Britain’s National Education Union (NEU) submitted a controversial motion to the Trades Union Congress’s annual conference seeking to cement an anti-Israel stance in policy, the Jewish Chronicle reported on Friday.
The motion, which contains no mention of Hamas or the terror group’s actions on October 7, labels Israel an “apartheid state” guilty of “ethnic cleansing.”
The union has also reportedly issued calls for other delegates to pressure the UK government into recognizing Palestinian statehood and “end the arms trade with Israel.”
It also called for delegates to follow “the ICJ and ICC statements, impose sanctions upon individuals and entities who have made statements inciting genocide against Palestinians,” “revoke the 2030 Road Map for UK-Israel bilateral relations,” and call for a “permanent ceasefire and the release of all hostages and Palestinian political prisoners.”
Criticizing the National Education Union
Russell Langer, Director of Public Affairs at the Jewish Leadership Council, told the JC that “The failure to include in this motion any mention of the atrocities perpetrated by Hamas demonstrates that its proposers have no desire for peace. They simply wish to further spread extreme hatred of Israel. Jewish members of trade unions will once again see their representatives play gesture politics while ignoring the very real issue of how this conflict – and the corresponding rise of antisemitism – is directly affecting them in workplaces here in the UK.”
Steve Scott, Director of Britain-Israel Trade Union Dialogue, also criticized the motion, telling the JC, “It is outrageous that a motion from the NEU to be debated at this year’s TUC Congress has no reference to the appalling Hamas terrorist attacks on October 7. You think there is no reason for the current war in Gaza, and I think this insults the intelligence of those attending the Congress.
“As for an arms embargo, this will not stop this conflict but rather embolden others in the region to continue attacks on Israel as they see that they are weakening those who want peace.”
“Of course we want an urgent end to this war and a return of all the hostages and in the longer term a resumption of a process that ultimately leads to two states.”
