50 U.S. Governors Join AJC Initiative to Support Israel, Fight BDS

NEW YORK, May 17, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In a profound display of bipartisan unity across the country, all 50 U.S. governors and the Mayor of the District of Columbia have joined an AJC initiative to affirm their rejection of the BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) movement against Israel.

"Governors across our country know very well the enormous value of the U.S.-Israel partnership in every sphere imaginable, and many have been central to nurturing their own state's beneficial ties to Israel," said AJC CEO David Harris. "At the same time, our nation's 50 governors, as well as the District of Columbia mayor, recognize the pernicious goals of the BDS movement, which singles out Israel from among all the nations of the world for relentless and undue criticism, and whose efforts undermine the prospects for advancing Israeli-Palestinian peace."

The Governors United Against BDS statement (www.ajc.org/governors) declares that "the goals of the BDS movement are antithetical to our values and the values of our respective states, our support for Israel as a vital U.S. ally, important economic partner and champion of freedom."

Israel is a "pluralistic nation with deep cultural, familial, security, educational, scientific and commercial bonds with our states and with the United States as a whole," asserts the statement.

The governors reaffirm their commitment to "the principle of two states for two peoples, existing side by side in peace, security and mutual recognition, and achieved through direct, bilateral negotiations." And they emphasize that the BDS movement "undermines peacemaking by suggesting that economic and political pressure on Israel can replace real negotiation."

Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R), New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D), and Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy (D), are co-chairs of the national, bipartisan Governors United Against BDS initiative.

SOURCE American Jewish Committee