Pro-BDS does not mean Pro-Palestinian
The
international Boycotts, Divestments and
Sanctions (BDS) movement directed at Israel has probably found more support in
Britain than in any other Western democratic society. Directed at Israel, the world’s only Jewish state,
BDS is in effect antisemitic, even if that is not the intention. The long term aim of the BDS campaign is the
replacement of the Jewish state with a Palestinian one. They are no
different in this respect to the Arab nations who have always been unwilling to
accept a Jewish presence in the region.
Since 2002 British activists have been party to this aim by
initiating calls for academic, trade union, media, medical, architectural, and
cultural boycotts of Israel. Britain's trade union movement which is mainly
controlled by the Left, works closely with the Palestine Solidarity Campaign
(PSC) and is a key member of their British BDS campaign. Unions
which are affiliated to and fund the PSC include Unite, Unison, the GMB, the
RMT, the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and the UCU.
The NUT is just one of several British unions using their considerable
influence in the global labour movement to persuade unions in Europe and around
the world to adopt BDS. As a result relations between the largest British
unions and their Israeli counterparts are probably now at their lowest point
for many years because of British support for the Palestinians.
It therefore came as a nice surprise to hear that a delegation
from the Israeli union for government employees, which is part of the
Histadrut, paid a short visit to Britain at the end of June and met with
the TUC as well as their opposite numbers in the First Division
Association, the union for senior civil servants. Unfortunately a meeting with
the GMB had to be cancelled at the last minute. The outcome I am told was good
and further visits and meetings and now planned both in UK and Israel.
Visits such this are very unusual nowadays because of the
anti-Israel stance of the British unions, yet it in the late 1960s and early
1970s it was commonplace for union delegations to visit Israel and their
Israeli counterparts to travel to Britain every couple of months.
Leading Left wingers of the time, Franks Cousins and Len Jones along with TUC
General Secretary Len Murray all believed that the role of the British trade
unions was to help the peace process by building relationships between the
Israeli and Palestinian trade unions and not just support one side against the
other as is the case today. Although the TUC is affiliated to the
PSC and supports the boycott of Israeli settlement goods it is committed to a
two-state solution with an independent Palestinian state living side by side
with a secure Israel .
Britain's two largest unions Unite and Unison were also invited to
meet the Israelis. Since they both have a long history of anti-Israel,
pro-Palestinian rhetoric and conference resolutions condemning Israel
their failure to reply to the invitation may have been more than just an
administrative oversight. Maybe they value their support for BDS
and the PSC more than they do for the opportunity for dialogue to try and help
build links between Palestinian trade unionists and Israelis?. Unison proudly
says it "has been campaigning in solidarity with the Palestinian people for over 20 years", so unless there is a genuine reason for missing an
opportunity for dialogue it makes a makes a nonsense of Unison's claims to help the Palestinians.
If
Unite and Unison don't want to talk to Israelis then they should talk to
Palestinians like Bassem Eid instead rather than blindly follow the edicts of
the PSC. Eid wrote in an article for the Washington Institute:
..."BDS
spokespeople justify calling for boycotts that will result in increased
economic hardships for the Palestinians by asserting that Palestinians are
willing to suffer such deprivations in order to achieve their freedom. It goes
without saying that they themselves live in comfortable circumstances elsewhere
in the world and will not suffer any such hardship. It would seem, in fact,
that the BDS movement in its determination to oppose Israel is prepared to
fight to the last drop of Palestinian blood...."
Where is the evidence that pro-Palestinian campaigners such as the
PSC, UNISON or any of the unions done anything to help improve the lives of
ordinary Palestinians? There seems to be plenty of anti-Israel rhetoric
and talk of solidarity but very little else. British trade unions
like Unite and Unison and the UCU appear to focus on the conflict in the Middle
East between Israel and Palestine almost to the exclusion of other international
issues. Over the last ten years this has involved all them in considerable
costs in terms of money and resources, yet none appear to
be directly involved in any aid or training programmes for Palestinians run by
international trade union bodies such as the ITUC. Their support for the PSC
appears to be more about the political ideology of the Far Left who want to
destroy Israel than it is about helping the Palestinians.
So let's change the narrative and help the Palestinians ourselves
and the first thing we can do is to ask the unions to show us exactly how all
the thousands of pounds they have spent on BDS has helped the Palestinians in
any material way whatsoever - pity the Palestinians - pity the poor union
members whose money is being squandered on Israel hate rather than Palestinian
humanitarian aid. Our second move has to be to label BDS supporters as
anti-Israeli rather than pro-Palestinian.
Ronnie Fraser
Director
Academic Friends of Israel
