Two separate courts in Spain have ruled against BDS motions passed by the cities of Teo in Galicia and Catarroja in Valencia last year, in response to lawsuits by the pro-Israel lobbying group ACOM. This brings to 20 the number of municipalities that have either reversed their motions supporting a boycott of Israel or had them nullified by the judiciary over the last three years.
According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, both municipal courts put the recent kibbosh on the motions on grounds that they were unconstitutional, discriminatory and presented an unwarranted intrusion into the realm of foreign policy.
This follows another ruling in June that rolled back a boycott of the Jewish state by Rivas Vaciamadrid.
Spain is a hotbed of BDS, with more than 50 municipalities having passed boycott resolutions, but the country’s Jews have pushed back, with 20 such resolutions either having been vacated by the judiciary or rolled back on a political level.
In February, a local court ruled that several members of the BDS movement would have to stand trial for their part in harassing American Jewish reggae star Matisyahu ahead of an August 2015 music festival.
According to the Jerusalem Post, the organizers of the festival alleged that they were the victims of a sustained campaign of “pressure, coercion and threats” which eventually led them to tell Mastiyahu that he would have to denounce Israel before being allowed to perform.
World Jewish Congress (WJC) President Ronald S. Lauder had expressed “outrage” and “utter bewilderment” at news that a music festival in Spain had disinvited Matisyahu for failing to sign a pro-Palestinian declaration. Lauder declared: “This is a clear instance of anti-Semitism, and nothing else.” He urged Spanish authorities “to condemn this sad incident and to take appropriate action against those responsible for it.”
The organizers backed down from their conditions and allowed Matisyahu to take part in the festival following the international outcry.