Last week, the UK government’s “anti-BDS” bill was introduced to parliament and passed its first reading to becoming law – posing a chilling threat to protests and criticisms of Israeli occupation of Palestine and the associated human rights abuses against Palestinians.
The proposal, put forward by Conservative MPs and titled the Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill, aims to “prevent public bodies from being influenced by political or moral disapproval of foreign states when taking certain economic decisions”.
If it becomes law, it could threaten the UK’s BDS movement, which challenges Israel’s illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories via non-violent methods. Palestine Solidarity Campaign has since confirmed it was working with other pro-Palestinian groups to “try and bring pressure to bear on the government to scrap the bill and on opposition parties to vote against it” before the anti-BDS proposal becomes law.
Meanwhile, the UK Labour Party has said it would object to aspects of a proposed bill. The bill will hear its second reading in the House of Commons on 3 July.
