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London mayor: Boycotting Israel is ‘foolish’

Boris Johnson minimizes BDS clout, seeks to strengthen economic ties with Tel Aviv.

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Mayor of London,  Boris Johnson speaking during a meeting with Former Israeli President Shimon Peres at the Peres Center for Peace  in Jaffa, Israel, Nov. 9, 2015. (Lior Mizrahi/Getty Images)

Mayor of London, Boris Johnson speaking during a meeting with Former Israeli President Shimon Peres at the Peres Center for Peace in Jaffa, Israel, Nov. 9, 2015. (Lior Mizrahi/Getty Images)

(JTA) — London Mayor Boris Johnson said in Tel Aviv that boycotting Israel is “foolish.”

Johnson, of the Conservative Party, also said Monday that those who advocate such a move make up “a very small minority.”

“I cannot think of anything more foolish” than to boycott “a country that when all is said and done is the only democracy in the region, the only place that has in my view a pluralist open society,” he said, The Associated Press reported.

Johnson’s three-day Israel trip was focused on strengthening economic ties between London and Tel Aviv, according to The Jerusalem Post. He visited Google headquarters and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

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