“Senator Cory Booker has repeatedly stated his unequivocal opposition to BDS as a non-violent way for Palestinians to pressure the Israeli government into ending the occupation and granting the Palestinians their human rights,” said Madelyn Hoffman, NJ Green Party candidate for Senate in 2018 and now NJ Green Party candidate for Senate in 2020. “More recently, his advice to voters concerned about the Israeli occupation of Palestine was to find themselves another candidate to support. Voters looking for a candidate opposed to the Israeli occupation of Palestine and in favor of BDS as a non-violent strategy that could end apartheid in Israel/Palestine can support me and my campaign for U.S. Senate in 2020 against Senator Booker.”

“In a typically partisan reaction, in response to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s decision to prevent Representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib from organizing a delegation to Israel and Palestine, most Democratic Party hopefuls for 2020, including Senator Cory Booker, focus on Trump’s hateful rhetoric and Netanyahu’s acceptance of that rhetoric,” Hoffman continued. “While this is an issue — no one should be asked to make the kind of decision Rep. Tlaib had to make between upholding her political principles and seeing her aging grandmother perhaps one last time — this partisan response completely ignores the reality of life for most Palestinians living on the Israel-occupied West Bank or in Gaza. I have witnessed the brutality first-hand.”

In fact, most statements of support for Rep. Tlaib and Rep. Omar begin by condemning their support for Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), but then say they should not be banned from traveling to Palestine. This condemnation of BDS is repeated so often that it obscures the real concerns of the Palestinian people. On July 23rd, the House overwhelmingly passed HR 246
condemning BDS, by a vote of 398-17. The New York Times article of July 23, 2019 describes the resolution this way: BDS “promotes principles of collective guilt, mass punishment and group isolation, which are destructive of prospects for progress towards peace.”

“It is ironic that this is the terminology used to describe BDS,” concluded Madelyn Hoffman. “It could be argued that the way that anti-BDS sentiment is used does exactly this — but done by the Israeli government to the Palestinian people. Imagine had the U.S. government made the 1955-1956 Montgomery  bus boycott illegal. How many people would have been jailed and how much more segregation would remain today? I urge the House to vote on and pass HR 496 which reaffirms support for the right to boycott — a non-violent form of resistance that means a great deal to the history of the U.S. And I continue to criticize Senator Cory Booker and most other Democratic Party hopefuls for missing the point on Palestine!”

Please note: As the Green Party of New Jersey’s candidate for Senate in 2018, Hoffman garnered 25,150 votes — the highest of any independent candidate challenging Senator Menendez and Bob Hugin.