The surge grows

There comes a time when talking is no longer enough:

Britain’s biggest journalists’ union, The National Union of Journalists, has criticized Israel’s “military adventures” and has voted narrowly in favor of a boycott of Israeli goods. The vote followed calls by some British academics last year to ostracize their Israeli counterparts.

At the annual delegates meeting of the journalists’ union last Friday, a vote calling for “a boycott of Israeli goods similar to those boycotts in the struggles against apartheid in South Africa” was approved 66 to 54.

The delegates also urged Britain and the United Nations to impose sanctions on Israel.

The union has about 40,000 members, represented at the annual meeting by about 150 delegates from more than 60 branches.

The ballot did not, however, make calls for a boycott of contacts with Israeli journalists similar to previous academic efforts to ostracize Israeli university teachers.

Predictably, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has reacted with typical fury, but they shouldn’t be surprised. The union will be accused of anti-Semitism, lacking objectivity, bias, anti-Zionism and… Jew-hatred. The reality, of course, is far different.

Israel’s consistent refusal, like apartheid South Africa, to cease oppressing the indigenous communities, has forced the hand of a growing number of major Western groups. They are dedicated to a just Israel, and only international pressure… may ensure this will happen.

Text and images ©2024 Antony Loewenstein. All rights reserved.

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