Israeli online daily, Haaretz, reported Thursday night that the largest labor union in the Canadian province of Ontario has voted unanimously to boycott Israel "until it recognizes the right of self-determination of the Palestinians, and accepts all UN resolutions relating to Palestinians, including the Right of Return”.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) harshly condemned the decision, calling it "deplorable and offensive," Haaretz added.
The decision was made by the Ontario division of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which has 450,000 members.
According to the Unions decision, it will be joining an international campaign to boycott Israel and impose sanctions on it until it recognizes and implements all UN resolutions, including resolution number 194 which recognizes the right of return of the displaced Palestinian refugees from 1948.
The union also intends to support pro-Palestinian organizations in an educational campaign, which will depict Israel as an apartheid state, and called on the national union to join them and to pass a similar resolution.
General Abraham Foxman, ADL director, said that "the union’s resolution does not make any effort to reflect current realities on the ground, and has no mention of the unilateral withdrawal from Gaza and the proposed withdrawal from some settlements in the West Bank.
Earlier this week, British lecturers also voted to boycotting Israel. The National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE), the largest union of university teachers in Britain, adopted a resolution this week encouraging an academic boycott of Israel.
The NATFHE, which has 69,000 members, decided to consider boycotting Israeli academics and academic institution that do not take a public stand against Israel’s apartheid policies and the discrimination in the field of education.
