Major union rejects Israel boycott

A decision by Britain’s third-largest union not to adopt an anti-Israel motion at its congress in Plymouth on Monday has been welcomed by the Stop The Boycott campaign.

The GMB general union debated a motion on statehood for Palestine that also made mention of rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza.

Although at least one region wanted to harden the wording, delegates ultimately decided to steer clear of a motion that called for any boycott.

Jeremy Newmark, co-chair of the Stop The Boycott campaign, said: “The GMB decision is a significant piece of mood music which demonstrates that there are other trade unions which realise boycotts don’t help Palestinians. With a membership something like six times as big as the University and College Union, it also shows that not all trades unions or trades unionists are anti-Israel.”

The UCU’s new national executive meets today and is expected to discuss the motion passed at its own congress that has been dubbed the “back-door boycott”. Mr Newmark added: “We would urge the UCU to understand the full implications of enacting such a motion and making it policy. We would urge it to reject this motion.”

More at:
http://www.thejc.com/home.aspx?ParentId=m11s18&SecId=18&AId=60635&ATypeId=1

untenable, and will never happen.

for the state of the current conflict, a boycott does nothing to help the Palestinians or Israelis resolve their differences.

considering that every effort to "resist" has resulted in more restrictions.

Imagine this: no suicide bombings, no wall or checkpoints.

I like the idea of nonviolent protest, but this one hasn't a chance in hell of working.

Despite attempts, virtually all proposals for British trade unions to boycott Israel have been rejected, or were simply empty gestures that sank without trace.

Some people may be interested in the following, for a left-wing anti-boycott perspective on the issue:

www.tufi.org.uk

just heard an interview on the radio about israeli hi tech companies working with Palestinian engineers.....i guess that would really screw up the boycotters......(acutally I doubt it would affect most of them, since i dont believe its really about caring about the Palestinians anyway....)

to compile a list of those who DO care about the Palestinians?

They've been messed around by just about everyone, even their own leadership.