“[The government] must also halt Britain’s arms exports to Israel,” wrote Liberal Democrat leader and now Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg on January 7th 2009, as the world watched Israeli shells destroying a UN school in Gaza.  The title of Clegg’s article was unambiguous; “We must stop arming Israel”.

On Friday, the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee [BNC], a broad coalition encompassing all political factions, and a wealth of trade unions, NGOs and civil organisations, released a call for an immediate and comprehensive military embargo of Israel.

On April 19, the same day that Marrickville Council met to reconsider its vote in support of the Palestinian-initiated boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign for Palestinian human rights and against Israel, the Socialist Party of Australia issued a statement opposing the BDS campaign.

The statement, posted on the web site of Stephen Jolly, one of two Socialist Party councillors elected to the Yarra City Council in Melbourne, said “The “Socialist Party has been asked by a number of groups and individuals if our Councillors ... would consider supporting the campaign”.

All too aware of how bad association with war crimes is for business, the diamond industry has taken pains to evade questions about its connections with Israel’s human rights abuses — and so far has escaped scrutiny from watchdog organizations.

Representatives for 75 countries affiliated to the United Nations-based Kimberley Process Certification Scheme meeting in Kinshasa this week failed to reach agreement on the export of blood-stained diamonds from Zimbabwe.

On a warm, sunny afternoon, I met Eman Sourani and Rana Baker in an airy outdoor café several blocks from the port of Gaza. Both are members of the Palestinian Students' Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel (PSCABI).