The Boycott,
Divestment and Sanctions movement is celebrating today after a British court
ruled that government guidelines prohibiting Local Government Pension Schemes
from divesting from Israeli firms were unlawful.
The
Palestine Solidarity Campaign took the government to court over the rule, which
stated that “public procurement should never be used as a tool to boycott
tenders from suppliers based in other countries, except where formal legal
sanctions, embargoes and restrictions have been put in place by the UK
Government. "Such boycotts, the government explained, “can damage
integration and community cohesion within the United Kingdom, hinder Britain’s
export trade, and harm foreign relations to the detriment of Britain’s economic
and international security.”
According to
the Jewish Chronicle, Palestine Solidarity Campaign chair Hugh Lanning called
the ruling a “victory for Palestine, for local democracy and for the rule of
law.”
A
spokesperson for the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the UK affiliate of the
World Jewish Congress, said: “This was a decision reached on technical legal
grounds. It was decided that guidance exceeded the permissible purpose. We are
examining ways in which the guidance can to be re-issued in a way that complies
with the legal rules.”
Source: World Jewish Congress, Thursday, 22 Jun 2017
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