The shift reflects a broader generational change, and has exposed philosophical rifts in the labor movement about what the purpose of a union ought to be.

For decades, the most prominent American unions were largely supportive of Israel. Today, though, amid a resurgence of the American labor movement, some activists are urging their unions to call for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and succeeding — a change that reflects a broader generational shift.

But many unions are divided over what stance to take or whether to take any stance at all.

Some American labor leaders have remained supportive of Israel’s war against Hamas, and moved swiftly to condemn Hamas’s attacks on Oct. 7. They are dismayed by the views of a younger generation of organizers who in some cases oppose Israel’s existence as a Jewish state.

“There has been a shift in society, and that’s reflected in the labor movement as it is every place else,” said Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Jewish Labor Committee and head of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union.

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  • @trackcharlieEnglish
    -27•1 year ago

    Lmao.

    Nothing like watching unions exhibit a complete lack of understanding of nuance, as usual. “I’m just going to say isreal bad because I’ve completely missed the boat on actually informing myself of the situation over there, but I want the brownie points from strangers to make myself feel good and pretend I’m a good person while contributing literally nothing positive to the situation. My whining and bitching is definitely going to stop the hamas terrorists from conducting terror attacks and raping innocent women and children and my whining will absolutely make sure isreal stops retaliating for the attacks on their people. No need to inform myself further on the nuance of the controlling government body of palestine being a terrorist organization, nor do I need to educate myself on the reality that the isreali government has less than 20% of the populations support! My backwater trash brain will soak up the praise of random idiots who also don’t educate themselves on the history of the region so I can feel good about my absolutely terrible and bat shit decisions”

    • @[email protected]
      17•1 year ago

      What a strange comment. It’s the complete opposite. The more people have educated themselves on the situation and history over there, the worse it looks for Israel. The only reason Isreal has gotten away with their behavior this long is because of the ignorance of the general population of the US up to now.