Jewish community urges Nottingham City Council to snub boycotts on Israel
Nottingham City Council is to debate a call to support sanctions against Israel after calls by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
The motion, to be discussed on Monday, calls on the Council to pressure the British government into supporting the ‘Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions’ (BDS) movement.
In a joint letter, lay and spiritual leaders of the Liberal and Orthodox Jewish communities of Nottingham called on councillors to unanimously reject the petition. The letter calls BDS measures “an affront to all peace loving democratic people” which would not alter the plight of those suffering in the Middle East.
It continues to state that, in the wake of recent events in France, “local authorities need to be guardians of good community relations and not go down the route of setting one community against the other by adopting partisan campaigns”.
Alex Brummer, vice president of the Board of Deputies, added his support, saying: “The Board fully backs the concerns expressed in the letter from Nottingham’s Jewish community to Nottingham City Council.”
“We hope the council will want to continue to promote good inter-communal and interfaith relations.”
“Importing foreign conflicts into our local communities causes real friction on the ground and does nothing to promote peace elsewhere.”
The stresses outlines how the community has worked ‘tirelessly’ with the Interfaith Council.. “to encourage and ensure understanding, peace and complete religious tolerance” and that It “would defeat the hard fought for respect and trust built up over some considerable time “.
“All major political parties in the UK have made it clear they do not support “BDS”.
The Council is run by the the Labour group, who hold 49 out of the 55 seats. They told to the Jewish News told the Jewish News that the group would meet on 22 January to discuss their position, but have not responded.
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