From Jenin to Sussex, the UK anti-boycott bill enables Israeli violence

We at the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) had a surreal split-screen experience earlier this month. On 3 July, we watched in horror the latest news from Israel’s invasion of Jenin — the largest military incursion in the West Bank in two decades.

Videos were emerging of Palestinian families fleeing Jenin refugee camp after Israeli occupation forces told residents to leave in preparation for its next set of armed attacks. Some 3,500 people fled in absolute panic after enduring 24 hours of drone strikes, armed raids, bulldozers ripping up streets, and water and electricity cuts.

Palestinians are all too familiar with this violence, but nobody ever gets used to it. In the camp, people spoke about it as another Nakba.

While this appalling news was streaming in, we were also keeping an eye on the live feed from the British parliament, watching the first parliamentary debate over the government’s newly tabled anti-boycott law.

"This bill was introduced by a Conservative government with a substantial majority. It is one of the most anti-Palestinian governments in the world, proudly carrying forward the long legacy of British oppression of the Palestinian people, with roots going back over a century to the Balfour Declaration"

The long-anticipated bill, formally titled the ‘Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill’, aims to prevent public bodies such as local councils from allowing investment or purchasing decisions to be influenced by “political or moral disapproval of foreign state conduct”.

Although pitched quite broadly, the government’s clear intention in tabling this bill is to crack down on local efforts to cut ties with companies involved in Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people.

These intentions were made clear in the government’s presentation and the draft itself, which contains a clause indicating that no current or future government could make any exceptions to allow for boycotts or divestment in relation to Israel or its illegal occupation.

As Palestinians fled for their lives from Israel’s attack helicopters, drone strikes, and military snipers, the British government minister responsible for the anti-boycott bill, Michael Gove, railed against the ‘menace’ of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, and spun a wild tale about a devious campaign that splits communities and unfairly singles out Israel.

British MPs voting in favour of advancing the government's controversial anti-BDS bill is a blow to Palestine solidarity efforts, and undermines the freedoms and right to dissent of all, argues Anna B. But there is still hope. https://t.co/XXHNozA4fh

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Despite principled interventions by some MPs, the house voted to allow the bill to proceed to the next stage of approval.

We weren’t surprised that the vote went this way. This bill was introduced by a Conservative government with a substantial majority. It is one of the most anti-Palestinian governments in the world, proudly carrying forward the long legacy of British oppression of the Palestinian people, with roots going back over a century to the Balfour Declaration.

It is the same government that has rammed through a shocking number of repressive laws restricting the right to protest, including the Policing Bill and the Public Order Act.

Exactly what kinds of campaigns does this bill aim to stop, and what is it that those campaigns are attempting to achieve?

In the government’s impact assessment, published alongside the anti-boycott bill, it gave an example of the type of campaign it would like to prevent: East Sussex Pension Fund’s (ESPF) 2021 divestment from Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest private arms manufacturer.

That decision came in the context of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) Divest campaign, started in 2020 by trade unions and local PSC activists who were either public sector workers themselves or collaborating closely with them.

Some of these activists have been involved in solidarity with Palestinians for decades; some are Palestinian themselves. Many have a track record in similar campaigns like those against companies that profited from apartheid in South Africa.

Their ask is simple: that the local authority should not invest their pensions in companies proven to be involved in violence, displacement, apartheid, or other forms of harm to the Palestinian people.

"Companies like these have no incentive to stop selling their equipment to the Israeli military unless divestment campaigns expose their involvement, and put real grassroots pressure to end their complicity"

The work on LGPS Divest campaigns is not flashy or high profile. It’s slow and sometimes tedious work researching investment strategies, engaging with a wide range of decision makers, and speaking to Palestinians facing horrible oppression by the Israeli state whilst companies profit off their suffering.

In the case of East Sussex, fund members came together after learning that their pensions were invested in a company that produces drones and other weapons used in Israel’s attacks on Palestinians which have resulted in thousands of civilian deaths, including children.

The fund members didn’t randomly choose Elbit Systems; the company had already been red-flagged by a range of ethical investment screens because of its machinery’s use in alleged war crimes, past and present. They join the likes of KLP (Norway’s largest pension scheme) and the Australia Future Fund, both of which have also divested from Elbit Systems.

The ESPF acted on the wishes of its members who had raised alarm about this company and others involved in human rights abuses, and it set a higher bar for ethical investment principles.

On Wed, hundreds rallied in front of the UK Israeli embassy to protest Israel's assault on Jenin. Speakers, like former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, also too aim at the UK government's proposal to ban the right of public bodies to adopt BDS principles against Israel 👇 pic.twitter.com/BJ5ZuDQZ7g

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To any reasonable observer, the actions taken by East Sussex Pension Fund members would be not only acceptable, they would be applauded as an example of how pension schemes should be doing business.

But this is exactly the type of campaign that the government seeks to quash with its anti-boycott bill, and to misrepresent and malign in its incendiary misinformation campaign to stoke opposition to human rights activities.

In last week’s attacks in Jenin, the Israeli government used Apache helicopters, with parts manufactured by Boeing, and launched drone strikes using machinery possibly made by Elbit Systems.

Bulldozers made by Caterpillar, JCB, and Hyundai are used regularly by the Israeli military in the demolition of Palestinian homes and schools, and possibly in last week’s ‘clearing’ of Jenin refugee camp.

Combined Systems (CSI) is a major supplier of tear gas to the Israeli military, which is used regularly to suppress Palestinian protests and in other civilian settings — last week it was fired at the hospital tending to the wounded in Jenin.

Companies like these have no incentive to stop selling their equipment to the Israeli military unless divestment campaigns expose their involvement, and put real grassroots pressure to end their complicity.

The government’s anti-boycott bill will return to the House of Commons as early as September to be debated again, so our battle to defeat this bill is just beginning.

It is a battle to broaden the space for those in this country who are mobilised to take boycott and divestment action in the cause of justice, and to protect the core principles that form the basis of our solidarity with the Palestinians and oppressed people around the world.

Ryvka Barnard is the Deputy Director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign UK.

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