BDS: Boycott Ban Would Harm UK Relations with Arab World

By Staff, Agencies 

The Palestinian leadership committee of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions [BDS] movement has warned that proposed legislation banning British public bodies from supporting the campaign will damage the UK’s standing in the Arab world.

In written evidence to a parliamentary committee currently scrutinizing the anti-boycott bill, the BDS National Committee accused the government of “doubling down” on “its complicity in ‘Israel’s’ grave violations of Palestinian human rights”.

It described the bill as “an anti-democratic, anti-Palestinian attempt to suppress peaceful solidarity with the struggle for Palestinian rights”.

It further added: “Aside from its attack on democracy, freedom of expression, and its singling out the Palestinian people for repression, if this anti-Palestinian repressive bill is enforced, it would further erode UK standing and relations in the Arab region.”

BDS leaders also condemned the failure of the parliamentary committee to invite a representative from either the movement itself or the UK’s Palestine Solidarity Campaign to give evidence in person.

The bill would prohibit institutions including local authorities, public pension funds, and universities from making investment and procurement decisions “influenced by political or moral disapproval of foreign state conduct”.

The draft legislation includes a clause that singles out “Israel”, the occupied Palestinian territories, and the occupied Golan Heights for special protection.

Several Labor MPs who called for the clause to be dropped nonetheless said they opposed BDS and were supportive of efforts to outlaw the movement.

Wayne David, a Labor MP, told the committee: “We are more than willing to work with the government to find something that works in both principle and substance.”

The bill was more vigorously opposed by committee members from the Scottish National Party.

The SNP’s Chris Stephens called it a “dog’s breakfast” and accused the government of pursuing “dog-whistle policies”.

Referencing George Orwell’s 1984, he described a clause banning public officials from expressing support for boycott or divestment campaigns as “the thought police clause”.

Stephens said: “The purpose of the bill is… to break an international convention and undermine a fundamental human right. Why would any government do that?"

“Is it because this is the red meat that the Tory party is throwing to people - a policy that actively restricts moral and political freedom of expression on human rights, environmental protections, and workers’ rights?”

The BDS National Committee is a coalition of Palestinian civil society organizations representing Palestinians living under occupation, Palestinians in refugee camps, and Palestinians living in Occupied Palestine, which has acted as the main coordinating body for the worldwide BDS movement since 2007.