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Jeddah - Yasmine El Tohamy - LONDON: Sydney’s local government will weigh ending contracts with suppliers targeted by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel, The Guardian reported on Tuesday.
The Australian city’s lord mayor, Clover Moore, said the move could “put additional pressure toward a ceasefire and an end to the humanitarian crisis” in Gaza.
A Greens motion on Monday night calling for an in-depth report on council investment policy relating to Israel was backed by Moore, and passed eight votes to two.
Over the next three months, the report will investigate the city council’s financial ties to “companies involved in, or profiting from, any human rights violations including the illegal occupation of the settlements in Palestinian territories and the supply of weapons.”
Greens councillor Sylvie Ellsmore said the council is already subject to policy forbidding investment in activities related to human rights abuses and weapons.
She added: “Boycotts work because they send an important message to governments and companies about our values and they work because they remove real, tangible, financial support to those who perpetrate violence and oppression.”
One of the two councillors who voted against the motion, Lyndon Gannon, said dozens of his Jewish constituents had contacted him after the vote to voice concerns about antisemitism.
He told The Guardian: “We’re a local government. We’re here to look after the roads, rates and rubbish, not virtue signal about wars in the Middle East.”
The motion “needlessly stokes tension in the local community at a time when we need calm,” he added.
The co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Peter Wertheim, described the motion as a display of “spectacular ineptitude” by the council.
“A body that struggles to achieve competence in collecting the garbage and fixing potholes might be over-reaching itself just a tad in its pretensions to forge peace in the Middle East,” he said.
Moore, who is seeking a record sixth term, described feeling “appalled and sickened” by events in Gaza.
“Leaders must strive to break the cycle of violence in this region and ensure that neither Israelis nor Palestinians live in fear and at risk of harm or death,” she added.
“Now, more than ever, we must use our voices to call for peace. If the city’s voice in this campaign can put additional pressure toward a ceasefire and an end to the humanitarian crisis, then I think we should carefully review our investments and suppliers.”
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