Spanish Court Rules Anti-Israel Boycott Illegal

Another victory was scored against BDS in a Spanish court, which ruled that a pro-boycott resolution is discriminatory and illegal. 

By: United with Israel Staff

A Spanish court in the Alicante Province on Wednesday ruled that the adoption of an anti-Israel boycott by a local municipality was illegal and in violation of anti-discrimination laws, dealing a significant legal blow to the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement in Spain.

The City Council of Pedreguer passed a resolution in June committing the city’s support for “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” against the State of Israel. The Council’s policy attempted to bar companies or individuals who do business in Israel or with Israelis from bidding for public procurement contracts in Pedreguer.

‘A Landmark Blow’ to BDS

The judgment is “a landmark blow” to a strategy recently adopted by the BDS movement in Spain, the Lawfare Project, which has accompanied the lawsuit, stated.

At a recent BDS-organized conference in Spain, the movement boasted that boycotts, allegedly in compliance with human rights, would be unassailable in court and that city councils would be found within their rights to link the public procurement of goods and services with alleged violations of international law.

“In fact, the opposite is true, and the court found the boycott to be illegal,” the Lawfare Project said.

The Lawfare Project is a legal think tank and litigation fund that files cases against anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli discrimination around the world.

The BDS ‘Lemming’ Campaign in Spain

The court issued a writ of interim injunction against Pedreguer’s anti-Israeli boycott in August before reaching its final decision, in which it declared the boycott illegal and in breach of the civil rights of the individuals and companies targeted.

The ruling added that even if human rights became adopted as criteria in public tenders, the fact the Council cited only one country, the State of Israel, made its policy discriminatory, unconstitutional, and illegal.

“The judgment not only discredits the legal reasoning of the latest boycott strategy; it also casts doubt on the legality of plans by anti-Israel activists to use the recommendations of the notoriously biased and discredited UN Human Rights Council as a basis for policy-making,” the Lawfare Project stated.

“The Court looked under the mask of the so-called BDS movement and found illegal discrimination against Israelis and those who do business with them,” Brooke Goldstein, director of the Lawfare Project, said. “Anti-Israel activists hoped Spain would be a guinea pig in their global hate campaign but, more like a lemming, their strategy just fell off a cliff.”

“This is a meaningful ruling against the best legal efforts put forward by the boycott campaign. Boycotts against Israelis, and companies that do business with them, despite abusing the language of international law, have been judged illegal by the mere argument that breaches of human rights ought to be assessed on a case-by-case basis, and not cast on grounds of national origin. The law regards conduct, not facts that people cannot change, such as the country they were born in. This case has set an important precedent for Spain and beyond,” the Lawfare Project’s Spanish counsel, Ignacio Wenley Palacios, explained.

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.