Boycott Israel?
The debate as to whether boycotting Israel is a good tactic in support of the Palestinians
Solidarity yes, boycott no leaflet for TGWU conference starting 2 July 2007
Submitted on 1 July, 2007 - 16:08
Solidarity with the Palestinians? Yes! Boycott of Israel? No!
Submitted on 26 May, 2005 - 21:34
For solidarity and links, for a Palestinian state with the same rights as Israel, for Israeli withdrawal from the Occupied Territories, against an academic and cultural boycott of Israel.
Sussex students against Israel boycott
Submitted on 5 February, 2010 - 21:28
As we reported in Solidarity 3/164, the University of Sussex Students’ Union recently passed a policy committing it to a boycott of Israeli goods. Workers’ Liberty opposes such boycotts because we believe they cut against what is objectively necessary — international working-class solidarity to help Palestinian and Israeli workers build unity around a programme of mutual respect and equal rights — and create the potential for an anti-semitic backlash by exceptionalising Israel.
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Why left-wing students should not support boycotts of Israel
Submitted on 14 January, 2010 - 12:29
Produced by Workers' Liberty students. For a downloadable, copyable version of this briefing, see attachment.
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Sussex University: Reverse the boycott Israel policy - fight for positive solidarity!
Submitted on 10 December, 2009 - 11:23
The University of Sussex Students Union is due to hold a second referendum on whether to implement a boycott of Israeli goods in SU outlets. The boycott policy was passed by an earlier referendum at the end of October by a margin of 562 to 450. However, a group of students has now gathered the 150 signatures required to reopen and rerun the vote.
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Whom does this "boycott of Israel" help?
Submitted on 14 October, 2009 - 18:30
Egyptian writer Hala Mustafa faces threats of expulsion from the country's official Press Syndicate and removal from her job because she met the Israeli ambassador to Egypt as part of her journalistic work.
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The GMB's amendment on "boycott Israel"
Submitted on 8 October, 2009 - 15:12
GMB official Richard Ashcough spoke to Solidarity about the GMB’s amendment to the FBU motion, which aimed to target the focus of the boycott onto goods produced in the Occupied Territories.
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The Fire Brigade Union's case for "boycott Israel"
Submitted on 8 October, 2009 - 14:58
John McGhee, FBU National Officer, spoke to Martin Thomas about the FBU’s “boycott Israel” motion to TUC Congress.
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To help the Palestinians: solidarity, not boycotts!
Submitted on 22 September, 2009 - 17:13
On Thursday 17 September the TUC congress voted for a motion from the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) for a boycott of Israeli goods. The vote does not commit unions to any real action, and anyway was neutralised by the TUC General Council putting a statement through the congress which defined a much more limited policy. But the TUC vote will boost the "boycott Israel" mood in the labour movement and the left.
"Boycott Israel": what the TUC decided
Submitted on 21 September, 2009 - 18:27
Below is the TUC General Council statement on Israel and Palestine adopted at the TUC congress on 17 September 2009. It overrides the FBU motion also carried at the Congress, and effectively enforces the changes in the FBU motion sought by an amendment from the GMB - to limit the "boycott Israel" call to goods produced in the settlements in the Occupied Territories, and to delete the hint of breaking links with the Israeli unions.
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Boycott Israel?
Submitted on 1 July, 2009 - 19:39
Should workers and trade unionists show our support for the Palestinians by boycotting all Israeli goods?
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Democracy still the key in Unison
Submitted on 26 June, 2009 - 18:45
In his speech to this year’s conference of the public services union Unison, in Brighton in mid-June, general secretary Dave Prentis called on the “Labour Link” section of the union to stop funding constituency development plans, and to work only with Labour MPs who abide by the union’s values and objectives.
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Unison: oppose moves to "boycott" Israeli workers
Submitted on 12 June, 2009 - 20:59
This year's conference of the public services union Unison (16-19 June) has a motion (no.72) from the National Executive to confirm the "economic, cultural, academic, and sporting boycott of Israel" which Unison voted through in 2007, with amendments seeking to sharpen the "shun-Israel" message.
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The Scottish TUC and boycotts against Israel: evidence collected, arguments evaded
Submitted on 19 April, 2009 - 06:52
“The delegation ended its visit with a strong sense of the injustice and human rights violations experienced on a daily basis by ordinary Palestinians,” states the recently published “Report of the Scottish TUC Delegation to Palestine and Israel, 28th February – 7th March 2009”.
UCU and Israel boycott: stand and fight
Submitted on 25 August, 2008 - 18:27
Recently Jon Pike, chair of Engage (a group set up to defeat a boycott of Israeli academia), posted a critique of the University and Colleges Union (UCU) to its activist list. Jon is also a member of the UCU NEC. In this critique he assesses the union’s democratic credentials, its ability to stand up for academic freedom, and its willingness to fight all discrimination.
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UCU and Israel boycott: stand and fight!
Submitted on 20 August, 2008 - 14:43
Recently Jon Pike, chair of Engage (a group set up to defeat a boycott of Israeli academia), posted a critique of the University and Colleges Union (UCU) to its activist list.
Israel-Palestine: Unions step away from boycott policy
Submitted on 1 July, 2008 - 08:30
In June both the RMT and Unison conferences passed motions in solidarity with Palestinian and Israeli unions and supporting dialogue rather than boycotts.
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Israel/Palestine: Speaking for Solidarity not Boycott
Submitted on 26 June, 2008 - 21:08
This is the speech I gave proposing the resolution on Solidarity With Israeli And Palestinian Workers at RMT's Annual General Meeting 2008 - followed by my reply to points made in the debate.
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RMT Conference votes for Two-States, Anti-Boycott position on Israel/Palestine
Submitted on 25 June, 2008 - 15:29
The 2008 Annual General Meeting of the RMT transport union voted by a more than two-thirds majority for a two-states, pro-solidarity, anti-boycott, anti-Hamas position on Israel/Palestine, overturning
Left Wing Anti-Semite
Submitted on 22 June, 2008 - 13:52
LEFT WING ANTI-SEMITE
Why do you misconstrue my views?
Believe me, I don't hate no Jews;
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Solidarity not boycott!
Submitted on 6 June, 2008 - 11:02
The boycott issue in the lecturer’s union, UCU can be seen are composed of two dominant sides, both of which are highly problematic: on the one, the UCU Left and its SWP core that implicitly pushes
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UCU Congress debates Israel Boycott
Submitted on 29 May, 2008 - 14:49
The boycott issue in UCU can be seen are composed of two dominant
sides, both of which are highly problematic: on the one, the UCU Left and
Draft motion for RMT AGM on solidarity with Israeli and Palestinian workers
Submitted on 19 February, 2008 - 18:56
That this AGM condemns the continuing Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and denials of Palestinians' human and national rights.
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Workers' Liberty 3-12: Israel/Palestine - solidarity yes! boycott no!
Submitted on 29 November, 2007 - 14:37
Why supporters of "two states" should not join the "smash Israel" boycotters
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Oppose boycott legal ruling
Submitted on 13 October, 2007 - 08:19
The debate within UCU, the University and College Union, on whether to launch a boycott of Israeli academia has been called off after lawyers consulted by the leadership declared a boycott “illegal”. After a unanimous vote by the Strategy and Finance Committee, including members of UCU Left, union branches have been told they cannot vote on a boycott,
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For the Palestinians? The Israelis? The only way to be for the Palestinians, or the Israelis, is to be for two states!
Submitted on 29 September, 2007 - 23:57
We are against academic and other boycotts against Israel. Such boycotts will inevitably claw in and target Jewish communities outside Israel, and thereby do more harm — and not only to Jews — than any possible good, any possible help that they could give to the Palestinians.
SWP volte-face on academic boycott of Israel?
Submitted on 27 September, 2007 - 18:56
SWP chief mandarin Alex Callinicos has written a rather surprising volte-face on the Israel boycott debate in the UCU lecturers union.
- PaulHampton's blog
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Workers' Liberty 3/15: How do we best help the Palestinians?
Submitted on 26 September, 2007 - 23:00
Workers' Liberty 3/15 - "How can we best help the Palestinians?" Download it as pdf here (see "attachment", below) or read it online.
Boycott "apartheid Israel"?
Submitted on 26 August, 2007 - 09:31
The equating of Israel with apartheid South Africa dates back to the ‘anti-Zionist’ campaign launched in the Soviet Union and its satellite states in the late 1960s.


