Atlanta Mayor Flatly Rejects Demand From Local ‘Black Lives Matter’ Group to Cut Ties With ‘Apartheid Israel’

The mayor of Atlanta on Monday flatly refused a demand by protesters associated with the Black Lives Matter movement to terminate the local police force’s cooperation and training with Israel.

Mayor Kasim Reed denied the request at a meeting with members of #ALTisReady — self-described as a “collective of student activists, community organizers and leaders working to amplify Black and other marginalized voices in Atlanta” — to discuss improving the relationship between police and the community, a week after hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Georgia governor’s mansion . . .

In a press conference following the meeting, Kasim told reporters:

There was a demand that I stop allowing the Atlanta Police Department to train with the Israeli Police Department. I’m not going to do that. I happen to believe that the Israeli Police Department has some of the best counter-terrorism techniques in the world and it benefits our police department from that long-standing relationship. That was a specific demand.

Over the last several months, the Black Lives Matter movement has become closely aligned with anti-Zionist and antisemitic movements, most notably the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) initiative. The logic behind the connection between the groups, according to anti-Israel activists, is that both are representing and defending dark-skinned minorities against oppressors. (Read more from “Atlanta Mayor Flatly Rejects Demand From Local ‘Black Lives Matter’ Group to Cut Ties With ‘Apartheid Israel'” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.