Let’s make one thing clear from the start. The BDS – Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions – campaign is antisemitic. No ambiguity, no ifs, not buts. It singles out the world’s only Jewish state and demands that it – that Jews, in other words – is boycotted.
The more naïve of those who push BDS might like to think they are somehow elevated people pursuing an elevated cause, but they are not. They are no less antisemitic in their actions than skinheads and extremist Muslims who believe Jews are vermin.
That, in short, is why the Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill matters. By removing the ability of local councils and organisations to set their own foreign policy, it prevents them from acting in support of a campaign which seeks to boycott Jews.
There is no room for shades of grey here. You either think it’s fine to boycott Jews – in which case you will oppose the Bill – or you don’t, in which case you will support it.
