Jordanian Politician Says BDS Threat to Region, Not Only Israel

A Jordanian opposition politician has said that the boycotts against Israel also threaten his country and the stability of the entire Middle East.

In a guest column in Yisrael Hayom on Tuesday, Abed Almaala, a member of the opposition coalition, denounced BDS as “a reckless act of hatred.”

Almaala quoted the leader of the Jordanian opposition, Mudar Zahran, on the dire consequences if BDS should succeed: “‎If the day were to come when Israel falls, Jordan, Egypt and many others would fall, ‎too, and ‎Westerners would be begging Iran for oil.”

“Israel is at the front of the war against terror in our region, ‎and if Israel is hurt, we all will suffer, and Jordan will suffer the most,” ‎Almaala warned.

The article went on to analyze the hypocrisy of Israel’s opponents: “BDS claims to target Israel because Israel oppresses the Palestinians. If so, why does BDS never target Jordan’s government, which oppresses and destroys the lives ‎of the majority of Jordanians of Palestinian origins, and where many of my own people, the Bedouin Jordanians, go hungry?‎

“Why does BDS never boycott Lebanon, where Palestinians are banned from working ‎as taxi drivers? Why does it not boycott Syria, where President Bashar Assad has killed thousands of Palestinians ‎in Yarmouk camp?‎

“BDS, admit it: You are racists and anti-Semites.‎”

Almaala charged that dictatorial Arab states back BDS. “BDS … also strengthens Arab dictators who hypocritically criticize Israel for alleged human rights violations when they, themselves, are the world’s top ‎human rights violators.” ‎

Finally, in a plea for a rational policy, he wrote: “We Arabs have boycotted Israel for 70 years. Where has it gotten us? We are ‎light-years behind Israel in technology and the economy. We will stop this in ‎Jordan and begin learning from our Israel friends.‎”