The anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement continues to rear its ugly head in university campuses across Europe. On Wednesday, an angry mob of BDS activists attacked Israel’s ambassador to Spain as she attending an event at Madrid university, forcing the security guards to draw their weapons and evacuate the envoy to safety.
A video clip posted on Twitter show anti-Israel agitators lunging at armed bodyguards protecting Ambassador Rodica Radian-Gordon, Israel’s first female Israeli envoy to Spain. The “ambassador was taken to a safe room by Israeli and local security guards, and one even pulled out his weapon and pointed it at the activists,” the Israeli broadcaster Arutz Sheva reported.
The Times of Israel reported the incident:
Israel’s envoy to Spain was spirited to safety by armed guards this week after a group of pro-BDS activists interrupted a speech she was giving at a university in Madrid.The disturbance occurred Wednesday as Israeli Ambassador Rodica Radian-Gordon spoke at Complutense University of Madrid to mark 30 years since the signing of the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinians. After the demonstrators broke into the lecture hall, she was escorted to another room by security, which Hebrew media reports said included both Israeli and local guards.In video from the university, the activists can be seen running toward the room where the ambassador was, as one of the guards at the door draws a pistol and points it toward them. He then enters the room as other members of the security detail block the raucous protesters, who proceed to chant and wave Palestinian flags outside.The protesters were later dispersed by police, and Radian-Gordon resumed her address.In a video statement, the ambassador vowed to continue speaking with students at Spanish universities, “even after the violent incident.”
The mob attack comes as the BDS movement makes inroads into Spain. The Arutz Sheva further reported:
The attack comes amid a growing anti-Israel sentiment in Spain. On Wednesday, Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau announced that she is suspending all of the city’s ties with Israel, citing what she called “the repeated violations of human rights of the Palestinian population and non-compliance with United Nations resolutions.”
Founded by Palestinian activists in 2005, the BDS movement has crept into European and U.S. campuses. Responding to the BDS-led growing antisemitic campaign, many German student bodies have passed resolutions barring the anti-Israel movement from infiltrating student organizations and receiving university funds.
In May 2019, the German parliament passed a resolution condemning the antisemitic BDS movement and pledged to cut off government funding for any organizations involved in supporting the anti-Israel boycott. German lawmakers compared the BDS campaign to the Nazi boycott of Jewish business in 1933. The German Bundestag’s resolution was followed by a similar bill by the Austrian parliament in early 2020.
The Trump administration also took a similar position in November 2020, recognizing the BDS as an antisemitic movement. The Mike Pompeo-led State Department classified “the global anti-Israel BDS campaign as anti-Semitic,” and vowed to “immediately take steps to identify organizations that engage in hateful BDS conduct, and withdraw US government support for such groups.”
Many of the Palestinian groups backing the BDS movement have ties to terrorist organizations. Several convicted terrorists are on the payroll of these BDS-supporting NGOs and groups, a 2019 Israeli government report disclosed.
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