ABOUT two in five newly elected Senedd members support the Palestinian-led call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel, including seven of 10 newly appointed Welsh Cabinet members.

At least 36 of the 96 Members of the Senedd signed the Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s (PSC) Pledge for Palestine.

Signatories include 33 Plaid Cymru MSs, including Deputy First Minister Sioned Williams, two Green MSs and Labour MS Mike Hedges.

The pledge calls on MSs to uphold the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, stand up to Israel for crimes of genocide and apartheid, and ensure the Welsh government is not complicit.

Last year, it emerged that the Welsh government had given a £500,000 grant to an arms company that exports parts for Israel’s F-35 fighter jets, aircraft used in its assault on Gaza, despite the then-First Minister claiming otherwise.

PSC Cymru co-chairwoman Bethan Sayed called the scale of support for the pledge a “watershed moment for Welsh politics,” adding: “Almost 40 per cent of our new Senedd Members have sent a clear message: the people of Wales will not sit idly by while the UK government fuels the machinery of apartheid and genocide.

“We are calling on the Welsh government to immediately audit all financial ties to companies complicit in Israel’s illegal occupation and ensure that no more Welsh taxpayers’ money… is used to facilitate the obliteration of Gaza.”

Ms Sayed said that the Senedd’s responsibility “doesn’t stop at our borders,” adding: “The Welsh government must use its unique voice to demand that the UK government end its arms export licences to Israel.”

A similar pledge was signed by more than 2,200 council candidates in England ahead of the local elections.