By
Jonathan Hoffman
https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.cmew.org.uk/docs/bds/Veoli...
A devastating analysis by Christian Middle East Watch and UK Lawyers for Israel. If anyone still doubts that - as Norman Finkelstein said - BDS is a "cult" then even a cursory glance at this paper will surely convince them. This blog has proved time and again how the PSC, ISM and assorted Forces of Darkness have no compunction in lying, distorting and twisting. This is but the latest example.
In order to evaluate the true results of the BDS Veolia campaign in the face of dramatic claims of success at every turn, we sent freedom of information (FOI) requests to 18 councils that (a) had been the subject of a local BDS anti-Veolia campaign, and/or (b) had recently either accepted or rejected a Veolia bid for a future contract, and/or (c) were due to consider a Veolia bid in the near future, and/or (d) had voted on an anti-Veolia resolution, and/or (e) were the subject of claims of success by the BDS movement. Our FOI requests revealed that every one of these contracts was decided on straight commercial grounds and that political considerations were not applied in rejection of Veolia’s bids.
Our research included 17 situations where BDS campaigns had pressured local authorities to break their legal obligations in spending public money by asking them to deny Veolia the opportunity to bid for contracts or even to break existing contractual arrangements. We found that the BDS campaigns had failed in every case to achieve their aims.
The BDS campaign against Veolia has clearly failed and the main reason why is not hard to find. Any decision by a local authority to reject a commercial bid by Veolia on political grounds would be illegal; and even though the movement has tried to get round that by alleging “grave misconduct” on Veolia’s part (an exception under EU procurement regulations), council lawyers are highly unlikely to advise that participation in a legitimate light railway project in another country is an act of “grave misconduct”.
In order to cover up its defeat, the BDS extremists have been reduced to constant repetition of the mantra that Veolia is “losing” contracts “following” BDS campaigns: a charade which this paper exposes.