Boycott Israel?

The debate as to whether boycotting Israel is a good tactic in support of the Palestinians

Israeli writer boycott: who wins?

The latest “success” of the boycott-Israel campaign has resulted not in pressure on the Israeli government, but in the silencing of women’s voices from the Middle East. The Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas Austin had been planning to publish a collection of women’s writing as a tribute to a late faculty member. But, according to US website Inside Higher Ed, Huzama Habayeb, a Palestinian contributor based in Abu Dhabi, objected to the inclusion of two pieces by Israeli writers and convinced 13 of the original 29 writers involved to withdraw from the project. The...

Why unions should not break links with the Histadrut

For a printable broadsheet of this article, download the link at the bottom. Workers’ Liberty believes that, for Israeli and Palestinian workers, uniting around a democratic settlement to the national conflict between the two peoples is essential if they are to successfully fight for socialism. Both Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs are distinct national groups. Both have the right to self-determination. We advocate two independent states as the most immediately democratic settlement to the national oppression of the Palestinians that is consistent with Israeli Jews’ national rights. Only a...

Finkelstein's change of heart on Israel boycott

Prominent anti-Zionist writer Norman Finkelstein has broken from the “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” (BDS) movement, denouncing it as a “cult” and saying that it is based on a politics of “eliminating Israel” but is too dishonest to say so. Finkelstein, whose books include The Holocaust Industry and Beyond Chutzpah, has until now focused much of his work on arguing his view that Israel and its supporters internationally manipulate or manufacture claims of anti-Semitism and imagined existential threats to Israel in order to suppress criticism of the state. But now he has denounced the...

Global labour conference harmed by pro-BDS campaign

By Eric Lee Last week’s LabourStart Global Solidarity Conference in Istanbul was meant to be an extraordinary event. Activists from the newly-independent unions of the “Arab Spring” countries were due to meet with colleagues from established unions from both developed and developing countries. As Canadian union activist Derek Blackadder put it, “100 unions, 30 countries, one class”. And there were high points, such as the visit by conference delegates to a picket line outside a factory owned by the German company GEA. The Turkish workers, locked out for weeks, were clearly moved by the...

Rail union leader speaks up for Israeli links

At this year’s Trades Union Congress (12-14 September in London), an amendment on the Israel/Palestine conflict from the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) called for TUC affiliates to “review their bilateral relations with all Israeli organisations”. Alex Gordon, president of the Rail, Maritime and Transport workers’ union (RMT), spoke against the amendment, arguing that British unions should strengthen, not weaken, their relations with workers’ organisations in Israel. Gordon said: “My union has welcomed the Workers’ Advice Centre (Ma’an) to our conference in previous years. We’ve...

Boycott Israel or link with Israeli workers?

In Melbourne, Australia, activists picketing the Israeli-owned Max Brenner chocolate shop have caused a stir, and several have been arrested. Workers’ Liberty Australia commented: There are better ways to help the Palestinians. The focus on Max Brenner has led the chief boycott activists to ignore the long-running Palestinian quarry workers’ strike at Salit, and the explosion of strikes by Israeli workers, Jewish and Arab, in recent weeks. Solidarity with those struggles is a better way forward. Sympathy for the rights of activists arrested on these pickets will be automatic; but it does not...

Chocolate and the Palestinians

The agitation about boycotting Israel which hit the headlines in April 2011 when Greens-controlled Marrickville council, in Sydney, decided on a boycott, has spurted again with pickets outside Max Brenner chocolate shops. Max Brenner protest in Melbourne Sympathy for the rights of activists arrested on these pickets will be automatic; but it does not follow that the pickets are a wise or effective way to help the Palestinians. Nineteen people were arrested at a picket at 1 July, and four of the 19 were arrested again on 9 August for breaking bail conditions. Similar pickets have been done in...

Debating the Histradrut

Recently I have become involved in a debate on the Morning Star letters page about Israel and the Israeli trade union federation Histadrut. I thought readers would like to read some snippets. On 17 June I took issue with a Morning Star review: “Roger Fletcher’s review of Michael Riordon’s new book equates holocaust denial with a failure to speak out against the ‘fascistic policy and actions of the Israeli state.’ “Calling Israel fascist is lazy but also very dangerous. Fascism destroyed independent labour movements and suppressed socialist groups. Israel has free trade unions, a peace movement...

The political logic of the BDS campaign

The boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaign has become the dominant frame for viewing the Israel-Palestine conflict in recent years and Omar Barghouti has been its most high-profile exponent. His book Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights (Haymarket Books) demonstrates the real political confusion behind BDS and why socialists should oppose it. The BDS campaign dates from 9 July 2005, when a gathering of 170 Palestinian organisations, including unions and civil society groups demanded boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel. BDS makes...

The truth about BDS

The boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaign has become the dominant frame for viewing the Israel-Palestine conflict in recent years and Omar Barghouti has been its most high-profile exponent. Despite the author’s dogmatic insistence that BDS is triumphant, his book Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights demonstrates the real political confusion behind BDS and why socialists should oppose it. The BDS campaign dates from 9 July 2005, when a gathering of 170 Palestinian organisations, including unions and civil society groups demanded boycott...

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