Perhaps taking their cue from this week’s protest at the Oakland California dock by anti-Israel participants, Swedish longshoremen have announced they are boycotting Israeli vessels.

The dockworkers announced a week-long strike beginning today, Wednesday, an act of protest against Israel’s commando operation against the Mavi Marama. Some 1,500 members of the Swedish Port Workers Union began the boycott at all Sweden’s ports which handle more than 95 percent of the country’s foreign trade. The action is planned to end on June 29.

“Even if goods arrive in trucks, dockworkers often have some role in handling them when they arrive in port,” said Per Helgesson, the union’s chief negotiator.

Union officials are calling on Israel to remove the blockade on Gaza immediately, stating the recent-announced reduction of restrictions is insufficient.

Officials said they expected the boycott to have a minimal impact on Swedish-Israeli trade, which accounts for 0.2 percent of the Nordic country’s total imports and exports. Last year, Swedish exports to Israel were valued at 2.5 billion kronor ($320 million) and imports amounted to some 850 million kronor, according to the Swedish Trade Council.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)