For some time I have felt squeamish about the illiberalism of boycotts. The boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) has dangerously compromised academic freedom in universities. The popularity among councils for developing their own foreign policies via BDS campaigns can seem more akin to virtue-signaling than serious politics; often an evasion from tackling difficult domestic challenges.

I could live with municipal gesture politics were it not for the fact that when councils play geopolitical trade wars they focus almost exclusively on international enemy No1 – Israel – branded above all nations as a pariah state.