UK’s TUC to debate wide-ranging Israel boycott during conference 

A motion at this week’s annual conference of the Trade Unions Congress (TUC) will call for a boycott of Israel in line with the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS).

According to a report in Jewish News, delegates at the gathering in Brighton will debate Motion 75, titled “Palestine: supporting rights to self-determination”.

Submitted by Artists’ Union England, the motion urges the TUC – which has 5.6 million members – to adopt a policy to “prioritise Palestinians’ rights to freedom, justice and equality, including by applying these principles based on international law to all UK trade with Israel”.

Charging the Trump administration and Israeli government with “destroying prospects for peace”, the motion calls for the TUC to “oppose any proposed solution for Palestinians, including Trump’s deal, not based on international law and UN resolutions recognising their collective rights to self-determination and to return to their homes”.

READ: It’s time for progressives to get off the fence over BDS

As noted by Jewish News, the TUC “has adopted several similar motions in recent years”.

In 2010, it agreed to “work with the PSC [Palestine Solidarity Campaign] to actively encourage affiliates, employers and pension funds to disinvest from, and boycott the goods of, companies who profit from illegal settlements, the occupation and the construction of the wall”.

Last year, TUC General Council international spokesperson Sally Hunt told a trade union forum in Tunisia that the TUC rejected Donald Trump’s decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem.

READ: Why is the rise of BDS worldwide worrying Israel?