Camargo, located in the Spanish province of Cantabria. Photo: Zarateman / Trabajo propio / CC BY-SA 3.0.

A Spanish court has found that a decision by the city hall of Camargo in Cantabria, northern Spain, to boycott companies over their ties to Israel was illegal, a Madrid-based pro-Israel group announced on Thursday.

The ruling, handed down by the Contentious Administrative Court number 1 of Santander, called the city hall’s support of the boycott campaign “a clear violation of the fundamental rights to equality” and “to transmit freely ideas and opinions, which are restricted by the threat of a certain damage derived from the hiring or institutional relationship of the city in relation with companies or products of Israeli origin,” said ACOM.

The judgement imposes legal costs, which will be shouldered by taxpayers.

The city hall first adopted the “Space Free of Israeli Apartheid” pledge — a part of the controversial Palestinian-led boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaign — on April 25, 2016, with support from the United Left communist party and the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party, and an abstention from the conservative People’s Party, according to ACOM.

The court’s annulment of the campaign reportedly maintained that the boycott violated fundamental right by preventing commercial or institutional relations with Israel, and — as a matter of international relations — fell outside the city hall’s purview.

ACOM has spearheaded efforts to fight back against BDS campaign in Spain through the country’s legal system. A recent event held by the group in Madrid was disrupted by BDS activists who reportedly attempted to physically attack participants.

Earlier this year, an ACOM lawsuit prompted a court in Valencia to overturn a BDS pledge that was adopted by the local city council with support from far-left and socialist parties.