Scottish areas ban Israeli products

May 24, 2011 | Filed under: Press Releases | Posted by: Gamut News Staff

May 24, 2011 (UPI NewsTrack) — GLASGOW, Scotland, May 24 — Some Scottish districts have banned stores from selling English translations of Israeli books and called for a boycott of Israeli products, officials said.

In response to the anti-Israeli measures, Ron Prosor, Israel’s ambassador to Britain,told Ynetnews.com a place that boycotts books “isn’t far from a place that burns them.”

About 2 1/2 years ago, following Operation Cast Lead, a three-week Israeli military offensive in Gaza, the West Dunbartonshire Regional Council west of Glasgow approved a bill calling for a boycott Israeli goods, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Tuesday.

Last May, following an Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla in which nine Turkish activists were killed, the council extended the ban, barred the sale of English translations of Israeli books in shops and forbade libraries from stocking them, the Hebrew daily said.

“The municipality will not boycott Israeli books printed in Britain only books that were printed in Israel, Malcolm Bennie, spokesman for the council said.

Last year, the city of Dundee followed suit and, acting on advice by legal advisers, opted to post notices in the city calling on residents to refrain from purchasing Israeli goods, and there are plans to mark all Israeli-made products to make their identification easier, the daily said.

The European Union forbids members from boycotting products from countries that have not had an official embargo imposed upon them, Ynetnews.com said.

  • Rimona Fartook

    West Dunbartonshire Regional Council should be consistent with their ban. Let them rip out the processors in their PCs (R&D Intel, Israel), delete Microsoft Operating Systems (R&D Microsoft, Israel), rip out the MRI machine at the hospital (produced under license from Elbit, Israel) stop using the internet (powered by Cisco routers throughout the UK) and finally drop their own website (written in PHP – developed in Israel).

    I for my part will no longer stop over for a meal in Dumbaton, Jamestown or Alexandria and will take my business further north on Loch Lomond, when heading for the Highlands with groups of tourists. I will also try to persuade my supermarket to boycott Scottish whisky in favour of Irish brands.

  • Pam

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckd7FQKDNZM&feature=related As a child of Scotland, I am so distressed to hear this. Can Dundee and West Dunbartonshire really have lost their way to this extent? God promises to bless those who bless Israel and to curse those who curse Israel. That promise stands throughout the ages. From the Jewish people (and from Israel the nation) have come the Bible, the heroes of the faith, and the Messiah, along with many lesser gifts we depend on every day. Does Dundee really want to be allies with those who “marked” the Jewish people with specific symbols– as is proposed to do to Israeli goods? May a spirit of repentance wash over the land. Yeshua (Jesus) said, “What you do to the least of these My brothers, you do to Me.” Is that how Dundee and West Dunbartonshire want to be remembered? Israel is not the problem. Israel received missile attacks from those who want to destroy Israel every day. Let Dundee not be part of stoning others. Let Scotland stand up against terrorism directed against Israeli citizens and remember the one million Israeli Arabs who enjoy more civil rights and freedoms than Arabs anywhere else. Remember Israel, the one country in the Middle East, which protects freedom of religion and allows entrance to religious shrines by all faiths. Remember Scottish heroes who stood up for Israel in the past. God says, “I am zealous over Zion.” That has not changed. Ezekiel 39:25
    “Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will now restore the fortunes of Jacob and will have compassion on all the people of Israel, and I will be zealous for My holy name.