A pro-Palestine campaign group has been accused of an intimidation campaign after emailing every single councillor in Britain.
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign sent emails requesting elected officials sign a “Pledge for Palestine” committing them to boycott Israeli firms.
Councillors have accused the PSC of using intimidation tactics to pressure them into backing the pledge.
The group said it would make public which councillors had signed up “so voters know if their representatives have made this commitment to uphold the rights of Palestinian people”.
Critics say the threat of naming those who refuse amounts to public shaming of elected representatives.
The pledge contains three commitments for councillors to make in their official capacity.
It asks them to uphold Palestinian rights, support accountability for what the PSC claims are Israeli crimes including genocide and apartheid, and ensure councils do not normalise violations of international law.
The final point specifically calls for rerouting pension funds and procurement partners away from Israel-linked firms.
The PSC threatened to name every councillor who refused to sign the ‘Pledge for Palestine’
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PALESTINE SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN
The email campaign launched days after Communities Secretary Steve Reed warned councils they could face legal action if they continued boycotting Israeli businesses.
His warning followed concerns about rising antisemitism in Britain with two police forces announcing they would arrest activists calling for “intifada” against Jews.
Ten councils have already committed to divesting pension funds from companies linked to Israel.
Stuart Fawcett, a Labour councillor in North East Derbyshire, called it inappropriate for campaign groups to threaten politicians with public shaming.
PRO-PALESTINE CHAOS – READ MORE:
PICTURED: Protesters hold up a ‘free Palestine’ sign sponsored by the PSC
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GETTY
He said: “I have seen first hand the intimidation by the malign forces of militant PSC activism. The action they advocate for does not belong in the legitimate discourse of local government politics but is often insurgent through the culture of pressure and fear that they exert on local councillors who get involved in politics to improve their local communities.”
Lord Walney, the Government’s former adviser on political violence, said: “Local councils should be focused on providing cost-effective everyday services for their residents, rather than engaging in sensitive and complex foreign policy matters thousands of miles away.”
Labour MP Luke Akehurst said: “It’s disgraceful that at a time of growing communal tensions and dangerous threats to elected representatives, anti-Israel campaigners are seeking to intimidate councillors to further their divisive and dangerous agenda.”
The PSC defended its campaign as legitimate, pointing to polling from last June claiming 46 per cent of the public backed council pension divestment from Israeli companies.
Luke Akehurst branded the campaign ‘disgraceful’
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HOUSE OF COMMONS
The Opinium survey found just 14 per cent opposed the move.
Peter Leary, the PSC’s deputy director of campaigns, said: “Taking such action is well within the remit of local government and polling shows it has strong support from the British public, who rightly expect high ethical and legal standards from their elected representatives.”
Nearly 1,000 councillors from Labour, the Greens, Liberal Democrats and Conservatives have already signed the pledge.
The PSC compared its campaign to the 1980s movement when over 100 councils took action against South African apartheid.
