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Anti-Israel campaigners relentlessly promoting their boycott of the country and its goods would have you believe they are landing success after success.
Don’t believe them.
This week Palestine Solidarity Campaigner Pamela Hardyment waxed lyrical about a supposed great victory over multinational waste management company Veolia (which many would have you believe is the next Great Satan after the United States).
It was revealed that Richmond Council had not renewed its street-cleaning contract with Veolia. The French firm, as regular readers will know, is involved in the Jerusalem light rail project which crosses parts of east Jerusalem.
Ms Hardyment claims:
“Our work is not finished but this is a victory nevertheless, the outcome is what was required and I have no doubt that raising the issue firmly [with the council] had something to do with the decision.”
Piffle.
A quick call to Richmond Council reveals that the decision was taken entirely for financial, rather than political, reasons.
Councillors in the south London borough awarded the new deal to a different company in order to save taxpayers no less than £200,000 a year.
Not only will the deal save money, Councillor Virginia Morris explained, but the new firm will even pick up litter after waste collections every week instead of just fortnightly.
So it would seem the real victors in all of this are the good people of Richmond, who will now have nice clean streets in return for paying their no doubt substantial council taxes.
As for the boycotters and Ms Hardyment – they can pull the wool over their own eyes and pretend they are landing knock-out blows, but not everyone is so easily fooled.