OK Helen, I don’t give in, but I give up, night 
I agree Barrie - I was involved in the campaign to boycott South Africa in my youth - and I think it did help end apartheid. It was principally supported by individuals and organisations - so I think a widely supported boycott of Israel could work without governments etc…
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@Geof_Cox is right about a boycott of Israeli produce, it will contribute to a change in that country, as did a boycott of South African goods. The parallels of Israel and apartheid South Africa are striking, and characterised by an overweening sense of racial superiority by many Israelis over arabs: a claim to ownership based on that superiority as a manifestation of divine ordinance; ruthless and brutall oppreșsion of non-Jews; and the ghettoisation of people on racial grounds into sterile bantustans, enforced by travel restrictions and starvation.
Western governments tend to side with Israelis, many of whom are Caucasian immigrés with no connection withe Middle East, have European ‘values’, and look and behave like Europeans, not the indigenous peoples they forcibly displaced. Serial British Governments, notably that led by the detestable Thatcher, took the same line, favouring white “kith and kin” imperialist and racist colonists against the “savage” blacks, who were afforded no civil rights. My wife, born in Northern Rhodesia, was granted no birth certificate, as bantus were not regarded as worthy of having their inferior lives registered by the White state.
An Israeli woman, interviewed on Al Jazeera about the displaced Palestinian woman whose house she took from her said “She should just pull her self together and move on…”
Netanyahu’s right wing régime will fall, it is only a matter of time. Verwoerd and Botha are relics of history, and their shameful era has been wiped away. South Africa is free, as Palestine will be free, and those Jews with allegiance to a free Palestinian government will, if they wish, be able to remain and practice their religion, worship their God, unhindered and respected.
This I firmly believe, and history, and justice, and human dignity will prevail.
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Me too.
Add Turkey now.
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Bill, libération movements across the continent of Africa were vilified by opinions like yours: sheep-like populations of naive natives who loved and admired their colonial masters, but were misled and manipulated by terrorists into throwing off their shackles, determining their futures and their childrens’, and owning their own natural resources.
I think you are the naive one, Bill. Your use of silly questions like asking if it is still PC to refer to black and white shows your true disposition, which à slight scratch suggests what lies beneath the surface of your thinking.
You are on the wrong side of history, Bill. You belong with Trump and Netanyahu I reckon, and I by your own admission you won’t change, but the world will.
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Blimey Peter, don’t hold back Mate, let it all go!!! 
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OK Billy Boy, toe-to-toe and bare knuckles, but not aboard your boat, I’m not a strong swimmer… 
… unless you’d be willing to haul me back over the gunwale after throwing me overboard… 
Peter… I’m sure Bill would haul you back on board… after he had thought about it for a little while… 
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Like, a day or two Stella? 
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… in which case I shall move with water wings anywhere near Bill in future, and a whistle and a flare, as I can’t be sure about Bill’s perception of the passage of time… Gulp! 
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Totally irrelevant. Palestine was colonised and ethnically cleansed by people with a mind set of extreme racism, a country actually defined by race was created, an apartheid wall built, civilians murdered and maimed with no one being held to account etc., etc.
This is as extreme as it gets. The Palestinians are not being manipulated, corrupted or anything else, they just want to be free of people who see the world in terms of race and rights by race. To suggest they are “terrorists” when they fight back is offensive to decent values.
Now that they are murdering children, and then denying them medical care so that they bleed to death, often to racist chants, suggests Boycotts are not enough.
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@David_Ash, I think if you read my posts on this thread again you must agree that our positions on apartheid Israel closely coincide, and that I drew the parallels of the Netanyahu regime and Verwoerd and Botha’s South Africa in some detail. Having experienced the latter at first hand my comments are hardly irrelevant, are they?
I saw this reported yesterday. I’m just posting this here to add to the mix.
One step closer towards dictatorship…
Helen… do you have a more recent document… that was from 2016
Leicester is the city where I was born…I was really proud of the council for taking a stand…Our mayor actually went to Palestine…
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Yes, Helen, I understand your pride in Leicester… the Mayor’s visit (you have posted) was in 2014…
Do you have any recent documents etc… what happened after his visit…
You can’t pick and chose who you boycott, it has to be a blanket ban or no ban at all.
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I’m thinking the thread is about BDS…boycott divestment sanctions…I can only trace the evolution of the BDS movement…Leicester was a part of that bearing in mind that we are one of the most ethnically diverse cities in uk…my own realisation of the daily horror inflicted on Gaza stems back to 2008…10 years ago…the Gazans are STILL in an open air prison…The treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank is as horrendous as it ever was…there’s no need to side with one or the other…Muslim or Jew…nor any religion…nor any political party…you only need to be a human with a heart to want to do something to stop the bloodshed and suffering…
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