How many Shetlanders are prepared to cut ties with Israel?
I read with interest, an article titled Shetland Island Council urged to cut ties to Israel in Monday’s Herald newspaper. (Paywall)
It is a noble thing to pressurise politicians to take ethical and moral leadership on crucial issues. However, how many Shetlanders are also prepared to cut ties with Israel?
Will all Shetlanders commit to removing their crofts, campsites and businesses from the following: AirBnB,Booking.com, Expedia and TripAdvisor? These four companies are on the same UN watchlist as the companies the Shetland community are urging councillors to divest from!
No company on that list ever deserves a single penny from any of us again. So, it is correct for SIC to consider keeping the moral high ground.
As much as we need politicians who are not two-faced and speak from both sides of their mouth – we need voters also to have straight and forthright motivations behind demands that they make of their elected representatives. Politics is a two-way process.
You can’t expect local elected leaders to do all the divestment for you – if you, at the same time, are making meaningful contributions to genocide yourself. They can only remove the council from harmful impacts on the genocide by divestment of financial interests they have.
I would suggest that Shetland Islands Council pause any decision on this until a substantial number of businesses, and attractions, in Shetland remove themselves from these four companies’ websites and listings pages.
Shetland councillors need to be assured that their local community is behind them if they do go ahead with a divestment decision.
Dave Croft
London
Please also see:
Councillors reject ‘very expensive gesture’ and decide not to divest funds from Israel
