Over
270 BBC journalists have signed a petition opposing the decision
earlier this month by the UK's largest trade union of journalists to
boycott Israeli goods, saying they are "dismayed" at the passing of the
motion.
Earlier this month the National Union of Journalists (NUJ)
voted at their Annual Delegates Meeting (ADM) for "a boycott of Israeli
goods similar to those boycotts in the struggles against apartheid
South Africa led by trade unions and for the Trades Union Congress to
demand sanctions be imposed on Israel by the British government and the
United Nations."
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The controversial vote passed by a narrow margin of 66 to 54 after a vote twice failed to give a clear result.
The BBC petition was sent to the NUJ executive and calls on the
NUJ to ballot the membership of the union. The ADM, where the motion
was passed, was attended by 110 NUJ delegates rather than the general
membership of the union, said to be around 39,000 journalists.
The text of the petition reads: "As BBC journalists and NUJ
members we are dismayed at the passing of a motion at the ADM calling
for a boycott of Israeli goods. As members of a corporation which
prides itself on providing impartial news coverage, we cannot associate
ourselves with a move which involves taking sides in any conflict.
"We call on the union to hold a ballot of all members to see
whether they support the view taken at ADM on an issue which could have
a profound effect on the way all British journalists are viewed at home
and abroad."
Speaking to The Jerusalem Post, Jeremy Dear, general
secretary of the NUJ, said there was "no difference" between an Annual
Delegates Meeting, which had 110 NUJ delegates present, and an Annual
General Meeting, which would be made up of the 39,000 NUJ members.
"There is no difference - we call it an Annual Delegate Meeting
but it is the annual conference. It is attended by delegates
representing their branches, so they represent the 39,000 members," he
said.
Last week Chancellor Gordon Brown said the boycott was
"unacceptable." Speaking to a member of the Board of Deputies of
British Jews Fair Play anti-boycott campaign, he said: "The boycott is
unacceptable and we will do all we can to help."
The Guardian newspaper has also been critical of the
motion. In an editorial entitled "Neither balanced nor fair" published
on April 20, it called the decision "misguided." The editorial said:
"If it were press freedom in the Middle East that truly concerned
delegates, Israel - which has a comparatively open and robust domestic
press - would hardly be the obvious starting point.
"It is doubtful that many of them [NUJ members] will have
welcomed a motion which will inevitably be seen by some as casting
doubts on whether they can truly approach their work in a spirit of
fairness and disinterested inquiry."
In a letter to The Guardian following the editorial,
Roger Lyons, chair of Trade Union Friends of Israel, said: "What trade
unionists need in the region is solidarity, engagement and respect, not
divisive calls that can only help the extremists. The general secretary
of the Palestinian General Trade Union Federation said in a letter only
this week to Ofer Eini, chairman of the Histadrut, that 'we must
emphasize our mutual need for peace in our two societies, for the
benefit both of workers and because peace will reflect stability.' If
the two union federations want to work for peace together it is our
duty to support them. It is a pity that the NUJ did not take part in
our recent delegation to the region to show real solidarity with fellow
trade unionists, rather than taking on gesture politics."
The BBC journalists will hold a meeting with Dear on May 8, where they plan to discuss the motion.
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