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B’nai B’rith International President Charles O. Kaufman and CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin have issued the following statement:  
 
We are deeply troubled by the decision of the Regional Government of Valencia to sponsor a teacher training course organized by the local branch of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement, BDS Pais Valencià, titled “Solidarity and Human Rights: Judeophobia, Islamophobia, Palestina-Israel.”
 
This comes only days after a motion introduced in 2018 by the far-left Podemos party declaring a boycott of Israel in Valencia was deemed unconstitutional.
 
Purportedly, the course by BDS Valencia aims to “promote values of peace, solidarity and human rights among students.” However, the BDS Pais Valencia group often uses inciteful anti-Jewish language and tactics and is most notably known for the 2015 pressure campaign demanding that American Jewish artist Matisyahu endorse Palestinian statehood or be disinvited from a music festival – which is what eventually happened.
 
According to a Fundamental Rights Agency Survey conducted in 2018, 78 percent of the respondents in Spain consider anti-Semitism to be a big problem with 73 percent finding that anti-Semitism had increased over the previous five years. A higher percentage, 84 percent said the Arab-Israeli conflict impacts their feeling of safety in Spain.
 
In this context, it is particularly egregious that the Valencian government would support an organization whose record is tainted with anti-Semitism and whose stated goal is the delegitimization of Israel.
 
We urge the regional government of Valencia to withdraw support of the course.