The Trudeau Government’s Fake Fight Against Antisemitism- Part 48

The Question

The question then is: Assuming, for sake of argument, that Trudeau decides to fight the BDS movement effectively, what is the government to do?  

To begin with, it can look down south to the United States, where as of 2021, 35 States had enacted various types of laws and issued executive orders designed to discourage boycotts of Israel.

In a number of instances, the measures have been challenged in court while all the plaintiffs and the potential ones and States are waiting to have the issues decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. For an overview of the situation in each of the 35 states see: Wikipedia under the heading “Anti-BDS laws”. (59 pages)

In the meantime, there are precedents of State governments that refuse to do business with foreign and domestic companies and individuals that subscribe to the BDS movement or engage in BDS business practices.  

Certainly, the task of legislating and enforcing such a policy will require a good deal of work and a strong commitment to seriously disrupt and ultimately to render  the BDS movement in Canada, a financially losing proposition. 

In Canada, the proposed policy will certainly trigger

a. legal challenges based on the alleged breach of Charter of Rights and Freedoms;

b. the opposition of:

i. the NDP, the Green and Bloc Quebecois parties, a fair number of Liberal members and members of the Cabinet;

ii. those segments of the society that are unconditionally supportive of the Palestinian side and decidedly against Israel;                                

iii. some segments of the society, which simply wish Canada to have nothing to do with the idea, and          

iv. those who are afraid that such a move, will attract terrorists and their malfeasance.                                                        

In the circumstances, Trudeau is unlikely to legislate or to establish regulations under existing legislation to impose legal sanctions against individuals, foreign and domestic businesses and organisations that subscribe to BDS and/or engage in BDS practices at home and/or abroad, such as having no business dealings with them.

At the end of the day, his pronouncements on BDS  turned out to be, yet another segment of his fake fight against antisemitism in Canada. 

In the meantime,                                        

a. the British government will be introducing legislation to prevent city councils in the U.K from declaring boycotts of Israel. New UK bill to prevent government councils from boycotting Israel, JNS, May 12, 2023, and

b. in the U.S, in the preceding month of May, legislation designed to combat the BDS movement was re-introduced. The Bill, titled Combatting BDS Act of 2023, would give federal permission for states to enact laws to divest from or restrict contracting with entities or individuals that are engaged in a boycott with Israel, Andrew Bernard, US Senators Reintroduce Bill to Combat BDS Movement, the Algemeiner, May 19, 2023.

Surely,  when Trudeau  made  his promises to fight the BDS movement, as an astute politician, he already knew that  such a fight would get him into serious political trouble in Parliament and with his electorate.         

Hence, the promise was a fake one. And a quite cynical one as well.