Supporters of BDS in the United States are panicking. Across the country, all the major presidential candidates have condemned the BDS movement and the delegitimization of Israel. Legislatures in seven states have passed bills imposing penalties on companies that support BDS and Congress has introduced similar anti-BDS legislation.

Unsurprisingly, the defensive responses from pro-BDS NGOs, such as Sabeel and Palestine Legal, are full of irony and distortions.

In an attempt to minimize the victories against BDS, Palestine Legal ironically notes that “non-binding resolutions cannot be enforced. They are merely symbolic statements of policy with no teeth.” Of course, every BDS “success” in American student government forums precisely fits this description. If, Palestine Legal can claim that non-binding divestment resolutions- such as those that passed at UCLA (“victory”), University Illinois at Chicago (“congrats”), and Toledo (“outstanding victory”)- are successes, surely they must admit that anti-BDS initiatives from the states and federal government are major losses.

Then there is spin from Sabeel (via Friends of Sabeel Colorado): “The BDS movement is NOT a threat to Israel’s existence…The BDS movement is a non-violent movement that seeks equal rights…The purpose of BDS is not to isolate Israel.”

All of these claims obscure the stated goals of BDS, including ending the “occupation and colonization of all Arab lands” and promoting a Palestinian right of return for refugees and their descendants – both of which undermine the fundamental right of the Jewish people to self-determination.

They also erase a key passage from the Final Declaration of the NGO Forum at the 2001 Durban Conference, which promotes BDS activism against Israel, calling “upon the international community to impose a policy of complete and total isolation of Israel as an apartheid state” (emphasis added).

Here’s another lie courtesy of Sabeel’s Colorado branch: Referencing a prejudicial account from Adalah’s distorted database of “discriminatory” Israeli laws (Adalah is funded by the European Union, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, Holland, and others ), Sabeel Colorado alleges that “Jewish communities are permitted by law to deny new residents based on ethnicity.” Except, the law in question specifically prohibits discrimination based on “race, religion, sex, nationality, disability, personal status, age, parental status, sexual orientation, country of origin, ideology, or political-party affiliation” (translation by NGO Monitor).

Governments across the world are rejecting BDS. As BDS becomes less and less acceptable, we can expect more and more desperation from BDS supporters.