The City of Sydney became the first New South Wales council to pass a boycott and divest motion on February 17, when nine other councillors with the exception of the one Liberal, supported the move.
Mayor Clover Moore’s motion condemned the rise of antisemitic, Islamophobic and anti-Palestinian attacks.
She noted that council already had “strong polices” on its investment and procurement practices and that its own review, on February 10, “found no investments or contractual relationships with companies on the UNHRC [United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees] register”.
Moore said council “remains committed to using its voice to call on leaders to break the cycle of violence and ensure that neither Israelis nor Palestinians live in fear and at risk of harm or death”.
She added that council will investigate ways to “support community-based efforts to promote social cohesion and unity”.
The council’s review said it would “ensure that the UNHCR register is considered in future”.
The 2020 UNHCR register lists 112 companies complicit in the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements, and servicing and financing them. The 2023 UNHCR database update lists 97 companies, including Airbnb, Motorola, Booking.com and Expedia Group.
Moore said there was “no place for hate in our society”, a last-minute addition to her motion. It came after Moore withdrew from a mayoral roundtable on “social cohesion”, convened by Labor’s Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne, on February 6.
Byrne’s roundtable included a Liberal mayor from Waverley and Labor mayor from Liverpool, but only focused on the “scourge of antisemitism”. Moore withdrew after she tried but was prevented from adding a line about combatting Islamophobia.
The City of Sydney was one of the first councils in NSW to pass a ceasefire motion in December 2023.
Following that, the City of Sydney for Palestine, together with Greens councillor Sylvie Ellsmore and independent councillor Yvonne Weldon, in June last year convinced council to undertake a review of the City’s contracts with a view to ending business with companies operating in Occupied Palestine.
BDS Australia said the City’s review “paves the way for councils right around Australia to exclude complicit companies from their procurement and investment practices”.
Councillors Ellsmore and Matthew Thompson said the motion is a “crucial first step” and they “hope it will inspire other [councils] to follow”.
Alia, part of the City of Sydney for Palestine, told a gathering of Palestine supporters before the meeting that the City’s report “falls short in many ways” but that it is an important first step.
“Local authorities across Ireland, Norway, Spain, Sweden, France, the UK, Italy and Belgium have committed to BDS. As I was preparing this, I received news that Brussels-Capital Region Parliament became the first parliament in Europe to call for not just boycott, but sanctions on Israel, including an end to arms licences for Israel and the cutting of subsidies to companies complicit with the colonisation of Palestinian land and the Israeli regime.”
Mark Gillespie, from City of Sydney for Palestine, told Green Left the decision is “positive”, however the group now wants answers whether the City still uses Hewlett Packard (HP) printers and whether it has any contacts with Dell and Airbnb.
HP supplies the Israeli state with technology, equipment and information used to violate Palestinians’ rights and international law.
“We are working with groups in Canterbury Bankstown and Cumberland Councils who also want their council to commit to boycotting companies doing business with the state of Israel,” Gillespie said.
“South Africa’s anti-apartheid movement used BDS as a non-violent tactic to great effect and we won’t stop pushing for the same approach to the genocidal state of Israel.”