UK's largest private trade union votes in favour of ban on arms exports to Israel

Al-Ahram Weekly

5 hours ago

In a landmark vote, Unite the Union—the UK's largest private-sector union—backed a full arms embargo on Israel and pledged support for workers who refuse to build, handle, or transport weapons used in Israeli attacks on the occupied Palestinian territories.
Passed during Unite's Policy Conference last week, the motion represents one of the strongest pro-Palestinian stances adopted by a major Western union to date.
The Union backed sweeping measures, including support for a boycott of Israeli goods and divestment from companies complicit in crimes against Palestinians, referencing the Watermelon database, which documents the involvement of more than 400 companies in the Israeli genocide in Gaza.
The resolution further calls for immediate sanctions on the Israeli economy, including the seizure of Israeli state assets held in the UK and a ban on trade with illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
A pledge to defend all Unite members victimized at work for expressing support for the Palestinian people was also included in the motion.
'Unite has a moral and internationalist obligation to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people,' read the Union statement. 'We condemn in the strongest terms the strongest terms the genocidal actions of the Israeli government committed in Gaza and the West Bank, including ethnic cleansing, famine, attacks on civilians, children, hospitals, and aid distribution sites.'
'Entire populations have been displaced, and vital infrastructure has been destroyed. At least 61,000 Palestinians have been deliberately killed', it continued.
Unite's Executive Council also reaffirmed its support for the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and its Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) policy.
BDS is a Palestinian-led global campaign that advocates for nonviolent pressure on Israel to comply with international law and end what it describes as the oppression and occupation of Palestinian territories.
Furthermore, the statement called for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza. It urged the UK government to use its international position to help end the genocide by enforcing sanctions, cutting arms sales, and recognizing the state of Palestine.
Growing Pressure
The resolution comes amid growing mobilization in the UK to stop the Israeli war on Gaza. Activists described the vote as a 'historic milestone' and a significant blow to Israel's weapons supply chain.
On Saturday, nearly 60 Labour MPs demanded that the UK immediately recognize Palestine as a state, following Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz's announcement of a plan to forcibly displace Gaza's population to a camp in Rafah, according to The Guardian.
The MPs, including both centrist and leftwing backbenchers, sent a letter to UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy last week, warning they believed Israel was ethnically cleansing Gaza.
They urged Lammy to take steps to prevent the Israeli government from carrying out its Rafah plan and to recognize Palestinian statehood without delay.
The letter came after French President Emmanuel Macron made a similar plea at a joint press conference with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
The MPs wrote: 'It is with great urgency and concern that we are writing to you regarding the Israeli defence minister's announcement on Monday of his plans to forcibly transfer all Palestinian civilians in Gaza to a camp in the ruined city of Rafah without allowing them to leave.'
They added: 'The defence minister's plans have been described by a leading Israeli human rights lawyer, Michael Sfard, as 'an operational plan for crimes against humanity. It's about population transfer to the southern tip of Gaza in preparation for deportation outside the strip.' Though an accurate description, we believe there is a clearer one: the ethnic cleansing of Gaza.'
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