Israel’s secret campaign to combat boycotts in Britain | Leaked files reveal

Benjamin Netanyahu’s government waged a secret campaign to stop Britain boycotting trade with Israel, Declassified can reveal. Leaked files show Israeli officials held a high-level “sensitive” meeting about the issue with Conservative politician Michael Gove when he was justice secretary in 2015. The discussion focussed on how to combat the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement, which targets products made on illegally occupied Palestinian land. It was part of a series of Israeli steps that included attempts to defund British charities and commission advice from powerhouse law firms. The leaked emails and memos originate from a hack of the Israeli ministry of justice by a group called “Anonymous for Justice”. The dataset was subsequently published by Distributed Denial of Secrets. Palestine Solidarity Campaign director Ben Jamal told Declassified: “The revelation that Israeli ministers secretly lobbied Michael Gove is deeply concerning both in confirming the willingness of UK governments to support Israel’s attempts to avoid accountability for its violations of international humanitarian law, and to subvert British democratic processes”. Read more: