Iraq’s Ayatollah Sistani: Any Transaction That Benefits «Israel» Not Permissible

By Staff, Agencies

Iraq’s prominent Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has advised against trading goods that bring about benefits to the occupying “Israeli” regime.

The top Iraqi cleric was asked whether it is allowed to sell goods to or buy them from the companies that allocate part of their income to supporting Tel Aviv.

"It is not permissible to trade ‘Israeli’ products and [engage with] the companies that we are sure to be effectively backing ‘Israel’," Ayatollah Sistani’s office said on its website.

In recent years, a campaign boycotting “Israeli” products has been growing rapidly worldwide, causing heavy losses to the regime’s firms.

The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions [BDS] movement was initiated in 2005 by over 170 Palestinian organizations and later turned international. The movement is meant to initiate “various forms of boycott against ‘Israel’ until it meets its obligations under international law” and end its decades-long occupation of Palestinian lands.

The BDS, which was inspired by the South African anti-apartheid movement, has claimed several successes in isolating the “Israeli” entity and promoting the Palestinian Cause.