Virginia governor candidate supports Israel boycott movement

Lee Carter confirmed his stance at a virtual Q&A session with other contenders, when he was asked if we would ever issue a gubernatorial directive against BDS.

"No, I would never do that. I’m a supporter of the BDS movement," Carter said. "I believe that the human rights abuses that are being inflicted upon the [Palestinian] people are among the worst currently ongoing in the world."

He continued: "And there is only one state in America that has an agency dedicated to increasing its trade deficit with a foreign country, and that agency is the Virginia Israel Advisory Board.

"I don’t think that we should have an agency like on our books that for any country, but specifically for a country that has a military occupation over a captive population like the Israeli government does over the Palestinian people."

The agency Lee was referring to, the Virginia Israel Advisory Board, is an Israeli government agency located in northern Virginia, whose stated aim is to improve economic and cultural ties between the two entities.

The BDS movement has seen executive orders issued against it in 32 states, all of which have been rebuked on grounds of freedom of speech.