German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative party announced Wednesday that it has passed a resolution declaring that the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement is anti-Jewish and reminiscent of early actions taken by the Nazis.

The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) released a statement referring to BDS as “coarse antisemitism” hiding behind anti-Zionism, and saying that someone “who today, under the flag of the BDS movement, calls to boycott Israeli goods and services speaks the same language in which people were called to not buy from Jews,” referring to the boycotts of Jewish businesses launched by the Nazis during the 1930s in the run-up to the Holocaust.

Merkel recently accepted her party’s nomination to serve another four-year-term as chancellor ahead of federal elections next year. The move comes as she is under increasing pressure from within her party and from Right-wing populist challengers to take a harder line on issues such as immigration and the growing threat of Islamist terrorism.

On Tuesday, Merkel told members of her party that Germany should ban full-face veils or burkas “wherever legally possible,” and that the country should not tolerate the application of Islamic sharia law over German justice.