The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has hit out at those involved in boycotts of Israel, describing them as “lefty academics” who were unlikely to have influence in Britain.
Johnson, who was speaking at the outset of a three-day trade mission to Israel and the Palestinian territories, added that the boycotters were a “very small minority”.
He made the comments in Tel Aviv, where he was accompanied by representatives from 15 London tech firms as he put his weight behind attempts to lure Israeli businesses to London.
“I cannot think of anything more foolish than to say you want to have any kind of divestment or sanctions or boycott against a country that, when all is said and done, is the only democracy in the region, is the only place that has, in my view, a pluralist open society,” he told reporters.
“Why boycott Israel? And by the way I think there is some misunderstanding over here about it. The supporters of this so-called boycott are really a bunch of, you know, corduroy-jacketed academics.
“They are by and large lefty academics who have no real standing in the matter and I think are highly unlikely to be influential on Britain. This is a very, very small minority in our country who are calling for this.”
More than 300 academics from dozens of British universities last month pledged to boycott Israeli universities in protest at what they call intolerable human rights violations against the Palestinian people.
Johnson’s comments were criticised by the UK-based charity War on Want, a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
“According to the UN, in October alone, Israeli military forces injured over 7,100 Palestinians with teargas, rubber bullets and live ammunition,” it said in a statement.
“Instead of whitewashing Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people, Mr Johnson should be using his trip to urge Israel to abide by international law.”
The second leg of Johnson’s visit will take him to Jerusalem, where he will lay a wreath at Yad Vashem, Israel’s official memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust.
His office has said that while in the Palestinian Territories, he will “highlight a shared spirit of entrepreneurship between London and the Palestinian business community”.
