Spanish municipality rescinds BDS resolution following legal action

The Spanish municipality of Velez Malaga says it will rescind a resolution it recently passed in support of boycotting Israel – which it had called an apartheid state.

The decision to cancel the resolution comes in the wake of legal action against the municipality.

A spokesperson for the local government of the Spanish holiday destination tells ACOM, a pro-Israel lobby group that in recent years has secured more than 20 rulings against boycott initiatives, that Velez Malaga will scrap in the near future the motion its city council passed in May in favor of the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel, or BDS. Home to over 70,000 people, Velez Malaga is part of the Costa del Sol area, which attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists from across Europe and beyond.

The announcement comes after a court in Malaga on Tuesday issued an injunction that rendered the resolution ineffective on grounds that is violates constitutional principles guaranteeing equality and proscribing incitement to discrimination.

Some 50 Spanish municipalities have passed resolutions in recent years endorsing BDS — more than in any other European country. But, echoing belatedly the judicial policy of courts in neighboring France, the Spanish judiciary has cracked down on BDS in recent years, as part of an effort to make judges more independent and amid growing resentment toward BDS promoters whose actions are perceived as counterproductive to efforts aimed at rehabilitating Spain’s ailing economy.

— JTA