Letter reveals Hillary Clinton is strongly against the Israel boycott movement

A gaining global boycott against Israel has many world leaders worried — including presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton.

The movement, called BDS or "boycotts, divestment, and sanctions" against Israel, was begun by a group of Palestinian activists in 2005, as inspired by peaceful anti-apartheid movements in South Africa. The group has since gained an enormous global following, to the point that Israel has now identified it as a threat akin to Palestinian militant groups or the Iranian nuclear program, The Associated Press reports.

“Israel is a vibrant democracy in a region dominated by autocracy, and it faces existential threats to its survival,” Hillary Clinton recently wrote to donor Haim Saban and other leaders in a letter dated July 2. “Particularly at a time when anti-Semitism is on the rise across the world — especially in Europe — we need to repudiate forceful efforts to malign and undermine Israel and the Jewish people.” She called on both Democrats and Republicans to "make countering B.D.S. a priority."

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However, organizers and supporters of BDS deny accusations of anti-Semitism; rather, their goals include ending Israel's occupation of territories captured in 1967, ending discrimination against Arabs, and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees by returning family properties lost in the war of 1948.