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PortugueseAnother victory was scored against BDS in a Spanish court, which ruled that a pro-boycott resolution violates the constitutional principle of equality before the law.
By: United with Israel Staff
A court in Las Palmas, Spain dealt another legal defeat to the anti-Israel BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) campaign when it nullified the boycott decision of the City Council of Telde, an Atlantic town of 100,000 residents in the east of the island of Gran Canary.
On November 27, 2015, the City Council of Telde passed a decision committing itself to refrain from signing any political, institutional, commercial, agricultural, educational, cultural, sporting, or security agreement, contract, or covenant with Israeli public bodies, companies and organizations.
According to the Council’s declaration, targeted Israeli entities could be exempted from the boycott if they formally expressed their recognition of the “inalienable rights of the Palestinians” by agreeing and supporting the campaign’s three objectives: (1) the end of the “occupation” and “colonization” of the disputed territories; (2) the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination; and (3) the right of return of Palestinians.
As in other cities in Spain, the City Council was granted the BDS-approved seal that distinguished the town as a “Free Space of Israeli Apartheid,” under the condition that the seal to be displayed in the city’s website and in its publications. In return the City Council agreed to publicize the boycott campaign among residents and local businesses.
Further, the City Council agreed to engage in and promote an active policy of cooperation with the BDS movement in order to ensure the proper implementation of the boycott decision.
On Sunday, a Las Palmas court published a decision that annulled the boycott. The Magistrate accepted the reasoning of the Lawfare Project, which stressed that even in the absence of its enforcement, the boycott violates the constitutional principle of equality before the law.
Over 50 Legal Victories
The Las Palmas decision closely preceded two other victories against the boycott campaign: a successful suit concerning the second boycott decision passed by the City Council of Castrillón, and a judgment issued on Sunday against the boycott of the City Council of Montcada i Reixac.
These victories are part of an ongoing initiative to eliminate BDS from Spain, while the Lawfare Project’s Spanish Counsel, Ignacio Wenley Palacios, has secured his 52nd legal victory.
The Lawfare Project is a legal think tank and litigation fund that files cases against anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli discrimination around the world.
Palacios, who led the case, said that “there is, in the law, a clear separation between politics and public office where the latter is not to be converted into an instrument at the service of the former. This is especially the case when — as here and with other city council boycotts — the objective is to exclude the adversary, in a clear abuse of power that aspires to place public offices at the service of political ideas that are discriminatory and contrary to the civil rights of every citizen, while simultaneously attempting to deprive others of their freedom to hold their own personal beliefs and opinions.”
Anti-BDS and Israel advocacy organizations have seen success after success in their legal battle against the anti-Israel elements.
In the last 10 months alone, the Lawfare Project has secured some 20 writs of injunction and favorable court decisions, establishing a Spanish legal doctrine against boycotts by transnational corporations purportedly instituted to comply with international law and human rights mandates.
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