Michael Gove has mounted a passionate defence of his Bill that prevents public bodies from boycotting Israel, telling the House of Commons that the BDS (Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment) campaign was “dedicated” to the proposition that “Israel should not exist”.
The Communities Secretary pointed out that the campaign had not uttered “one word of sympathy for Israelis in their suffering” after this month’s Hamas terrorist attacks, and instead had said that the blood that was shed “is on the Israeli government”.
They had also accused Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and US President Joe Biden of being “partners in genocide” for supporting Israel in the wake of the atrocities, he said.
Gove was closing a debate on the Bill’s report stage, at which a series of amendments moved by both Labour and Conservative MPs were comfortably defeated. Some MPs declared themselves against the Bill as a whole — mostly well-known figures such as former Labour deputy leader John McDonnell on the party’s left.
But Margaret Hodge, the veteran Jewish Labour MP and campaigner against antisemitism, agreed, saying it “would not help the Jewish community” in the wake of the Hamas attacks and would worsen the problem it was supposed to solve.
Norwood Distressed Investing 2021_4
Michael Gove
Most of the criticism levelled at the Bill focused on a section that says that Israel, the Golan Heights and the Occupied Territories can never be the subject of boycotts by publicly-funded bodies in future, although boycotts of other countries — such as those engaging in slavery or environmental degradation — might be permissible.
Tory MP Kit Malthouse said that by including this clause, Gove was “playing into the antisemitism that we have seen rise in this country”, claiming that Israel “should be treated in the same way as other country”.
But Gove responded by saying that Israel alone was singled out for treatment of this kind, while all the main national Jewish organisations supported the measure in its current form. He read out a message he received on Wednesday from the Community Security Trust, saying BDS “has a chilling impact on Jews”, making it likely they would be “shunned”.
Gove said that if the measure were watered down in the way some demanded, “the very purpose of the Bill would be undermined”.
He concluded by asking: “If after the events of the last three weeks, the government removed this clause, what message would it send?”
The Bill will return to Parliament for its third and final Commons reading after the King’s Speech next month.
For all the latest from Israel, click here to see all our coverage.
