Official: City of Gothenburg to Boycott Israel
The red-green governing coalition in Gothenburg has previously expressed a will to stop all municipal purchases from Israel, stating that “tax money should not go to financially support occupying powers”. Now the decision has been taken:
Sweden’s next largest city will boycott the State of Israel.
The decision has been taken by the public purchasing and procurement committee on the proposal of the governing parties, the Social Democrats, the Left Party and the Green Party, state radio SR reports.
In a press release last month, the chairman of the municipal executive board, Social Democrat Jonas Attenius, explained the reasoning of the board.
“Israel is engaged in an illegal occupation of the West Bank, which has only been exacerbated by the widespread killing of civilians in Gaza. Our tax money should not be used to support occupying powers economically,” says Attenius.
In addition to the boycott of Israeli goods, it was decided to boycott Russia and Morocco for the same reasons.
In practice, the boycott means that procurement procedures in Gothenburg will be made stricter, and that the municipality’s purchasing and procurement department will be tasked with “phasing out” goods produced in the above-mentioned countries, replacing them with other alternatives as quickly as possible.
The liberal-conservative parties, which in general has taken a more pro-Israeli position in Sweden, opposed the decision.
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Photo: Montage showing Gustav Adolf Square, central Gothenburg, with Palestinian flag. Source: Albin Olsson/CC BY-SA 3.0, Hala Photography/Pexels.
