Brit journalists boycott Israeli goods

[fushigi]

Story.

Keep in mind, this is with one of their own - BBC journalist Alan Johnston - being held hostage in Gaza. Does that mean they're trying to secure his release by showing their support for Palestine? Or does it mean their convictions are so strong that DESPITE his capture, they STILL hold them?

Britain's biggest journalists' union, The National Union of Journalists, has criticized Israel's "military adventures" and has voted narrowly in favor of a boycott of Israeli goods. The vote followed calls by some British academics last year to ostracize their Israeli counterparts. At the annual delegates meeting of the journalists' union last Friday, a vote calling for "a boycott of Israeli goods similar to those boycotts in the struggles against apartheid in South Africa" was approved 66 to 54. The delegates also urged Britain and the United Nations to impose sanctions on Israel. The union has about 40,000 members, represented at the annual meeting by about 150 delegates from more than 60 branches. <snip> On the union's conference blog, however, a critic of the vote, identified as Olivia Lang, said, "It is not going to make life easier for journalists anywhere in the world" to be seen to be taking sides. "We need to strive to maintain our objectivity when reporting," she wrote.