One of Britain’s largest trade unions with over 600,000 members has voted to ban any association with pro Israeli groups. This was the message that went whizzing round the net this weekend, ironically.

You see most computers are powered by Intel technology, which was developed in Jerusalem. And let us not forget that RAD Data’s communication device, also Israeli, that has been chosen as this year’s best networking device by Dr Robert Metcalfe, famous for creating the Ethernet.

So why is it so important for trade unions to consider Israel in such a negative light? Just look at these recent stories coming out of the Holy Land?

• Miss Israel 2013 is Yitysih Aynaw, who was born in Ethiopia and recently made a return visit the country for the first time.
• Soda Stream, a successful Israeli company, operates in the West Bank and was reported to be sought after by Pepsi Cola, is one of many companies that seeks to “build bridges, not walls“.
• Waze, whose app is allowing millions of people around the world to beat traffic jams, is a typical example of an Israeli start up helping those in other countries. It has drawn interest from Apple, Facebook and now Google.
• In fact, Google has been instrumental in bringing together Israeli and Palestinian industrial leaders. The search engine giant is merely following the lead of others like Cisco. Last year, it invested billions in Israeli tech, and this has not stopped it continuing its promotion of Palestinian developmentt.
• Earlier in June, the life of a 10 year old Palestinian was save by a kidney transplant, donated by an Israeli family.

The list goes on, extensively. As Israelis and Palestinians are finding ways to come together, British trades unions are trying to keep them apart!

It is different for me to understand why a UK workers’ union deliberately targeted Israel. Is the country perfect? No. Compare that to Britain, host to the EDL and where mosques are burnt down. Meanwhile, Palestinian NPOs have for years been protesting against the use of torture in local prisons, but the reactions of the Ramallah and Gaza governments have been minimalistic, at best. A stunning no comment from the unions!

Such hypocrisy is dangerous. It not only excludes members from the benefits of learning from other cultures. It also breeds a form of hatred that was supposed to have been eradicated from Europe in 1945, an abyss of human tragedy for all peoples.  I guess that by ignoring Israel, the supporters of the unions new policy are hoping for that epoch to return.