New bill seeks to block boycotts of Israeli goods in UK - Shlomo Cesana, Erez Linn and Israel Hayom Staff

by Shlomo Cesana, Erez Linn and Israel Hayom Staff

Legislation would make excluding Israeli products a criminal offense for public bodies, student unions • Boycotting Israeli goods "is potentially damaging to the U.K.'s relationship with Israel and risked fueling anti-Semitism," says minister.

Wine produced in Judea and Samaria on display at a supermarket in Jerusalem [Archive] | Photo credit: AP

New British government directives are aiming to prevent public bodies, universities and student unions from boycotting Israeli products, The Independent reported Sunday. According to The Sunday Times, the move "follows mounting concern among Jewish leaders about anti-Semitism."

British media quoted Cabinet Office Minister Matthew Hancock, who is scheduled to visit Israel later this week, as saying such boycotts are divisive, potentially damaging to the U.K.'s relationship with Israel, and risk fueling anti-Semitism. 

The new bill, already described as a "controversial crackdown," seeks to prevent any public body from imposing a boycott on a World Trade Organization member, which Israel has been since 1995. The regulation will essentially outlaw boycotting Israeli products -- a threat often made against goods produced in Judea and Samaria -- and allow the British government to take legal action against organizations that impose such boycotts.

Under the plan, all publicly funded institutions would be barred from excluding goods produced by their idea of "unethical companies," such as companies involved in arms trading, fossil fuels, tobacco products, or companies based in Judea and Samaria.

Any public bodies that continue to pursue boycotts would face severe penalties, The Independent reported.

Critics of the initiative said it constituted a "gross attack on democratic freedoms."

Hancock said the current situation, which gives public bodies autonomy to make ethical purchasing decisions, was "undermining" Britain’s national security. 

"We need to challenge and prevent these divisive town-hall boycotts," Hancock told the International Business Times. "The new guidance on procurement, combined with changes we are making to how pension pots can be invested, will help prevent damaging and counter-productive local foreign policies undermining our national security. ... We will take steps to stop such outdated policies being pursued through procurement and pension policies. We will safeguard the security of families at home and prevent such playground politics undermining our international security." 

MP Eric Pickles, head of Conservative Friends of Israel in Britain, said, "This move is very welcome. The attempt by the irresponsible Left to demonize Israel is bad for British business, bad for the local taxpayer, and deeply damaging to community relations. It encourages anti-Semitism and strives to make a municipal foreign policy contrary to the interests of the U.K."

Hugh Lanning, head of the U.K.-based Palestine Solidarity Campaign, condemned the move as "a gross attack on our democratic freedoms and the independence of public bodies from government interference."

Shlomo Cesana, Erez Linn and Israel Hayom Staff

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=31771

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