Zita Holbourne addresses a previous TUC Congress at Manchester Central in 2018ANDY BURNHAM’S government remains complicit in genocide, unions said as TUC passed an historic vote to back the Palestinian-led BDS campaign against Israel today.
Ministers announced new restrictions on trade and weapons exports with illegal settlers in Palestine earlier this month.
Campaigners hailed delegates in Brighton for voting to support the “Palestinian-led boycott, divest and sanctions (BDS) movement” and call on the government to impose “wide-ranging sanctions on Israel until it complies with international law.”
Moving the motion, Artists Union England’s Zita Holbourne said that the government’s recent acceptance of a 2024 International Court of Justice ruling urging Israel not to commit genocide in Gaza “is not enough.”
“Palestinian society, including unions, have reiterated the call for the international community to implement BDS against ongoing crimes of genocide, apartheid and occupation,” she said.
The motion also called on ministers to “commit to freedom of speech and end attempts to censor artists and art organisations expressing solidarity with Palestine” after it emerged on Tuesday that rapper Macklemore was removed from an Ed Sheeran concert for backing the war-torn territory.
Seconding, Unison delegate Margaret McKee said that unions will continue to call on Labour to fully suspend arms trade with Israel and the Britain-Israel trade partnership agreement until “human rights and international law are respected.”
“If the government doesn’t do this, you are still being complicit in the genocide of the Palestinian people,” she said.
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