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Earlier this month the British Transport and General Workers Union (T&G) decided to launch a consumer boycott on products made in Israel, protest Israel's policies and trigger sanctions against it.
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| By Israel Insider staff July 19, 2007 |
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More than 25 heads of major unions in the United States signed a letter Wednesday slamming UK trade unions for their boycott of Israel, which focuses blame on just one country in the Mideast conflict.
"Their resolutions have no purpose other than demonizing Israel," said Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Jewish Labor Committee, the organization that drafted the letter.
According to Applebaum, the American union heads "understand that resolutions calling for boycotts of Israel undermine the goal of winning a lasting peace in the Middle East. It's obvious that the motivation behind these one-sided boycotts is less an authentic concern for human rights than it is a desire to bash Israel," he said.
The letter criticized the British unions for singling out Israel for censure in the Mideast conflict, focusing on Israeli government and policies while ignoring the policies and actions of Palestinian or Arab governments and factions.
"With the large number of local, regional and international conflicts, with the diverse range of oppressive regimes around the world about which there is almost universal silence, we have to question the motives of these resolutions that single out one country in one conflict," stated the letter, drafted by Jewish Labor Committee (JLC).
"We notice with increasing concern that characterization of the Palestinians as victims and Israel as victimizer is a staple of such resolutions. That there are victims and victimizers on all sides, and that many if not most of the victims of violence and repression on all sides are civilians, are essential items often not mentioned in these resolutions," it said.
Among those who signed the letter were the heads of the American Postal Union, the Communication Workers of America, the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craft Workers, and the American Federation of Government Employees.
Earlier this month the British Transport and General Workers Union (T&G) decided to launch a consumer boycott on products made in Israel, protest Israel's policies and trigger sanctions against it. T&G is one of the United Kingdom's largest trade unions, representing some 800,000 workers.
The decision was made about a month after another British trade union, UNISON, also decided to launch an economic boycott on Israel, and after the University and College Union's voted in favor of considering a boycott of Israeli academics and institutions. |
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