By COLlive reporter
Photos: Fotobuddy Photography
British Justice Minister Michael Gove railed against the anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign, calling the cause “a crime worse than apartheid.”
Addressing the third annual Algemeiner Jewish 100 Gala in New York City, the conservative politician and former journalist bemoaned the rise of antisemitism in Europe, referring to it as a “virus which mutates.”
“In medieval times, antisemitism was religious, and it found its manifestation in ghettoization and forced conversion,” said Gove, who has been one of Britain’s most avid defenders of Israel.
“In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, antisemitism, under the perverted guise of scientific racism, led to eliminationist politics in Austria, in Germany, and the greatest crime that mankind has ever witnessed.”
But, he asserted, “Antisemitism has changed. And now, it finds its expression in opposition to the Jewish people’s collective identity and the existence of the state of Israel.”
“The BDS campaign, by calling for the deliberate boycott of goods manufactured by Jewish people, by calling for the shunning of the Jewish state, and the rejection of Jewish commerce and Jewish thought, actually commits a crime worse than apartheid,” he said.
Gove was introduced by a fellow honoree of the evening, News Corporation Chairman Rupert Murdoch who praised Gove as a man “who is being talked about as a potential prime minister.”
VIDEO: Remarks by Justice Minister Michael Gove
Honorees in attendance at the event at Gotham Hall on Broadway included News Corporation Chairman Rupert Murdoch, French philosopher and humanitarian Bernard-Henri Lévy and philanthropist Jeffrey H. Rosen, owner of Israel’s Maccabi Haifa basketball team.
Other notable attendees included news personality Charlie Rose; Israel’s consul general in New York Ido Aharoni ; longtime New Republic Editor Marty Peretz; French Ambassador to the United Nations François Delattre; and renowned attorney Alan Dershowitz.
The evening’s Master of Ceremonies was Fox News‘ Joanne Nosuchinsky, and Event Chairs were Neil and Sharon Book.
Founded in 1972 as a Yiddish broadsheet by veteran journalist Gershon Jacobson, The Algemeiner today publishes a weekly newspaper in English and runs the website Algemeiner.com.
Citing examples of the impact of his pages, Editor-in-Chief Dovid Efune said, “At The Algemeiner we have been blessed to see firsthand the world that has been mended by our coverage.”
next stop tv news channel…you got murdoch now!
Great job Dovid and Mushkee on a splendid evening!