The British government will introduce a bill next week to prevent public institutions from boycotting Israeli products, thus preventing these bodies from pursuing their own approach to international relations.
“These campaigns not only undermine UK foreign policy, they lead to appalling anti-Semitic rhetoric and abuse. That is why we have taken this decisive action to stop these disruptive policies once and for all,” the MP said. The Telegraph’.
“It is simply wrong that public bodies have been wasting taxpayers’ time and money on their own foreign policy agenda. The UK must have a coherent approach to foreign policy, laid out by the UK government,” he added.
The law comes after the councils of Leicester, Swansea and Gwynedd took a decision in 2019 to boycott products from “illegal” Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which will continue until “Israel complies with international law and withdraws from occupied Palestinian territory”.
If passed, the law would allow ministers to investigate violations of the ban and public bodies could face “hefty fines”.
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