UK must end all trade with Israel, says co-founder of BDS movement

A prominent advocate for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement argues that recent UK measures targeting Israeli settler groups and ministers fall short of the country’s legal duty to prevent alleged genocide in Gaza. He dismisses these sanctions as a superficial tactic that avoids addressing broader British support for Israel, including arms sales, trade agreements, and academic ties that could contribute to the occupation of Palestinian territories. The criticism highlights a gap between symbolic actions and the comprehensive steps critics say are required under international law. The debate underscores tensions over how effectively sanctions can pressure Israel without addressing deeper political and economic ties.

Exclusive: sanctions against ministers and settler groups are ‘smoke and mirrors cop-out’ says Omar BarghoutiBritain’s legal and ethical obligation to stop a genocide in Gaza requires it to take bigger steps than halting trade with illegal Israeli settlements or imposing further sanctions, Omar Barghouti, the co-founder of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement has said.He described sanctions against individual settler groups or extremist ministers as a “smoke and mirrors cop-out and distraction” from the UK’s legal obligation under international law to end all support for Israel, including arms exports, trade deals and academic relations that “may directly or indirectly enable Israel’s illegal occupation” of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Continue reading...