Activists delivered a letter to Johnson objecting the criminalization of boycotting Israel

30 June 2022

Activists from Friends of Aqsa (FOA) and The Palestinian Forum in Britain (PFB) had taken matter into their own hands and headed to the Prime Minister’s Boris Johnson office to hand him a letter objecting to the government’s and the Parliament’s plans of criminalizing boycotting Israel illegal state of occupations.

The letter opposes the efforts of the government and the House of Commons to criminalize the boycott campaigns, led by the international “BDS” movement. The BDS movement calls for boycotting the Israeli occupation by boycotting its goods and products, withdrawing any investments made and imposing sanctions on it, such as banning business made with the illegal state of Israel

The organizations supporting the Palestinian cause had called on British citizens to sign a petition to urge the government and Parliament to stop looking into the criminalization of the boycott campaigns.

The petition had pointed out that the criminalization of the boycott campaigns is “a threat to the right of the public and the individual to boycott or oppose what they object on”

A letter objecting to the criminalization of the boycotting Israel delivered to Downing Street

The delegation responsible for delivering the message was formed by 5 activists: Chris Rose, director of the “Amos Trust” charity, “Friends of Al-Aqsa” members Shamil and Charlotte, Lizzie Germain from the “Stop the War” coalition, and Adnan Hmidan, deputy chairman of The Palestinian Forum in Britain.

They have stressed “the need to support the right of the public to boycott and withdraw investments, and call for the punishment of those who violate human rights and do not comply with international law.” Emphasizing its request to call on the British government to revoke the “anti-boycott law” plans.

One of the members of the delegation delivering the message, Adnan Hmidan, Deputy Chairman of the Palestinian Forum in Britain, stated that these efforts to criminalize the boycott of Israel’s goods began since Boris Johnson was appointed to the position of prime minister, and is supported by the Parliament, which the majority of its ministers are conservative.

On the other hand, Hmidan explained that the labour party led by Starmer is not any better than the conservatives in this regard. As Starmer competes with Johnson to suck up to Israel whenever he gets the chance!

But our real chance is within the people who believe and is aware that these Palestinian lands are occupied and that it is the right of the people to boycott Israel’s goods and products. In fact, the government should pass a law that labels Israel’s goods at the very least.

It is noteworthy to mention that human rights organizations supporting the Palestinian cause have demanded the UK government to abandon the draft law criminalizing boycotting Israel after the British government confirmed its commitment to passing the anti-boycott law during the “Queen’s Speech” at the opening ceremony of Parliament last May.

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