Histadrut tries to cancel UK union's boycott debate

Can you believe this now? Every time you think the zionists can't stoop any lower they manage to. Now the leader of Israel's Histadrut, Israel's trade union congress, has called on the General Secretary of Unison, the UK's largest public sector union, to "cancel" a debate on a boycott of Israel. Here's Ha'aretz:

The United Kingdom's public services union UNISON will consider a proposal for imposing a boycott on Israel during its annual conference in mid-June, in the wake of Wednesday's decision by a British lecturers union to back a boycott of Israeli academic institutions.

UNISON representatives who are in contact with the Histadrut labor federation have in recent days presented the Histadrut's international activities director, Avital Shapira, with a copy of the proposal.

According to the proposal, UNISON, which has some 1.4 million members, will urge other British unions to follow its lead and cut off all economic and cultural ties with Israel.

I didn't know they had that many ties but read on

Histadrut sources said the impression they have received is that UNISON will vote in favor of the boycott. The conference will be held June 19-22 in Brighton.

If approved, the boycott would have a significant practical, and not just symbolic, impact, given that the union enjoys large economic influence in Britain.

According to Histadrut Chairman Ofer Eini, "this is a dangerous decision, because it could harm numerous workers in Israel and their employers, specifically in organizations that have commercial ties to Britain."

Histadrut sources said the boycott is likely to take the form of a consumer embargo on Israeli-made goods, as well as an instruction to UNISON's pension funds not to invest in Israel.

Eini said UNISON still enjoys significant power in Britain, despite the trend over the past two decades of declining professional union powers in the country, and is deeply involved economically in British companies, including in the private sector.

And here's how Israel earns its reputation for being the only democracy in the middle east

Eini sent a letter Thursday to UNISON General Secretary Dave Prentis, calling on him to immediately cancel the proposal. Eini sent a similar letter to Guy Ryder, head of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.

Did you catch that? Cancel. Just cancel. No ifs, no buts, cancel. I'm assuming our General Secretary is made of better stuff than a certain PA president but there's still more:

"Despite the end of the Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip, the Palestinians have decided to continue the path of bloodshed and violence," wrote Eini in both letters.

"In Sderot and the area surrounding the Gaza Strip live children, women, workers, and pensioners who are suffering on a daily basis due to non-stop and indiscriminate missile fire that cause civilian fatalities and destroy homes and factories," he continued. "The Palestinians' path has turned the residents into refugees in their own country, who are forced to wander to tent camps in safer Israeli cities."

Ah now I'm starting to get it. We're supposed to fall for the charade of the Gaza withdrawal and ignore Israel's various blitzes on the place whilst over-reacting to home-made rocket attacks from a besieged Gaza. And then the humour. I used to love Jewish humour, you know, the self-deprecatory stuff, but Israelis just aren't funny.

Histadrut sources called the proposal an escalation in the negative attitude toward Israel in Britain, given that professional unions generally maintain solidarity with their counterparts in other nations, regardless of the geopolitical situation.

I read once that a South African union issued the call, "white workers of all countries unite!" How true it was I don't know but this one comes pretty close.

Apparently, the proposal was discussed last year and a call for a full blown boycott was rejected:

In its 2006 conference, the union rejected a proposal to impose sanctions on Israel while harshly criticizing Israeli policy in the territories.

Ah now, they really need to broaden this to focus on Israel's structure and not just its behaviour. But anyway, let's see how we go this year.