News - World: The BDS movement called for a boycott of the Expo 2021 Dubai, calling on governments, companies and artists to withdraw from the event, which it considered as “whitewashing of Emirates and Israeli occupation.”

“For the first time in the region, the tyrannical Emirati regime will host the World Expo in Dubai next October. Both the UAE and the Israeli occupation are unabashedly exploiting the World Expo to present a more beautiful face to whitewash and divert attention from their grave human rights violations” the movement said in a statement.

"The UAE dictatorship is investing huge resources as a rare opportunity to cover up war crimes in Yemen, its appalling human rights record, including the criminal repression of migrant workers, mostly from South Asian countries, and its discriminatory regime against women" The statement added.

The statement clarified that the occupation plans to use this propaganda wing to normalize and whitewash its oppressive regime against the Palestinians in front of an Arab and Muslim audience. With the European colonial overtones of a bygone era, it is trying to market itself as a ray of hope in the region.

It also indicated that UAE dictatorship is desperately trying to replace its reality-based image in the region as a regime of occupation, settler colonialism and apartheid, and as an economy that depends largely on field-tested military and security exports, which is more exposed than ever before to its role in supporting death squads, deadly spyware and mass surveillance and military police training.

The boycott movement pointed out that the Dubai Expo is taking place in the context of a growing Emirati-Israeli military-security alliance, starting with Abu Dhabi's import of billions of dollars in Israeli security and military technology in recent years.