UK labor unions approve Israeli goods boycott

LONDON — British labor unions agreed Thursday to support a boycott of some Israeli goods in response to the offensive in Gaza.

The boycott, approved at the annual conference of the Trades Union Congress, calls for a ban on importing goods produced in some Israeli settlements, an end to arms trading with Israel, and divestment by from some companies.

Union officials said the boycott would target products including dates, herbs, fruit and vegetables grown in Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

"We will support a boycott of those goods and agricultural products that originate in illegal settlements through developing an effective, targeted consumer-led boycott campaign," the TUC said in a statement.

Israel's ambassador to the U.K., Ron Prosor, called the decision one-sided.

"The TUC's leaders should hang their heads in shame at this reckless call for a boycott," he said in a statement. "They have betrayed their own constituency by allowing the TUC to be hijacked as a political tool for extremists."

He said the boycott statement failed to acknowledge that Israel has an obligation to protect its citizens from terror, and failed to call on Gaza's rulers or the Arab world to address Israel's legitimate security concerns.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor also criticized the move.

"Those who think they can promote peace and reconciliation through boycotting a democratic country will only harm the cause they pretend to serve," he said. "All this does is damage the credibility of those who launched the boycott."

The TUC is the umbrella organization of 58 British labor unions, representing about 6.5 million workers.

Members of the group's general council held often-fractious talks on the motion — originally proposed by the Fire Brigades Union — at an annual conference in Liverpool, northern England.

The boycott was proposed in response to Israel's December-January offensive in Gaza, in which about 1,400 Palestinians, including hundreds of civilians, and 13 Israelis, including four civilians, died. Israel launched the offensive to halt years of rocket fire by Gaza militants on southern Israeli towns.

A U.N. investigation concluded earlier this week that Israel and Palestinian armed groups, "committed actions amounting to war crimes, possibly crimes against humanity," in the Gaza conflict.

The report, by a committee led by former South African judge Richard Goldstone, sparked outrage in Israel. Israeli President Shimon Peres said the report "makes a mockery of history" and "draws no distinction between the attacker and the attacked."

Two years ago, Britain's largest union of college teachers attempted to organize a boycott of Israeli universities, which would have led to a halt on funding, visits and conferences with Israeli institutions.

The University and College Union was forced to abandon the plan because it breached discrimination laws.

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