BDS Coordinator Mahmoud Nawajaa: A Nobel Prize for the BDS Movement Would Offset Its Reputation For Being Awarded to War Criminals

Palestinian activist Mahmoud Nawajaa, the general coordinator of the BDS Movement, said that although it was unlikely that the Nobel Prize, which is "notorious for having been awarded to war criminals," would be granted to the BDS movement, such a win would "balance out the scales, which have been skewed," and would perhaps "somewhat rehabilitate this reputation." Nawajaa, who was interviewed by the official Palestinian Authority TV channel on February 6, cited "a U.S. government report" according to which the BDS movement "to a large extent controls the universities," and added: "Its authors expect the next U.S. president to be one of the BDS activists."

Mahmoud Nawajaa: "If the BDS movement wins the [Nobel Peace] Prize, it will balance out the scales, which have been skewed, and have damaged the reputation of the Nobel Prize, when it was given to the war criminals you mentioned. So perhaps this will restore the reputation of the prize, although it is hard to imagine that the prize will be awarded to the BDS movement. This would cause great fear in the occupation government, making it very difficult for it to confront the movement. They exert every effort and spend millions of dollars to confront the BDS movement. The Nobel Prize is notorious for having been awarded to war criminals. Perhaps if the BDS movement wins it, this would somewhat rehabilitate this reputation, and would restore the Nobel Prize to its true role as a prize awarded to resistance fighters and to fighters for peace, and not to war criminals, who destroy peace, and carry out the ethnic cleansing of our Palestinian people, through colonialism and the entire Apartheid regime of racial segregation against our people.

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"What is important is that the peoples support us – the people of the EU, the American people, the people of Latin America, and the Arab peoples, who have been part of the Palestinian cause throughout history. They support us, and so, at some point, they will succeed in influencing their governments' policies, and in exerting pressure on their governments. There is a U.S. government report that says that today, the BDS movement to a large extent controls the universities. Its authors expect the next U.S. president to be one of the BDS activists. This will definitely generate a significant and essential change in the foreign policies of all these countries with regard to the occupation and the Palestinian people."