A sixth municipal boycott of Israel has been overturned by a Spanish court this week, The Jerusalem Post reported on Thursday.
A judge in the Málaga province, located on Spain’s southern coast, rejected the Vélez-Málaga city council’s decision to boycott Israel and companies that do business with the state. The case was brought forth by ACOM, a Spanish pro-Israel group.
Angel Mas, the president of ACOM, warned that “even as discriminatory motions are halted every month, the aggressive boycott campaign continues, with new anti-Semitic declarations being approved almost every week.” Mas observed that since Spanish courts are beginning to push back against economic attacks on Israel, “the [Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions] campaign has started concealing to the public opinion these city council approvals in order to avoid prompt court initiatives.”
ACOM legal actions have led to six city council boycott resolutions being overturned by courts and seven more being halted by restraining orders.
“The boycott campaign is nothing but plain discrimination on basis of national origin, affinities, and personal beliefs,” Ignacio Wenley Palacios, the lawyer leading ACOM’s anti-BDS legal campaign, said. “This anti-Semitic initiative is an attack to our constitutional rights and freedoms.”
Earlier this month, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that ACOM has already won 24 legal rulings against the BDS campaign. “The BDS movement in Spain is established and works systematically,” Mas told JTA. “But for the first time, they are encountering a response that is as systematic.”
In January, Spain’s highest court awarded $100,000 in damages to Ariel University, located in the West Bank, for discrimination after it was excluded from a state-sponsored scientific competition.
Many leaders of the BDS campaign, which was launched by Palestinian groups in 2005, have publicly affirmed that they seek Israel’s destruction. BDS co-founder Omar Barghouti, an opponent of the two-state solution, said in 2014 that Palestinians have a right to “resistance by any means, including armed resistance,” while leading activist As’ad Abu Khalil acknowledged in 2012 that “the real aim of BDS is to bring down the state of Israel.”
[Photo: tm-tm / Flickr]