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After Boot From Congress, Israel Boycotters Move Discredited Event to Church

BDS Israel
AP
September 15, 2016

After being barred from holding an event promoting boycotts of Israel on Capitol Hill, a prominent anti-Israel organization says that it will hold its forum at a nearby Methodist Church, according to an invitation for the event obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

The U.S. Campaign to End the Israel Occupation, a group known for employing anti-Israel rhetoric, was scheduled to hold on Friday a congressionally sponsored event to promote the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, which has been widely described as anti-Semitic.

Following multiple reports from the Free Beacon disclosing the nature of the event, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) ordered that it be canceled, effectively barring the organization from promoting the BDS movement on the Hill, the Free Beacon reported.

The U.S. Campaign has now relocated the event to the United Methodist Building, located near Capitol Hill.

"Originally scheduled to take place at the Rayburn House Office Building, the event has been moved a few blocks to the United Methodist Building (100 Maryland Ave NE, Washington, DC 20002), Conference rooms 1& 2," states the latest event invitation.

The Free Beacon disclosed earlier this week that an anonymous member of Congress had initially sponsored the event, permitting the pro-BDS group to hold its forum in an official Capitol Hill meeting room.

That lawmaker, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (R., Texas), later stepped forward and pled ignorance to having backed the event, blaming the miscommunication on a low-level staffer in her office.

The Free Beacon further disclosed on Wednesday that Jackson Lee only canceled the event following a phone call from Pelosi, who "demanded" that the event be canceled and the BDS group be booted from the Hill.

"No one knew anything about the BDS briefing until the Free Beacon wrote about it last night," said one source with knowledge of the situation. "Then Jewish and pro-Israel groups started ringing alarm bells. Someone got to Pelosi, who shut the whole thing down with one phone call."

Multiple lawmakers on both sides of the isle cited the Free Beacon’s reporting when publicly condemning the event.

Published under: Israel