BICOM

Justice Secretary Michael Gove yesterday addressed a major European conference on anti-Semitism and strongly condemned attempts to boycott Israel, calling them inherently prejudiced.

Gove was speaking at the Inter-parliamentary Coalition for Combating Anti-Semitism Conference in Berlin, which attracted parliamentarians from more than forty countries and was also addressed by Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel. Gove said that “In the Middle Ages, anti-Semitism was focused on the religious identity of Jewish people… Today, it targets the collective identity of the Jewish people.”

Gove commented that the BDS (boycotts, divestment, sanctions) movement targeting Israel “indulges prejudice rather than fighting it,” as it “calls for the shunning of Jewish academics, the boycott of Jewish goods, the de-legitimization of Jewish commerce.” He added, “We have seen these all before. And we know where it takes us.” As a result, Gove reaffirmed the recent government guidelines which prevent public bodies from boycotting Israel. He said, “We have made clear that local authorities and public bodies cannot adopt BDS policies aimed at Israel; they cannot use public resources to discriminate against Jewish people, Jewish goods and a Jewish state.”

Around a dozen MPs and peers attended the conference including All-Party Parliamentary Group Against Antisemitism chair John Mann, Sir Eric Pickles, peers Lord Mendelsohn and Lord Polak, plus Labour MPs Wes Streeting and Luciana Berger, and Conservatives Guto Bebb and David Burrowes.

Israel’s former-Foreign Minister and senior Zionist Union leader Tzipi Livni also attended the Berlin conference, where she met Gove. Livni said that too often in today’s world, “anti-Semitism wears the costume of criticism of Israeli policy.” She added, “BDS succeeds because people don’t understand that the organisation doesn’t exist to help the Palestinians, nor does it protest against specific Israeli policy, rather it is in complete opposition to the existence of the State of Israel. Instead of giving BDS the opportunity to isolate Israel, we should isolate BDS.”