Motion demands taking action to oppose the \u2018catastrophic destruction of Gaza\u2019 and Israeli settler violence.<\/p>\n
The umbrella organisation for trade unions in the United Kingdom has passed a motion calling for an end to complicity in Israel\u2019s genocidal war<\/a> in Gaza and settler violence in the occupied West Bank.<\/p>\n The Trades Union Congress, representing more than 5.3 million workers, voted in favour of the motion on Wednesday during its annual conference in Brighton, southern England. The vote marks the first time the congress has backed the Palestinian-led movement Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions<\/a> known as BDS<\/a>.<\/p>\n Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s essential for the trade union movement to answer the call from the BDS movement, to challenge all complicity and to use our collective powers, to stand shoulder to shoulder with Palestinians to Free Palestine,\u201d said Zita Holborne from Artists\u2019 Union England, which put forward the motion.<\/p>\n The unanimous vote demands that the Trades Union Congress take action to oppose what the motion described as the \u201ccatastrophic destruction of Gaza\u201d and Israeli settler violence \u201csupported by the IDF [Israeli army]\u201d.<\/p>\n The steps include campaigning to end military cooperation and arms deals with Israel, calling on the government to impose wide-ranging sanctions on Israel and backing trade union-led campaigns in support of Palestine.<\/p>\n Co-founder of the BDS movement, Omar Barghouti, welcomed the development.<\/p>\n \u201cThis mass movement of solidarity with the people of Palestine, led by Palestine Solidarity Campaign with many trade unions affiliated to it, is the reason why your government was compelled to adopt minor measures in the right direction to end its complicity,\u201d Barghouti said.<\/p>\n \u201cBut it\u2019s way short of the UK\u2019s legal obligations to end complicity in genocide, in apartheid, in illegal occupation. So, we must work further to grow our BDS movement.\u201d<\/p>\n The motion puts additional pressure on the government to take a stronger stance against Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.<\/p>\n