Anti-Israel BDS Event Cancelled After Democratic Lawmaker Withdraws Sponsorship

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The Democratic House lawmaker who had anonymously sponsored a controversial House event advocating for economic boycotts of Israel withdrew her sponsorship Tuesday, THE WEEKLY STANDARD has confirmed, and the briefing has also been cancelled.

The office of Texas congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee had reserved a room on Capitol Hill for the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation to host an event on Friday. The briefing was advertised to feature “actual pracitioners” of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, according to the invitation.

The event was publicized Monday and drew controversy, with several Democrats, including Jackson Lee, denying any connection to it.

Tuesday, however, Jackson Lee’s office confirmed to TWS that the room had been booked by a former staffer, and that they had withdrawn their sponsorship. A senior House GOP aide later told TWS that the event had also been cancelled.

“That room was actually booked by a staffer that’s no longer with us, back in March,” Jackson Lee’s communications director, Mike McQuerry, told TWS. “This was done without the knowledge of anyone in the office.”

“We’ve taken our name off of booking the room,” he continued. “We weren’t involved with planning.”

McQuerry said that the office did not know anything about the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, the group hosting the event.

“We had never heard of [the group] until today,” he said. “We didn’t know who they were.”

He would not comment on whether the congresswoman supported or disavowed either the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, or the BDS movement generally.

“I don’t know anything about BDS as of yet,” McQuerry said. He emphasized that the office was currently focused on locating the ex-staffer responsible for the reservation.

Capitol Hill administrators previously would not disclose the name of the lawmaker sponsoring the event. After TWS reported Monday that Jackson Lee was listed as the event sponsor, her office denied the charge.

A number of other offices contacted by TWS also denied reserving the room and said they would not be attending the briefing, including that of Washington congressman Jim McDermott.

“Jim will not be in D.C. on Friday,” Daniel Rubin, the congressman’s spokesman, told TWS Tuesday.

Georgia congressman Hank Johnson, who earlier this year likened Israeli settlers to termites at an event sponsored by the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, told TWS Monday he would not be attending the event.

Anti-Israel BDS Event Cancelled After Democratic Lawmaker Withdraws Sponsorship

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