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THE National Education Union (NEU) reaffirmed its support for the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and Stop the War Coalition at its annual conference today.
Delegates passed a motion calling on the executive to encourage districts to affiliate to the PSC and support its campaigning to defend the right to pursue boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) tactics.
They agreed that Israel “is guilty of apartheid policies under international law” and the government’s funding cut to the UN relief agency in Gaza, UNRWA is “unjustifiable.”
The union is to also support trade unionists who refuse to manufacture or transport weapons from Britain that are to be used by the Israeli war machine.
NEU executive member and local committee member of her local PSC branch Mairead Canavan urged delegates to back the BDS movement by not eating at McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC, Pizza Hut, Starbucks, Pret, drinking Coca-Cola, 7-Up or Sprite, buying AXA insurance, banking at Barclays or buying Puma sporting products.
Worcestershire delegate Sean McCauley said: “It’s also Keir Starmer and the Labour leadership who took too long their support … five months it took them to back a call for a ceasefire.
“And the change in that position from the Tory government, the Labour leadership happened only as a result of the massive pressure they have come under as a result of the protests that are taking place.”
Jewish delegate Peter Block, 75, was heckled after he told delegates: “Your uncritical jumping on the fashionable anti-Israel bandwagon and by extension anti-semitism is outrageous.”
Earlier scores of delegates chanted “free, free Palestine” at the end of a fringe meeting organised by the PSC.
Speaking at the fringe, NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede said: “The NEU’s solidarity work with Palestine goes to the very roots of what we stand for as a union: equality, fairness and dignity for all people.
“With Gaza on the brink of a catastrophic famine, every hour without a permanent ceasefire and unfettered humanitarian access is a death sentence for the Gazan people.”
Leanne Mohamad, British Palestinian independent parliamentary candidate for Ilford North, highlighted the double standards over learning about Palestine at schools.
She said: “We could discuss this one topic like we were signed to some BBC charter for balance.
“Education cannot be propaganda but it has to tell the truth.”
Palestine ambassador Humsam Zomlot received a huge standing ovation after giving a speech at the conference.
