Norway marks International Quds Day - #BDS

Hundreds of Christians and Muslims marched towards Norway's parliamentary buildings to commemorate International Quds Day in the country's capital.

The annual rally which takes place on the last Friday of Ramadan, saw demonstrators shouting slogans demanding an end to the ongoing Israeli occupation of Palestinian land and a boycott of Israel. 

Several leading Palestinian figures as well as representatives from Muslim communities in Norway also gave speeches at the rally. 

The rally was held a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas held the first round of talks in Washington on Thursday. 

The thorniest issues between the negotiating sides are Israel's refusal to halt its illegal settlement activity in the West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem). 

The settlements and their unrecognized counterparts known as outposts have been characterized by the United Nations Security Council, the International Court of Justice, the European Union, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch as built in violation of international law. 

Iran to publish Israeli-linked firms list - #BDS

Iran will publish a list of Israeli-linked companies by next week to apply sanctions against them, Iran's Vice-President for Parliamentary Affairs Mohammad-Reza Mir-Tajeddini says.

Iran's Foreign Ministry presented a list of multi-national companies with Israeli connections to the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission last week, Mir-Tajeddini told Mehr news agency on Monday. 

The Iranian official further pointed out that the list will be published in the media upon an agreement made by the Iranian Parliament and the country's government. 

He went on to say that Israel has an influential economic cartel across the world and it is constantly establishing new companies under new brands and Iran will expose them after the anti-Israel sanction is applied. 

Israeli goods banned on Quds Day in US - #BDS

American demonstrators marking International Quds Day have announced that they would boycott Israeli products as an indication of their support of the Palestinian nation.

Americans staged rallies in the US capital Washington on Friday along with other Muslims across the world to mark International Quds Day, IRIB reported. 

At the end of the rallies, a statement was issued in which those participating said they would no longer use goods from Israel and the major US companies which support Israel to show their unity with the Palestinians. 

The ralliers supported the Palestinians' right to defend themselves and choose a government. 

In the statement, they also called for a referendum to be held, in which all Palestinians -- Muslims, Christians and Jews -- could determine their future. 

They said that all Palestinians from all religions should enjoy equal rights. 

The International Quds Day was designated by the late Founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini. 

The day is observed on the last Friday of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, during which Muslims across the world hold rallies in support of their brothers in faith, the Palestinians. 

Boycott Movement Targets Israel: a Just boycott - #BDS

When does a citizen-led boycott of a state become morally justified?

That question is raised by an expanding academic, cultural and economic boycott of Israel. The movement joins churches, unions, professional societies and other groups based in the United States, Canada, Europe and South Africa. It has elicited dramatic reactions from Israel’s supporters. U.S. labor leaders have condemned British unions, representing millions of workers, for supporting the Israel boycott. American academics have been frantically gathering signatures against the boycott, and have mounted a prominent advertising campaign in American newspapers - unwittingly elevating the controversy further in the public eye.

Israel’s defenders have protested that Israel is not the worst human-rights offender in the world, and singling it out is hypocrisy, or even anti-Semitism. Rhetorically, this shifts focus from Israel’s human rights record to the imagined motives of its critics.

But “the worst first” has never been the rule for whom to boycott. Had it been, the Pol Pot regime, not apartheid South Africa, would have been targeted in the past. It was not — Cambodia’s ties to the West were insufficient to make any embargo effective. Boycotting North Korea today would be similarly futile. Should every other quest for justice be put on hold as a result?

In contrast, the boycott of South Africa had grip. The opprobrium suffered by white South Africans unquestionably helped persuade them to yield to the just demands of the black majority. Israel, too, assiduously guards its public image. A dense web of economic and cultural relations also ties it to the West. That — and its irrefutably documented human-rights violations — render it ripe for boycott.