BDS leader widely mocked for saying it’d be OK to take Israeli-developed coronavirus vaccine

Barghouti was ridiculed far and wide after showing willingness to take the best of Israeli medicine while calling for a boycott of the Jewish State.

By Algemeiner Staff

Top BDS activist Omar Barghouti has been widely mocked on social media after he said that it would be permissible for boycotters of Israel to use an Israeli-developed vaccine for the coronavirus.

“If you use medical equipment from Israel — it’s not a problem. Cooperating with Israel against the virus — to begin with, we do not consider it normalization,” he said in an Arabic-language Facebook live broadcast.

“If Israel finds a cure for cancer, for example, or any other disease, then there is no problem in cooperating with Israel to save millions of lives,” Barghouti added.

“Up until now, we have not been in a situation where we need Israel urgently and no one else can save us but Israel,” he said. “If that will happen, saving lives is more important than anything else.”

The BDS movement ostensibly opposes any form of normalization with Israel, which it wishes to replace with an Arab state.

In response to Barghouti’s statement, former IDF spokesman Peter Lerner tweeted, “What’s this boycott Israeli everything, except Israeli medication?”

International human rights lawyer Arsen Ostrovsky commented, “We might find cure for #CoronaVirus, but not sure we can find vaccine for this kind of mega hypocrisy!”

The Israel Advocacy Movement tweeted, “Meet Omar Barghouti, he founded the BDS movement… This is how he boycotts Israel: He chose to go to Tel Aviv University. He uses technology built in Israel. He won’t boycott Covid-19 vaccines developed in Israel. Total hypocrite.”

The Reservists on Duty NGO also accused Barghouti of being dishonest, saying his vaccine comments were “the definition of hypocrisy.”

Campus advocacy group Students Supporting Israel sarcastically commented that Barghouti “compromises on his strong values!”

The group StopAntisemitism.org accused Barghouti of racism, tweeting, “After boycotting Israel for more than a decade, Omar Barghouti says it’s ok for people to use an Israeli made COVID-19 vaccine. Should antisemites like him be allowed to get it once it becomes available?”

Daniel Schwammenthal, director of the American Jewish Committee Transatlantic Institute, also mocked Barghouti, saying he expressed “his confidence in Israeli innovation.”