Likud MK Sharren Haskel representing Israel at the Inter-Parliamentary Union in 2017.. (photo credit: IPU)
The anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement works against peace and does not deserve to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, Likud MK Sharren Haskel wrote to Norway’s Ambassador to Israel Jon Hanssen-Bauer and several Norwegian lawmakers.
Haskel’s letter on Tuesday came several days after the leader of the far-left, opposition Red Party in the Norwegian parliament, Bjornar Moxnes, nominated the BDS movement for a Nobel Peace Prize.
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The Likud MK said she is “dismayed” by the nomination.
“BDS is not a peace-seeking movement. On the contrary, it is an antisemitic movement that seeks to demonize the State of Israel, undermining the peace process,” she wrote.
Haskel added: “There is nothing peaceful about delegitimizing a country’s academic and cultural institutions that are critical to creating an environment conducive for peace.”
“It is clear that the BDS movement’s ultimate goal is to destroy the State of Israel,” Haskel said. “Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East, yearning for peace with its neighbors and affording its citizens equal rights, irrespective of their color or creed.”
Any parliamentarian or cabinet minister of any country, university professor or Nobel Peace Prize laureate, among others, may nominate a person or group for the prize.
Moxnes was quoted by the Inter Press Service news agency on Friday as saying that “awarding a Nobel Peace Prize to the BDS movement would be a powerful sign demonstrating that the international community is committed to supporting a just peace in the Middle East and using peaceful means to end military rule and broader violations of international law.”
The Norwegian Embassy in Israel did not respond to a request for a comment by press time.