Vol. 74/No. 28      July 26, 2010

Members of the Brighton & Hove Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and of Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods continually shouted protests inside the concert hall. One disrupter sang her protest: “Jerusalem is occupied; settlers destroy her peace; we’ll sing out until apartheid and ethnic cleansing cease.” The song was sung to the tune of “The Holy City,” described in their material as “a well-known Christian anthem.” No arrests were made but each demonstrator was escorted out of the hall.

The quartet members are all Jewish Israeli citizens. Two of them are regular members of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra composed of musicians who are Arab, Jewish, and of other nationalities from throughout the Middle East. The protesters made a point that all members of the quartet carried out their compulsory service in the Israeli military.

Members of the Scottish PSC disrupted a performance of the Quartet during the Edinburgh International festival in 2008 shouting, “These men are Israeli army musicians!”

The campaign against companies, institutions, and individuals with any (often remote) connections to Israel also gets the backing of the government, capitalist politicians, and trade union officials.

In December 2009 the UK government issued guidelines urging stores to print labels differentiating between “Israeli settlement produce” and “Palestinian produce.”

According to the Jewish Chronicle, the Israeli government has accused Britain of encouraging a boycott of goods from West Bank settlements. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said that it opposed a boycott of Israel, but added that consumers should be able to “choose for themselves what they buy. We have been very clear both in public and in private that settlements are illegal and an obstacle to peace.”

Other support for partial sanctions against Israel comes from the Trade Union Congress (TUC) in the UK, which voted last year for “targeted action—aimed at goods from the illegal settlements and at companies involved in the occupation and the wall.” The TUC’s call for sanctions asks workers to back the campaign of the British government to consolidate the division of Palestine, along the lines of a “two-state solution.”

As many as 2,000 people turned out for a June 5 protest called by the Scottish PSC following the Israeli government’s military assault on the aid convoy to Gaza that killed nine people. As the demonstrators reached the Marks & Spencer department store the lead contingent turned to the store to concentrate their fire against the company. Marks and Spencer is historically known as a Jewish owned and run company. It stocks Israeli goods and has been a prominent target of boycotters. The march stopped while this took place.

Members of the Communist League participating in the march to defend the rights of Palestinians got a hearing when they opposed the split-off action. They explained how the character of the anti-Israel boycott campaign is cover for modern day Jew-hatred. Members of the CL explained the call for a boycott of Israeli products and Israeli political, cultural, and sporting figures is not a road toward winning self-determination for the Palestinians, but a dangerous concession to anti-Semitism.
 
 
Related articles:
The fight for a democratic, secular Palestine  
 
 
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