The contrast between the two party conferences — and the two parties — could not now be greater. On the eve of the Conservative Party conference, Communities Secretary Greg Clark announced legislation to stop local councils imposing politically-motivated boycotts of Israel.
The week before, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn could not even bring himself to utter the word Israel . Labour’s many genuine friends of Israel must be in despair. Not only do they now have a party leader who is one of the leaders of the campaign for such a boycott; they are faced by a governing party that does the exact opposite.
We will have to see whether the actual changes to the law, when they are brought forward, match the claims of the announcement by Mr Clark. But the mere fact that the government takes the issue of BDS seriously is more than just encouraging. It shows that, for all the huffing, the advocates of a boycott are not only not winning the argument; they are also being exposed for what they really are, as peddlers of a policy that is antisemitic both in practice and intention.
