Clinton Pledges to Fight Anti-Israel BDS Movement

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton says she opposes the boycott, divestment and sanction movement and apartheid accusations against Israel.

In a two-page letter to Israeli-American entertainment mogul Haim Saban, Clinton said the BDS movement "seeks to punish Israel" and dictate how Israelis and Palestinians should try to resolve the conflict.

The presidential hopeful is asking Saban, a major fundraiser for Clinton in past campaigns, for advice on how to "fight back."

"I am writing to express my alarm over the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, or 'BDS,' a global effort to isolate the State of Israel by ending commercial and academic exchanges," Clinton wrote. "I am seeking your advice on how we can work together—across party lines and with a diverse array of voices—to reverse this trend with information and advocacy and fight back against further attempts to isolate and delegitimize Israel."

"The BDS campaign…ignores the genuinely racist Palestinian program seeking a Jew-free Palestinian state," she wrote. "BDS is simply a vicious campaign for the eventual disappearance of Israel."

Clinton also expressed concern over attempts to compare Israel to South African apartheid.

"Israel is a vibrant democracy in a region dominated by autocracy, and it faces existential threats to its survival," she wrote. "Particularly at a time when anti-Semitism is on the rise across the world—especially in Europe—we need to repudiate forceful efforts to malign and undermine Israel and the Jewish people. After all, it was only six months ago that four Jews were targeted and killed in a Kosher supermarket in Paris as they did their Sabbath shopping."

Last week, the United Church of Christ endorsed the BDS movement.

But the Zionist Organization of America is praising the Episcopal Church's decision to reject BDS and the Mennonite Church's decision to defer a vote until 2017.