Jeremy Corbyn would be happy to buy goods from Israel and does not support a blanket boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) policy, though his spokesman said he did back targeted action against illegal settlements.
Labour clarified the leader’s position after a cabinet split emerged over the issue when Kate Osamor, the shadow development secretary, publicly backed the BDS movement.
A tweet from Osamor this week said BDS “works to end international support for Israel’s oppression of Palestinians”. The statement provoked a row with the Labour Friends of Israel group.
Asked about the dispute, Corbyn’s spokesman said supporting BDS was not Labour party policy but argued Osamor should not be disciplined over the matter.
“Jeremy is not in favour of a comprehensive or blanket boycott,” he said. “He doesn’t support BDS. He does support targeted action aimed at illegal settlements and occupied territories.” Asked if Corbyn would be happy to buy Israeli goods himself, the spokesman said: “Yes.”
Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, said last week that the party did not support boycotts of Israeli products.
Praising the Israeli Labor party, she said: “Theirs is a positive vision of how a Labor-led government can build a more peaceful, more prosperous and more progressive future both for Israel and its neighbours.
“A constant rejoinder to all those who somehow believe that opposition to the policies of an individual Israeli government can ever justify a hatred of the nation and its people, or a boycott of its products, its culture or its academics, or a denial of its right to defend itself from military assault and terror attacks. That sort of bigotry against the Israeli nation has never been justified and it never will be.”
The BDS movement campaigns for a global
boycott of Israel until the country withdraws from all occupied
Palestinian territories, among other demands.
Following Osamor’s statement, Joan Ryan, chair of Labour Friends of Israel, asked the shadow development secretary for clarity.
“The BDS movement is morally wrong. It seeks to demonise and delegitimise the world’s only Jewish state and thus call into question its right to exist,” she wrote. “BDS also does nothing to advance the cause of peace, reconciliation and coexistence. The BDS campaign undermines the work of those Israelis – including our sister party, the Israeli Labor party – who are seeking to advance a two-state solution.”