Israeli journalists covering in the European Parliament in Brussels a conference on countering the BDS (Boycott,Divestment, Sanctions) movement were denied entrance to a pro-BDS gathering held at the same time in the building by Israeli radical activists.

Rabbi Menachem Margolin, Director of the European Jewish Association (EJA), who initiated the pro-Israel conference, noted that while Israeli journalists were kicked out violently from the anti-Israel conference, ''all guests at our conference were received with honor, including a representative of the delegation of the Palestinian Authority to the EU in Brussels.’’

The representative, Adel Atieh, had the opportunity to speak during the conference and even started a lengthy discussion on the what he called the ‘’Israeli occupation’’ with one of the speakers, Hilik Bar, Member of the Knesset for the Opposition Zionist Union.

‘’That’s the difference between BDS and us,’’ said Rabbi Margolin. ‘’We preach for dialogue and they are only inciting hatred. They will continue with their lies and we will adhere to reality," Rabbi Margolin said, calling on Europe to make BDS illegal because it is anti-Semitic and vows to deligitimize and destroy the State of Israel while justifying its existence under the false pretext of free speech which turns in fact into hate speech.

‘’There is no place for BDS in Europe,’’ he stressed, saying that the anti-Israel movement has led to the dramatic rise of anti-Semitic attacks in Europe in the last few years.

Hilik Bar added: "The BDS movement is not fighting for Palestinian human rights or for the sake of the two state solution but seeks the destruction of Israel."

"You have to realize that the founders of the BDS movement belong to terrorist organizations, and that human rights issues have nothing to do with it. Not with missiles but with boycotts do they want to defeat Israel, he said.

At the anti-BDS conference, organised by the Europe Israel Public Affairs, a Brussels-based pro-Israel advocacy group, Israeli Minister Gila Gamliel denounced the fact that Israel, the sole democracy in the Middle East, ''is the target of a discriminatory campaign of hatred, bigotry and demonization.'' ‘’You can disagree with certain policies of the government of Israel but singling out the country is purely anti-Semitic,’’ she said.

‘’They will not succeed becase Israel is strong and seeks to share its know how and its innovation with the world,’’ she said.

Other speakers at the conference included Israeli Member of the Knesset Yoav Kish (from the Likud party) and Elmar Brok, Chairman of the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, who referred to a resolution adopted recently by his party, the CDU (Christian Democratic Union) in Germany, which labelled BDS anti-Semitic.

The CDU of German Chancellor Angela Merkel likened BDS to the National Socialists who boycotted Jews in the 1930s. BDS dresses up antisemitism in the “new clothes of the 21st century” as anti-Zionism, the party said.

‘’This resolution should be taken as a model by the European Parliament and European countries,’’ participants at the conference said.