[lbo-talk] Palestine Think Tank: Jeff Blankfort - Chomsky and Palestine: Asset or Liability?

[James Heartfield]

Joel writes: "Israel's largest trading partner, if I am correct, is the EU, or to be more precise, European Union member states. European boycotts of Israeli products pose a larger threat than US boycotts of Israeli products. In Italy, two national supermarket chains decided to stop carrying goods made in the settlements, in May. It was a significant victory for Italian anti-occupation activists."

But Italy's boycott campaign also took some unexpected turns. Giancarlo Desiderati, spokesman for the trade union Flaica-Cub, has explicitly called for a boycott of Jewish businesses in Rome. A leaflet issued by his union informed Romans that anything they purchase in Jewish-owned shops will be 'tainted by blood'. Desiderati said that his union was drawing up a list of Jewish shops, 'though it might be better to publish a list of streets in which a majority of the shops are Jewish and ask people to avoid those streets when shopping' (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article5474090.ece)