Danish union calls for Israel boycott

By Avi Shmoul
Ha'aretz, April 18 2002

The General Workers Union in Denmark (SiD) is threatening a boycott on Israeli products, in protest at Israel's action in the Palestinian territories.

The move makes the Danish organization the first of any European country to call for sanctions against Israel, despite the announcement by the the European Commission at the beginning of the week that it would not take measures against Israel.

In a statement last week, SiD said, "It is always the responsibility of the strongest party to provide a basis for peace.

"If no instant progress is made in terms of reaching a solution through negotiations, the SiD will recommend a boycott not only of goods from the occupied areas but also of goods from Israel."

SiD has apparently started implementing this policy already. Jens Peter Hansen of SiD recently wrote to the Israeli company Radix: "Just now we're ready to buy 60 pieces from your `Radix protector net solution.' But for the moment, when the Israeli military is behaving so roughly in the Palestinian areas, neither I nor my union feel it is right to do business with companies from your country." The Radix Protector is an automatic instant system recovery card. Radix Technologies is a 24-year-old Israeli company, that also offers multimedia classroom solutions.

Danish Workers Union stands firm on boycotting Israel [ 8 May 2002 ]