A British news editor and Israel’s ambassador to Britain criticized a journalist union’s call to boycott Israeli goods. Israeli Ambassador Zvi Heifetz accused the union of “petty, one-sided politics,” The Guardian reported Thursday. In a separate interview, Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger called the union motion “misguided” and told Ha’aretz, “The Guardian disapproves of these kinds of boycotts and does not think they serve a useful purpose.” The National Union of Journalists claimed the boycott is intended to show support for Palestinian journalists who have joined their call for the return of a BBC journalist kidnapped by other Palestinians in Gaza. “It is a shame that an organization which represents journalists and the principles of balance and impartiality would move to boycott Israeli goods,” Heifetz said, also questioning the union’s timing just as the Israeli-Palestinian peace process appears to be moving forward again after years of stagnation.
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