Union Council passes anti-Israel boycott motion

UCLU now officially endorse the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement after a motion in favour of it was passed at tonight’s Union Council meeting.

The motion stipulates that the Union “no longer stock any products boycotted by the BDS movement in any union sales outlet, not advertise nor endorse them” as well as ensuring that UCLU “work with students to publish a report on academic, corporate and economic links between the university and companies or institutions that participate in or are complicit in Israeli violations of international law.”

UCLU Friends of Palestine drape Palestinian flags across the Portico

Coinciding with Israeli Apartheid Week, this Union Council meeting has further strengthened the Union’s pro-Palestine stance, ensuring that “our NUS delegates to vote in favour of any pro-BDS policy at NUS” and harking back to a motion passed last year which ended UCLU’s contract with security firm G4S.

Unsurprisingly the motion was highly controversial, and one UCLU councillor told The Tab: “The Council shouldn’t make the decision either way, and should defer the whole thing to a General Assembly so that all students can come and debate and vote on the issue, rather than just having the council decide on their behalf.”

A councillor also said that sabbatical officers clapped when the motion was passed, and that there was a “nasty atmosphere” at the meeting.

An amended motion was proposed, however it failed to pass.

The BDS calls for various forms of boycott against the state of Israel – and companies affiliated with it – until such time as Israel “complies with international law and Palestinian rights.“

The NUS, Universities and Colleges Union, and over 25 other student unions including Lancaster and Brunel have formally endorsed BDS tactics.