In an interview with Sputnik, Kamel Hawwash, Vice Chairman of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), said that Israel is trying hard to force the UK government to backslide on democratic freedoms in Britain.
The interview came after British Prime Minister David Cameron's government announced a bevy of proposals to combat an anti-Israel boycott in the UK.
According to the proposed regulations, universities, city councils, state-run health services and other government-funded public organizations will be banned from discriminating against products that are made in Israel, including in the occupied West Bank.
"Israel seeks to put pressure on the UK government to limit freedom of expression and the democratic process," Hawwash pointed out.
His organization, the PSC, is among the chief proponents of the boycott.
He expressed doubt that the British government will achieve its "ultimate goal" of preventing Israeli goods from being boycotted in the UK, even if the proposals are finally adopted.
"People will act individually in terms of the boycott of Israeli products. The more the UK government supports the Israeli regime, the more people will realize the need not to buy Israeli-made goods. So I think it all is going to backfire," Hawwash said.
However, the situation may change already in the nearest future as the UK government's plan stipulates "severe penalties" for institutions that continue to participate in boycott.
The Independent quoted UK officials as saying that the government is banning the participation of government and government-funded organizations in boycotts of Israeli goods because the practice allegedly undermines "community cohesion" and Britain's "international security".
