MPs and Jewish leaders have condemned a high-profile British charity which
has unveiled plans for a world-wide anti-Israel boycott.

A document, described as a guide for boycott, divestment and sanctions,
appears on the War on Want website, and as a booklet, laying out a
strategy for those planning sanctions against the Jewish state. MPs have
called on the Charity Commission to investigate the publication, described
as a handbook of hate by Jewish Leadership Council chief executive Jeremy
Newmark.

It suggests that the boycott movement needs to gain greater popular
support in order to grow into a truly global movement.

Comparisons are drawn between sanctions against Israel and those imposed
against apartheid-era South Africa. Investment in Israel should be
presented to the public as investment in a system of occupation, injustice
and apartheid, it says in the booklet, co-published with the Palestinian
Stop the Wall organisation.

Lorna Fitzsimons, former Labour MP and chief executive of BICOM, the
Britain-Israel Communications and Research Centre, said that to equate the
Palestinians situation with the absolute powerlessness of black South
Africans under the apartheid regime is at best misguided, and at worst an
insult and a tragedy.

Liverpool Riverside Labour MP Louise Ellman said the publication was very
questionable for a charity. Ilford North Conservative MP Lee Scott found
it disgraceful. Im going to ask the Charity Commission to look into it.

A government spokesman said that War on Want had received backing of œ1.1
million from the Department for International Development, but none of
this was for projects in the Middle East.

A War on Want representative told the JC: We helped fund [the booklet]
and we are happy to promote it.

A government spokesman said that War on Want had received backing of œ1.1
million from the Department for International Development, but none of
this was for projects in the Middle East.

Conservative MP Lee Scott who said: This is disgraceful. Im going to ask
the Charity Commission to look into it.

Labour peer Lord Janner suggested that if the charity wanted to attack
anyone they should concentrate on the non-democracies of this world. They
seem to be existing on another planet.

Zionist Federation president Eric Moonman warned that those who thought
that pressure for boycotts only came from academics and the unions have
made a mistake. This is much more serious. It shows that well-meaning
people are buying into the boycott too.

Despite the criticism, a War on Want spokesman told the JC: This
[document] is produced with our partner organisation Stop the Wall. We
helped fund it and we are happy to promote it. It was to be be followed
up, by a more extensive study of boycott strategy to be published later
this year.

A government spokesman said that War on Want had received government
backing of œ1.1 million from the Department for International Development,
but none of this was for projects in the Middle East.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------