BDS Movement Leader Condemns Hijacking by Far-Right Activists
Mahmoud Nawajaa, the face of the BDS movement, speaks out against far-right hijacking of the pro-Palestine cause.
The Palestinian cause has had some unlikely allies…or so it seems. Various far-right personalities such as Dr. Anastasia Maria Loupis and Jackson Hinkle have made seemingly pro-Palestine statements in the wake of the recent genocide in Gaza. Although some people welcomed their support and saw it as a sign that all parts of the political spectrum recognized the genocide, others questioned their motivations. After all, it seemed that people who seemed to have little regard for others would care about one of the biggest human rights issues of the 21st century.
Before October 7, 2023, these people made posted anti-trans, COVID-19 denial, anti-immigration, climate change denial, and pro-Trump content. Dr. Loupis has called the face masks used to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 “mind control devices” (DOA 7/2/24) while Hinkle has made a tweet saying “Assad wins again” (DOA 7/2/24) claiming that US forces considered withdrawing from Syria in August of 2023. Hinkle has also passed photos from Syria’s still ongoing civil war off as photos from Gaza.
Hinkle himself admitted that he does “everything for the clout” via livestream, which led many pro-Palestine activists to warn others about grifters and opportunistic actors. While many pro-Palestine activists discourage profiting off of the genocide, others said that such criticisms cause unnecessary divisions within the movement.
The official BDS X (Twitter) account made a tweet saying he following:
The BDS movement condemns far-right “activists” exploiting the genocide of our people as a means to dramatically increase followers and paid subscriptions on social media platforms.
Elaborating on this statement, BDS followed up by calling such people “genocide enablers”. They went on to quote Mahmoud Nawajaa, the General Coordinator of the BDS Movement. In his statement, Nawajaa made it clear that “racism of all kinds has no place in our struggle for liberation”.
Netizens met this post with a range of responses from agreement to accusing the organization of being counterproductive and divisive (DOA 7/2/24). Others accused Middle East Eye of running a smear campaign and accused the BDS movement of “shill[ing] for Jews” (DOA 7/2/24). Some even accused Nawajaa of being controlled opposition funded by Israel and of losing sight of his original cause.
As a Palestinian and resident of the occupied West Bank, Mahmoud Nawajaa has been wrongfully detained and interrogated by Israeli soldiers on July 30, 2020. This went on for weeks as people pled for his release. Ultimately relenting, Israel released the activist on August 17, 2020. As the leader of the BDS movement, which has established in 2005, Mahmoud Nawajaa makes it a point to defend the rights of all people, not just Palestinians.
