LA City Council passes anti-BDS resolution

JTA — The Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved a resolution to continue awarding city contracts without regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The resolution passed Wednesday was intended as a rebuttal to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, or BDS, which aims to bring economic pressure to bear on Israel, the Los Angeles Jewish Journal reported.

The resolution comes less than a year after BDS activists called on the city to not renew a bus contract with the French company Veolia Transportation, which also has business holdings in the West Bank.

The resolution states “that the City of Los Angeles will continue to make contracting decisions based on the best interests of the City, its residents, businesses and taxpayers and in accordance with the City Charter and applicable State and Federal law and hereby affirms that issues related to the Arab-Israeli conflict will not be considered and will have no impact on the awarding of contracts with the City of Los Angeles.”

Council members Paul Koretz and Mitchell Englander sponsored the resolution. The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles helped draft the resolution.