U.S. lawmakers protest U.K. boycott

By · April 24, 2007

U.S. lawmakers wrote to the British ambassador protesting a call by British journalists to boycott Israel. U.S. Reps. Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, and Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.) wrote Monday to Sir David Manning about the National Union of Journalists’ decision to boycott Israel.While acknowledging that the union is not a government body, the letter
indicated that “it would be extremely unfortunate” if the organization
was boycotting Israel to appease Palestinian terrorists who kidnapped
BBC reporter Alan Johnston in Gaza last month. “Such behavior would only beget more violence,” the letter warned.The lawmakers also cited concern over reports of reduced Holocaust
education in British secondary schools, although those reports now
appear to be unfounded."It is our strong opinion that those students who may harbor a bias against Jews, or who may associate the Holocaust with Israeli policies they oppose are, in fact, the people most in need of education on the universal significance of the Nazi genocide against the Jewish people and other groups,” the letter said.