The Icelandic capital city of Reykjavik has declared a boycott of all Israeli goods. The measure is clearly symbolic, as the city itself can’t do enough trade with Israel, or any other country, for such an action to have any impact. The responses to the action, however, are worth examining.
A retiring official, Björk Vilhelmsdóttir, of the Social Democratic Alliance, a center-left party, brought the motion for the boycott. The motion compels the city to boycott all Israeli products “as long as the occupation of Palestinian territories continues.” The memo that explains the reasoning behind what it terms a “symbolic” decision states that the city condemns “the Israeli policy of apartheid” in the Occupied Territories.
Einar Gautur Steingrímsson, a Supreme Court barrister in Reykjavik claims that the law is discriminatory and no different from “refusing to do business with red haired people.” This is a variation on the well-worn theme that any boycott or divestment from Israel in response to its occupation is, by definition, antisemitic.
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