Haaretz Aug 30, 2015
U.S. Industrial Union Votes to Endorse BDS
The United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America votes in favor of boycotting Israel, supporting Iran deal.
A BDS demonstration in Melbourne, Australia, 2010.Mohammed Ouda/Wikimedia Commons
One
of the more prominent industrial unions in the U.S. voted to endorse
the goals of the worldwide boycott, divestment and sanction (BDS)
movement against Israel, citing "its long history of violating the human
rights of the Palestinians," thus purportedly becoming the first
nationwide union to do so.
The
United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers' national convention met
in Baltimore last week and voted on a string of foreign and as well as
domestic policy issues, including the call to boycott Israel and support
the nuclear deal with Iran.
According
to a statement on the UE's website, the union voted in favor of the
"Justice and Peace for the Peoples of Palestine and Israel", and cited
Israel’s sordid human rights record: "starting with the ethnic cleansing
of 750,000 Palestinians in 1947-48 that turned most of Palestine into
the State of Israel."
The
move's goal, the union said, was "to pressure Israel to end its
apartheid over the Palestinians just as similar tactics helped to end
South African apartheid in the 1980s." The union further called for the
U.S. aid to Israel to be cut off and expressed support for "the right to
return."
The
union also voted on a number of other foreign policy issues, including
the demand to end U.S. military intervention in the Middle East and
other regions.
"We
(need) to get rid of this culture of war,” said Mike Ferritto, a local
delegate. “We have done enough damage. We need to get out of the Middle
East," said Brandon Dutton, another delegate.
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