The UK have announced plans to outlaw Israeli boycott campaigns by local councils, public bodies and student unions, in a controversial crackdown that many believe to be a severe infringement on free speech. The new law will make it a criminal offence for publicly funded institutions to refuse to buy goods and services from companies involved in arms trades, fossil fuels, tobacco products or Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Independent.co.uk reports: Any public bodies that continue to pursue boycotts will face “severe penalties”, ministers said. Senior government sources said they were cracking down on town-hall boycotts because they “undermined good community relations, poisoned and polarised debate and fuelled anti-Semitism”. But critics said the move amounted to a “gross attack on democratic freedoms”. A spokesman for the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: “The Government’s decision to ban councils and other public bodies from divesting from trade or investments they regard as unethical is an attack on local democracy. “People have the right to elect local representatives able to make decisions free of central government political control. That includes withdrawal of investments or procurement on ethical and human rights grounds. “This Government’s ban would have outlawed council action against apartheid [...]