According to the bill, to be announced by Michael Gove, the Minister for Local Government, ‘substantial’ fines will be imposed on offenders
The British government plans to introduce legislation on Monday to ban local authorities and public bodies from boycotting Israeli products, The Telegraph reported on Saturday.
According to the bill, to be announced by Michael Gove, the Minister for Local Government, “substantial” fines will be imposed on offenders.
Gove explained to the newspaper that the aim of the proposed legislation was to combat the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, arguing that such initiatives are often accompanied by anti-Semitic rhetoric.
“It is simply unacceptable that public bodies have used taxpayers’ time and money to pursue their own foreign policy agenda,” he said. “The UK needs to adopt a coherent approach to foreign policy, defined by the British government.”
“This is not only damaging to UK foreign policy, it also leads to appalling anti-Semitic rhetoric and abuse. We have therefore taken this decisive step to end these disruptive policies once and for all,” he added.
The commitment to promote such a law was first mentioned in the election manifesto of the current ruling Conservative Party during the 2019 campaign. It was also mentioned in Queen Elizabeth II’s annual address last year, a few months before her death at the age of 96.
In the documents accompanying the Queen’s speech, Lancaster City Council’s decision to support Israel-related boycotts in 2021 was cited as an example, as was Leicester City Council’s similar decision in 2014.
According to British media reports, other councils, such as Swansea and Gwynedd, have also launched boycotts against Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
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