[ePolitix.com] Baroness Ruth Lynn Deech - While Israel has been routinely judged, subjected to frequent boycott motions and besieged with calls for the international community to suspend trade and the EU-Israel Association Agreement, horrendous human rights violations in the Congo, the Sudan and Rwanda have warranted no comment from the Trades Union Congress, let alone sanctions or boycotts. The TUC's decision begs enquiry as to why Israel, a thriving and continually self-scrutinizing democracy, has been singled out for such widespread, continuous attention from Britain's trade unions. No other country has been subjected to such unremitting focus, and similar boycotts have not been implemented for other "occupied territories." How can such a blatant double standard be embraced as the right way forward? At a time when the British economy is fighting off bankruptcy, when we are billions of pounds in debt and unemployment is sky-rocketing, the TUC singling out Israel for a boycott is beyond belief. The writer is an academic, lawyer and bioethicist in the House of Lords.
2009-11-13 06:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive