Another Spanish town has endorsed BDS, declaring itself 'Israeli apartheid-free space'

Some 50 Spanish municipalities have passed resolutions in recent years endorsing the movement to boycott Israel.
2 min read
04 July, 2018
Sagunto, a city of 64,000 inhabitants near Valencia, declared itself an 'Israeli apartheid-free space'. [Getty]
The Spanish city of Sagunto has declared itself part of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign following a vote in the city council last week.

The motion in Sagunto, a city of 64,000 inhabitants near Valencia, declared itself an "Israeli apartheid-free space".

The ACOM pro-Israel lobby group in Madrid said it would prepare legal action against the decision.

Some 50 Spanish municipalities have passed similar resolutions in recent years endorsing the movement to boycott Israel.

In June, the city of Valencia, Spain's third largest, also voted to boycott Israel following a motion presented by a local faction of the leftist party Podemos.

ACOM says it has successfully managed to annul or suspend 24 motions by Spanish municipalities to boycott Israel.

Last week, the High Court of Justice in Asturias, northern Spain, ruled that a motion passed last year by the City Council of Castrillon to boycott Israel was unconstitutional and discriminatory.

In May, Navarre in northern Spain became the first Spanish state to endorse the BDS movement, calling on the Spanish government to "suspend its ties with Israel" until it "ceases its policy of criminal repression of the Palestinian population."

The BDS movement began in 2005 following a call by 170 Palestinian civil society groups.

Its supporters take inspiration from the campaign used by international activists to end apartheid in South Africa by isolating Israel politically and economically.

"Governments fail to hold Israel to account, while corporations and institutions across the world help Israel to oppress Palestinians," the BDS movement says.

"Because those in power refuse to act to stop this injustice, Palestinian civil society has called for a global citizens' response of solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for freedom, justice and equality."