The campaign is being waged by several unions in Ulster.

NIFI co-chairman Terry McCorran spoke out against the campaign which has seen calls to ban the Israeli football team from playing in Belfast and to picket the Leonard Cohen concert because the singer was also performing in Tel Aviv.

He also condemned the harassment of Israeli workers at Castlecourt shopping centre in Belfast last year and the intimidation of shoppers and staff at a local Marks and Spencer store.

Guest speaker Eric Lee, from Trade Union Links with Israel and Palestine, argued that positive engagement with both sides was the best way to support peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

Rev Chris Hudson, who served as a full-time union official for more than 18 years and was a leading member of the anti-apartheid movement in the Republic of Ireland, said it was "a big lie" to describe Israel as an apartheid state.

Fellow NIFI co-chairman Steven Jaffe told the Jewish Telegraph: "The fact that we had standing room only at our meeting indicates this issue is deeply divisive.

"The vast majority of our supporters are not Jewish.

"In Northern Ireland we know that dialogue, however difficult, is the only way forward towards peace, not sterile and negative boycotting."