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UK Is Right to Stop Local Councils Boycotting Israel

(The Times-UK) - Editorial Some local councils suffer from the delusion that residents are crying out for a local foreign policy. Michael Gove, the communities secretary, will soon bring forward legislation to prevent local authorities and other public bodies introducing "boycott, divestment and sanctions" (BDS) policies against foreign governments. Mr. Gove put it well last year: "The BDS campaign is designed for only one purpose: to attack and delegitimize the State of Israel and the idea that there should be a Jewish state at all." That councils should waste time and increasingly scarce resources endorsing a campaign whose purpose is so divisive is troubling. Local authorities have a legal duty to serve all members of the public, whatever their religion or ethnicity. Moreover, it ought not to need restating that foreign policy is the responsibility of Westminster alone. To indulge councillors who believe their grandstanding will deliver salvation to the Palestinian people is not only absurd but irresponsible. Those on councils who disagree with the foreign policy of His Majesty's Government should stand in a general election and win the argument nationally. They should not be creating their own micro foreign policy.
2023-05-18 00:00:00
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