Israeli minister of public security and strategic affairs Gilad Erdan is promoting a new law that would exclude his ministry from governmental oversight. This is a step meant to help fight the BDS movement while also granting legitimacy to gathering intelligence on the Israelis who are involved in the boycott movement according to Hebrew media on Tuesday.
In June Haaretz Hebrew newspaper reported that the Strategic Affairs Ministry which Erdan heads would essentially be shielded from certain provisions in the Freedom of Information Law as decided by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation.
Erdan has already established an office in the Military Intelligence Directorate whose job is to gather intelligence on foreign as well as Israeli BDS activists. Many Israelis are involved in encouraging boycotts of Israel while collaborating with foreign BDS activists.
The work of the new intelligence office will likely include dozens of people who will gather and sort through information and enlist informants who will pass along information on BDS supporters in Israel and across the world by establishing databases and blacklists.
