a white van jumped the sidewalk in the historic Las Ramblas district, crashing into a summer crowd of residents and tourists. (AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos)

Finally, the authors added, “we emphasize our opposition to Islamophobia, Xenophobia and all forms of discrimination.” Solidarity, the authors added, “is our most powerful weapon. #Barcelona.”

ACOM, a Madrid-based pro-Israel network whose legal actions over the past years resulted in dozens of court rulings declaring the BDS movement discriminatory, sent the BDS Catalonia statement in an email to journalists, calling it “grotesque.”

“A movement based on hatred, the perpetuation of conflict and defense of terrorism like BDS cannot avoid proving at all times its immorality and double standard,” ACOM wrote in the email. “This is what happened in the latest lamentable statement by BDS Catalonia.