British union considers boycott

Britain’s largest trade union will consider boycotting Israel. A boycott proposal at the annual conference next month of UNISON, Britain’s public services union with more than 1.3 million members, also would encourage other unions to boycott Israel, Ha’aretz reported.Such a boycott would have a huge impact on Israeli-British relations, as UNISON exerts great economic influence in England.Israel’s Histadrut labor federation said it expects the boycott to extend to Israeli-made goods and investments in Israeli pension funds. Histadrut has urged UNISON leaders to remove the issue from consideration, noting that recent Palestinian rocket attacks have targeted Sderot, a largely working-class town. UNISON rejected a similar proposal to boycott Israel during last year’s conference, but the union “harshly criticized” Israeli actions in the Palestinian territories, according to Ha’aretz.