Anglo-jewry Takes Offensive in Anti-boycott Drive

The British government was urged to take effective action against the Arab boycott by leaders of three major Anglo-Jewish organizations. In a memorandum to Prime Minister James Callaghan, they called for an immediate end to Foreign Office complicity in the boycott and for a change in the advice the Department of Trade gives to businessmen threatened by the boycott.

The three leaders were Lord Fisher of Camden, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Eric Moonman MP, chairman of the British Zionist Federation and Fred Worms, president of B’nai B’rith in the United Kingdom. The memorandum, released at a press conference at the House of Commons Monday, also asked for a ten-point legislative program and cited anti-boycott legislation in the U.S. and Canada as examples of what could be undertaken here. The government was urged, among other things, to prohibit the furnishing of information of business relationships with Israel or with non-Israeli blacklisted companies; and to forbid the issuance of negative certificates of origin as at present practiced by the Foreign Office in connection with goods destined for Iraq.

The memorandum bitterly criticized the government for failing to protect British companies from the boycott. It was also estimated that as a result of the boycott, British companies were losing up to 10 million Pounds a year of exports to Israel, one of this country’s leading trading partners. It was disclosed that Lord Fisher raised the boycott issue with Callaghan at a meeting last Thursday but that he was given no assurance of government action on the lines suggested in the memorandum.

The press conference was noteworthy for being the first joint public step by these three organizations who, between them, represent a large cross section of the Anglo-Jewish community. The campaign against the boycott has, until now, been carried out in a low key manner by a committee of the Anglo-Israeli Chamber of Commerce. Its lack of success has been criticized by some Jewish business and political leaders here, including Moonman. The memorandum, therefore, marked a significant change in tactics by the Jewish community. However, it still has a very long way to go before it can point to the successes shown by the American Jewish community. For example, there has been no parallel here yet to the dialogue in the U.S. between the Anti-Defamation League and the Business Roundtable of leading U.S. business organizations. However, there is considerable distaste for the boycott in British political circles, to reinforce its call for legislation, the memorandum to the Prime Minister says: “We can count on the support of the members of Parliamentary Friends of Israel groups, in the Conservative, Labor and Liberal parties, who already number almost a majority of the House of Commons.”

There is fresh evidence, too, that anti-boycott moves launched in North America are being taken seriously in the Arab world. Meeting in Damascus earlier this month, Chambers of Commerce from several Arab countries agreed to ban dealing with states which had issued anti-boycott legislation or planned to do so. Last weekend, Mohammed Mahgoub, Commissioner General of the Central Boycott Office, said the products of the boycotted states–presumably a reference to the U.S. and Canada–would be replaced by products from Japan Western Europe and other states which had not issued anti-boycott legislation. He also disclosed that the question of anti-boycott legislation would again be on the agenda at the next Arab Boycott Office conference in Alexandria June 8.