[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 109 (Thursday, July 7, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Page S4912]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           BOYCOTTING THE BDS

  Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, last week we were reminded of the tragic 
history of the 20th century and the reemergence of the State of Israel 
from the embers of the Holocaust. Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor and 
the voice of the unconquerable human spirit, died.
  Wiesel summed up his mission and what should be the driving creed of 
American Foreign Policy in 1986 when accepting the Nobel Peace Prize: 
``Whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation, 
take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence 
encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.'' On the cornerstone of 
the Holocaust Museum here in Washington are his words: ``For the dead 
and the living, we must bear witness.''
  Wiesel defended Soviet Jews, Cambodian refugees, the Kurds, and the 
victims of ethnic cleansing in Bosnia. He was Israel's most vocal 
supporter, although he was criticized by the left for his friendship 
with and support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. When Mr. 
Netanyahu spoke to Congress last year, denouncing President Obama's 
appeasement of the Iranian mullahs, Wiesel was the guest of honor.
  Elie Wiesel's passing comes at a time when the specter of anti-
Semitism is gaining new life across the globe and sadly within the 
United States. On many campuses, including some in my State, we have 
seen the advancement of the ``Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions'' 
Movement--an orchestrated campaign to delegitimize the State of Israel, 
shun Jewish academics, boycott Jewish goods, and disrupt Jewish 
commerce.
  Israeli flags and books are burned on campuses in the United States 
and Western Europe, recalling the words of the German Jewish poet 
Heine, who warned that ``where one first burns books, one then burns 
people.''
  We have seen this all before, and we know where it can lead.
  Formally launched a decade ago, BDS advocates divestment by companies 
with holdings in Israel and boycotts by academics and artists. In May 
2013, Cambridge Physicist Stephen Hawking pulled out of a conference 
hosted by then Israeli President Shimon Peres. Strangely, Professor 
Hawking has been all too happy to pay visits to Iran and China and 
praise the tyrants who rule those countries.
  Musicians Elvis Costello and Annie Lennox have refused to perform in 
Israel. It now makes news when a performer shows up in Israel. Two 
years ago, Sir Elton John courageously stood up to the mob and proudly 
shouted from an Israeli stage, ``Shalom! We are so happy to be back 
here! Ain't nothin' gonna stop us from comin', baby!''
  Our own Department of Education has awarded millions of dollars to 
so-called Middle East Studies National Resource Centers, NRC, on 16 
college campuses. According to published reports, fully half of the 
directors of these federally funded centers have called for support of 
the BDS Movement and six signed a letter calling for a boycott of 
Israeli universities and scholars. The open promotion of anti-Israeli 
boycotts by academic officers is a direct violation of Title VI of the 
Higher Education Opportunity Act and is an open assault on fundamental 
rights to freedom of association and expression.
  BDS is not a typical act of political correctness, undertaken by 
radical academics whose usual prey is the youth of America. This is a 
worldwide movement designed to destroy the one democracy in the Middle 
East and the hopes of people who have occupied that land for over 3,000 
years.
  Indeed if the BDS Movement was isolated to a few tenured college 
outliers, that would be easy enough to handle. Unfortunately, it is 
not. Iran has pledged to wipe Israel off the map. It has tipped its 
missiles with the warning ``Death to Israel'' written on the cones in 
Hebrew. Hamas and Hezbollah shower missiles upon Israeli schools and 
villages. If Israel did not exist, the United Nations would go out of 
business. Last year, the General Assembly adopted 25 resolutions 
against particular countries; 22 were aimed at Israel--the others at 
Bashar Assad's regime in Syria and Kim Jong-un's prison state in North 
Korea. All of this for the 153rd largest country in the world, a place 
that is one four-hundredths the size of the United States.
  Enough is enough. We can't remain silent. As Elie Wiesel said, ``we 
must bear witness.'' The Obama administration must end its 
indifference. It must cut off and defund those organizations that 
promote the hate that fuels anti-Semitism. Standing up for Israel at 
home validates those fundamental principles of freedom enshrined in our 
Constitution.
  I will close with the words of John F. Kennedy:

       Israel was not created in order to disappear--Israel will 
     Endure and flourish. It is the child of hope and the home of 
     the brave. It can neither be broken by adversity nor 
     demoralized by success. It carries the shield of democracy 
     and the sword of freedom.

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