Israel’s United Nations Ambassador Danny Danon on Tuesday hosted a conference against the anti-Israeli Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement at the UN headquarters in New York City.
The conference, titled “Building Bridges, Not Boycotts” drew more than 2,000 students, activists, and legal professionals, the Jerusalem Post reports, making it one of the biggest anti-BDS gatherings ever.
“BDS is continuing to spread and seeks to utilize international institutions to implement its ideology of hate,” the Jerusalem Post quotes Danon saying ahead of the conference.
“This summit will create practical tools to battle BDS by training students to serve as ‘ambassadors’ against boycotts,” he added.
Other guests set to speak at the event are Israeli Supreme Court Justice Elyakim Rubinstein and President of the World Jewish Congress Ronald Lauder.
Singer Matisyahu, who spoke out against the anti-Israel movement after being dis-invited from a Spanish music festival last summer, also attended and gave a special performance.
The summit is a joint initiative between Israel’s UN delegation and a number of pro-Israel organizations, including the World Jewish Congress, Keren HaYesod, the American Center for Law and Justice, the Anti-Defamation League, the Zionist Organization of America, Israel Bonds, StandWithUs, B’nai B’rith International, Hillel, and CAMERA, among others.