Gaza Genocide · updated 1h ago · 2 min read
TUC Votes In Brighton To Back BDS, End UK Arms Sales And Military Cooperation With Israel
TUC voted to back BDS and end arms sales to Israel at Brighton conference. Motion linked Israeli war in Gaza and West Bank violence in solidarity.
Whether the vote was unanimous.
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Al Jazeera
“The unanimous vote demands that the Trades Union Congress take action”Read the original ↗
Middle East Eye
“delegates voted to back a motion proposed by Artists' Union England (AUE)”Read the original ↗
Al Jazeera says the motion was unanimous; Middle East Eye describes a delegates vote for a motion.
TUC backs BDS, arms halt
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) voted in Brighton to back the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and to mandate an “immediate end to all UK military cooperation and arms sales to Israel.”
“mandates the federation to actively campaign for an immediate end to all UK military cooperation and arms sales to Israel”
In the same vote, delegates approved a motion presented by Artists' Union England and seconded by Unison, with the TUC committing to support “wide-ranging sanctions on Israel until it complies with international law.”
Al Jazeera reported the TUC’s motion passed unanimously during the TUC’s annual conference in Brighton, southern England, and said it was the first time the congress backed BDS.A
Al Jazeera also said the motion demanded action against what it described as complicity in Israel’s war on Gaza and settler violence in the occupied West Bank, including campaigning to end military cooperation and weapons deals with Israel.A
Voices hail, others push back
Artists' Union England’s Zita Holborne told Al Jazeera that it was “essential for the trade union movement to answer the call from the BDS movement,” to challenge complicity and stand with Palestinians to “Free Palestine.”A
Omar Barghouti, co-founder of the BDS movement, welcomed the TUC vote as “the reason why your government was compelled to adopt minor measures in the right direction,” while saying it was “way short of the UK’s legal obligations.”
Peter Leary, deputy director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, described the TUC vote as a “tipping point” and said unions were paving the way to secure “real change” by keeping up pressure to end “all military, diplomatic and economic support for Israel.”
The motion’s push for sanctions and arms sales restrictions also came as Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced a ban on importing goods from Israeli settlements, while Miliband said he “wholeheartedly” opposes BDS and that the UK would continue to “support important and valued trade” with Israel that adheres to international law.
What happens next, what’s at risk
The TUC motion tied its BDS endorsement to workplace action, including backing trade union-led campaigns in support of Palestine and calling for coordinated workplace days of action across the UK.
“wide-ranging government sanctions until Israel complies with international law”
The News Line said the congress also voted on Motion 77 in support of Palestine, committing the trade union movement to BDS, an end to all arms sales and military cooperation with Israel, divestment from companies complicit in its crimes, and “wide-ranging government sanctions until Israel complies with international law.”
Middle East Eye reported that the vote followed Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband’s announcement of a comprehensive sanctions regime banning trade with illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, with government sources confirming the measures would also cover settlements in East Jerusalem and the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.M
Morning Star framed the stakes as Britain’s role in complicity, arguing that the Labour government must do more to secure an end to its complicity with Israel’s crimes, while pointing to “more than 70,000 Palestinian lives” and “two million Palestinians” in Gaza as the scale of harm referenced in its account.