June 18 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The British government will present a bill next week to prohibit public institutions from boycotting Israeli products, thus preventing these bodies from having their own approach to international relations.
“These campaigns not only undermine UK foreign policy, but 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. Conservative Michael Gove to ‘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, set out by the UK Government,” he added. .
This bill comes after the Leicester, Swansea and Gwynedd councils made a decision in 2019 to boycott products from “illegal” Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and which would last until Israel “complies with international law and withdraws from the occupied Palestinian territories”.
If the law is passed, it would allow ministers to investigate breaches of the ban and public bodies could face “significant fines.”
