Slapping down the anti-Israel boycott
The anti-Israel boycott movement just suffered serious setbacks in two key world capitals.
British Prime Minister David Cameron’s government last week issued a policy notice that public authorities face “severe penalties” if they boycott Israeli goods.
Officially, the order protects all World Trade Organization members. In reality, it’s all about Israel. It declares such boycotts unacceptable unless the British government has itself instituted formal legal sanctions or trade restrictions.
In recent years, the Scottish government and town councils in Birmingham and Leicester have ordered or encouraged their suppliers to cease business with Israel.
The opposition Labor Party denounced Cameron’s move as an “attack on democracy.” But Canada saw bipartisan support for Monday’s vote on a resolution rejecting the goals of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.
New Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party endorsed the motion introduced by the Conservatives, with Foreign Minister Stephane Dion vowing to “fight anti-Semitism in all its forms.” It
seems Trudeau means to keep his campaign promise to continue the solidly pro-Israel stance of the man he defeated, Steven Harper.
The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement has always been a one-sided exercise in thuggish intimidation, targeting liberal, democratic Israel even as it ignores such genuinely oppressive
regimes as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority.
As Dion said: “The world will win nothing for boycotting Israel but depriving itself of the talents of its inventiveness.”
COURTESY NY POST