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Israeli businessman argues case in Denmark, but fails to end boycott
Israeli businessman argues case in Denmark, but
fails to end boycott
By Ellis Shuman
May 8, 2002
After a Danish workers' union cancelled a
preliminary order of computer
hardware from an Israeli high tech company due to
the IDF's "rough"
actions in the Palestinian territories, the
firm's chief executive
launched an Internet campaign to try to reverse
the union's decision.
But even a face-to-face meeting with the union's
chairman didn't succeed
in changing the Danish boycott of Israel.
"He's a stubborn man," Dov Shoam, CEO of Radix
Technologies said, after
meeting in Copenhagen with Poul Erik Skov
Christensen, chairman of SiD -
the General Workers Union in Denmark. "He was
maybe willing to listen,
but we didn't receive the smallest hint that he
was willing to change
his position," Shoam told Yediot Aharonot. "Maybe
we will have to
'bombard' them some more until they realize that
they were wrong."
Shoam was referring to a massive Internet
campaign he launched after
Jens Peter Hansen, IT manager of SID's training
center, announced that
SiD was canceling its order of 60 units of the
"Radix Protector" net
solution card. The order was valued at about
$10,000, the Jerusalem Post
reported, but would have led to follow-up deals
valued at tens of
thousands of dollars.
Shoam's correspondence with Hansen received a
good amount of publicity
on the Internet, and resulted in SiD receiving
more than 5,000 e-mail
messages from people identifying with Shoam,
Yediot Aharonot said.
Shoam, himself, received over 4,000 messages of
support.
"For the moment, when the Israeli military is
behaving so rough in the
Palestinian Areas, nor I or my Union feel that
it's is right to make
business with companies from your country,"
Hansen wrote in his
cancellation notification to Shoam. Hansen
expressed his hope that the
"ugly war" between Israel and Palestine would end
soon.
Hansen's letter was based on a statement issued
by SiD last month, in
which the Danish union recommended "a boycott not
only of goods from the
occupied areas but also of goods from Israel."
Since the mid-1990s, SiD
has worked on development projects with the
Palestine General Federation
of Trade Unions (PGFTU).
"Let me clearly state that I have no problem
choosing between doing
business with you or supporting my government in
its effort to protect
my daughter's life," Shoam wrote in a reply to
Hansen posted on the
Radix company Web site. "Because of your support
in terror [sic] I hold
you personally responsible for my daughter's
safety.
"I really hope that the Israeli government will
not bend under your
unfair and unbalanced pressure and [will]
continue with the work of
rooting out terror from this business. Yes, even
if I lose your business."
Shoam's meeting with Hansen was attended by
Israeli Ambassador to
Denmark Carmi Gillon. Following the meeting, SiD
issued a statement
announcing, "There is no change in our position.
We call for the
hundreds of thousands of members of the union to
refrain from buying
products manufactured in Israel."
"I did what the official authorities [in Israel]
should have done,"
Shoam said. "I used the Internet well. I received
messages from all
parts of [Israeli] society. What was dearest to
me were the messages
from the bereaved parents [of terror victims]. I
believe that without
trying to do so, I served them well."
SiD - the General Workers Union in Denmark can be
reached at sid@sid.dk.
http://www.israelinsider.com/channels/politics/articles/pol_0138.htm
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