Stop the Anti Boycott Bill

Stop the Anti Boycott Bill

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On Monday 19 June, the UK government tabled The Economic Activity of Public Bodies Bill. The Bill is expected to be debated in parliament in early July. If passed, it will force public bodies to ignore ethical issues when considering investment in, or procuring services from foreign companies complicit in human rights abuses. 

The Bill states that Ministers could make exemptions for specific countries, but these exemptions could never include Israel, which is singled out for special protection against boycott campaigns – the only state afforded protection in this way. Moreover, this special protection extends to occupied Palestine and the ...

On Monday 19 June, the UK government tabled The Economic Activity of Public Bodies Bill. The Bill is expected to be debated in parliament in early July. If passed, it will force public bodies to ignore ethical issues when considering investment in, or procuring services from foreign companies complicit in human rights abuses. 

The Bill states that Ministers could make exemptions for specific countries, but these exemptions could never include Israel, which is singled out for special protection against boycott campaigns – the only state afforded protection in this way. Moreover, this special protection extends to occupied Palestine and the occupied Golan Heights.

By offering the same protections to Israeli businesses, whether they are based in Israel or in Israeli settlements, the Bill is a departure from longstanding UK foreign policy and that of the UN Security Council, which could set a worrying new precedent.


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Stop the Anti-Boycott Bill

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  • The Bill includes a shocking ‘gagging clause’ that forbids all those subject to the law from even stating that they would support taking a moral stance if it were legally possible to do so. 

  • This sets a dangerous precedent and could have wide-reaching impact on all campaigns for ethical investment – including environmental pollution, exploitation of children and workers, and arms companies. 

  • This comes at a time when illegal settlements are expanding rapidly. On the same day the Bill was tabled in the UK, the Israeli government passed a resolution giving more authority to Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich to approve settlement expansion in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Over 4,000 new settlement housing units are expected to be approved as part of this accelerated process by the end of June.  

  • With the rapid expansion of settlements, the current Government of Israel is edging closer to illegal annexation of the West Bank – which the International Court of Justice will give a ruling on next year. If passed, this Bill would prevent the UK from acting on the Court’s opinion if it finds that Israel’s ongoing control and practices in the West Bank and Gaza do indeed break international law.  

  • If passed, this Bill will make it more difficult for public bodies to make ethical investment decisions. Similar laws passed in the US have become the template for banning boycotts which target fossil fuel and arms companies.  

  • A group of 14 Israeli civil society organisations have also urged the UK government to withdraw the legislation, stating that the legislation not only violates the right to nonviolent protest, it is damaging to the fight against antisemitism. 

  • This legislation goes against the UK’s own commitments around ethical investment and trade considerations – over ten years ago, the UK signed up to UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and then published an Action Plan to implement the principles in 2020, making it clear that businesses have a corporate responsibility to uphold human rights and to monitor the records of those with whom they have commercial dealings. This Bill would prohibit that monitoring and consideration of human rights for public bodies – so in order to comply with the UN Principles and the UK Action Plan, public bodies would risk violating this new legislation. 

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