The Sydney City Council passed a BDS motion against companies operating in the West Bank and east Jerusalem on Monday, according to city councilors and local Australian sources.

Sydney Mayor Clover Moore had introduced recommendations to supposedly replace the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions components of the motion, but Australian Jewish groups, anti-Israel organizations, and pro-Palestinian politicians perceived the item’s passing as a BDS victory.

The modified “Report on City of Sydney Suppliers and Investments in Relation to the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Campaigns,” which in its original form had been unanimously recommended by the Corporate, Finance, Properties and Tenders Committee last Monday, was supported by all but one city councilor at Monday’s meeting.

The city acknowledged that it had no investments or contractual relationships with Israeli and non-Israeli companies operating in the disputed territories and listed in a United Nations Human Rights Council register. It said Sydney had preexisting policies in place to “ensure our investment and procurement practices avoid supporting socially harmful activities, including abuse of human rights.”

Sydney Jewish leaders said while the council believed it had removed the BDS component of the report, it still referred to the UNHRC register.

Antisemitic vandalism in Sydney (credit: SCREENSHOT/X)
Antisemitic vandalism in Sydney (credit: SCREENSHOT/X)
The original report called for monitoring of the UNHRC register for city compliance and to review all procurements to ensure that they are acting in accordance with the database.

The review of the city’s connections to Israeli companies came after a June 24 council decision that its CEO prepare a report on the means to impose restrictions on investments and procurement related to human rights and weapons related to BDS.

The June motion was initiated by the Sydney Greens Party, according to Councilors Matthew Thompson and Sylvie Ellsmore, who praised its passage on Monday.

“This is a crucial first step in ensuring our community is not complicit in funding human rights abuses against Palestinians, and we hope it will inspire others to follow,” they said on Instagram. “Boycotts are a powerful, peaceful tool to bring positive change because they stop funding going to those complicit in violence, oppression and other injustices. We hope this important step will inspire broader, sweeping reforms and strengthen the movement for peace, justice and freedom for Palestine.”

Thanking Palestine advocacy

They thanked pro-Palestinian advocacy organizations, including Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, which maintains a toolkit on how to pass local council motions supporting Gaza.

BDS Australia praised the motion on social media, saying it had paved the way for councils across the country to exclude “companies complicit in Israel’s illegal occupation.”

Australian Jewish Association CEO Robert Gregory said those who proposed the motion had “an exaggerated sense of self-importance” because local council politics did not have an impact on the Middle East conflict, and the report was not in the interests of residents.

“This boycott motion will, however, isolate Jewish residents, fuel antisemitism in Australia, and waste ratepayer money,” he said. “At a time of heightened antisemitism and with Sydney experiencing regular anti-Jewish attacks, this needlessly divisive proposal will add fuel to the fire.”

Even though Moore had reportedly implemented changes to make the resolution more palatable, since the October 7 massacre, he had not supported the Jewish community and “engaged in anti-Israel activism,” Gregory said.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Peter Wertheim on Sunday said it was extraordinary that the City Council was focused on alleged issues in the West Bank, when there were real and incontestable human-rights abuses in the world.

“The Council has associated itself with the disgraced ‘Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Campaign,’ a disgraced antisemitic movement that is opposed to Israel’s very existence,” he said, calling for new leadership and cultural change.

The motion followed Moore’s refusal to participate in a February 6 mayoral roundtable against antisemitic violence, Wertheim said. According to The Australian, Moore had rejected the bipartisan and cross-faith roundtable because her demands were not met. She reportedly would support a joint statement condemning antisemitism if it equally addressed Islamophobia and if it made it clear that she was the only Sydney mayor.

The Sydney Great Synagogue criticized Moore, accusing her of failing to support the Sydney Jewish community in the wake of rising antisemitic arson, vandalism, and violence.

It said she had failed to communicate with the Jewish community after the foiling of a potential mass-casualty terrorist attack against Australian Jewish targets on January 19.

Moore has not commented on last Wednesday’s video of Sydney area nurses claiming to have killed Israeli patients and threatening to kill more.

The Sydney Great Synagogue’s leaders met with Moore last Tuesday, but there reportedly has been no progress, with Moore not committing to specifically combat antisemitism in Sydney.