#BDS: ‘Undip Sabra’ campaign hits DePaul’s bulletin boards and cafeteria cash registers

By Sami Kishawi

Two months ago, the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at DePaul University called on the campus administration to remove Sabra hummus and affiliated products from school cafeterias. The organization’s reasoning was that Sabra was owned by Strauss Group, a company directly benefiting and supporting two notorious brigades in the Israeli army.
The school’s administration immediately recognized the problematic nature of the product and decided to withdraw it from all campus dining halls and eateries. Almost immediately, however, pro-Zionist groups, both on and off campus, pressured the administration into reinstating Sabra products. The administration calmly promised a thorough investigation and review of the product in the beginning of DePaul’s second quarter. (Read SJP’s statement here.)
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#BDS: ACTION ALERT: Remove Sabra Hummus from DePaul University

The DePaul chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine calls on DePaul University to permanently remove Sabra hummus from its cafeteria shelves, because Sabra's parent company, the Strauss Group, financially supports the Israeli military's Golani and Givati brigades, which have been charged with countless violations of international law.


Click here to sign the petition.

#BDS: Vanessa Paradis annule son concert en Israël

"La chanteuse française Vanessa Paradis, qui devait se produire le 10 février prochain à Tel-Aviv, a décidé d’annuler son concert, entendant ainsi les nombreuses voix qui lui demandaient de ne pas cautionner par sa présence l’apartheid israélien.

Samedi soir, à l’initiative de CAPJPO-EuroPalestine, une trentaine de militants BDS s’étaient notamment retrouvés devant le théâtre de Conflans-Sainte-Honorine (Yvelines), où la chanteuse se produisait, pour l’informer, elle et son public, des crimes commis par l’Etat d’Israël à l’encontre du peuple palestinien.

Nous lui avons offert une petite sérénade, une chorégraphie, et avons distribué à tous les spectateurs, sous forme de tract, la lettre ouverte à Vanessa Paradis signée par 19 artistes et intellectuels israéliens du mouvement Boycott From Within (Boycott de l’Intérieur).

Quelques heures plus tard, les producteurs du spectacle de Vanessa Paradis, Charles Bensmaine et David Stern, annonçaient l’annulation de l’étape Tel Aviv, officiellement pour « impératifs professionnels » de l’artiste.

MERCI VANESSA !

On peut lui écrire pour la remercier à :

Vanessa Paradis

Universal Music France

20 rue des Fossés Saint Jacques

75005 Paris

CAPJPO-EuroPalestine"

#BDS: Boycott the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra on its US Tour!

"The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel appeals to BDS activists in the United States to boycott the US tour of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) in February and March 2011, due to its complicity in whitewashing Israel's persistent violations of international law and human rights. The IPO is scheduled to perform in Palm Beach, New York, Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles [1]. We urge activists to continue the principled tradition of activists in New York and Los Angeles in 2007, when they protested the IPO’s appearance in their cities. [2]
The IPO is one of the flagship institutions of the Israeli state, tracing its history to the 1930’s under the British Mandate. The IPO Foundation describes the orchestra as “Israel’s musical ambassador,” [3] while the American Friends of the IPO says this about it:
Often said to have more heart than other orchestras, the IPO is Israel’s finest cultural emissary and travels throughout the world, particularly to countries where there is little or no Israeli representation. In some cases, performances of the IPO are the only example of Israel’s existence. The goodwill created by these tours, which have included historic visits to Japan, Argentina, Poland, Hungary, Russia, China and India, is of enormous value to the State of Israel. As a result, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra maintains its position at the forefront of cultural diplomacy and the international music scene [4]"
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#BDS: “Palestine Under Siege: What Every American Needs to Know.”

"You’re invited! 
“Palestine Under Siege: What Every American Needs to Know.” 
Thursday, January 20, 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. 
Christ United Methodist Church, Education Conference Center 
400 5th Avenue SW. Rochester, MN 55902 
Representatives from the Minnesota Break the Bonds Campaign will present an
hour-long program on the plight of the Palestinians under Israeli
occupation. This will be followed by a time for questions. 
The BDS (Boycott Divest Sanction) movement (of which MN Break the Bonds is a
part) has been gaining momentum in the U.S. as well as the world. This
citizens’ initiative marks a turning point: the time for justice is long
overdue for the Palestinian people, and traditional peace talks alone are
not enough. 
MN BBC has been on tour in the state giving programs like this one because
as Minnesotans become informed on the ways they are supporting the Israeli
government’s unjust policies, they will be asking themselves and others:
“Why has our state legislature taken a pro-Israel position in the investment
of our tax money?” They will expect their legislators to uphold and apply
the same ethical principles to investment in Israeli bonds as was done in
the past when Minnesota divested from bonds with Sudan, Iran, and S. Africa.
State legislators from southeast Minnesota will be invited and encouraged to
attend. 
Sponsored by the Southeast Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers. 
For more information contact: Hank Kliewer hklie...@charter.net "

#BDS: American tax-exempt organizations provide direct funding to Israeli army

Siting Hybrid States blog:


"Elsewhere on this blog I have highlighted how tax-exempt donations to US organizations are used to fund overt racism and racist violence, genocidal rabbis, Jewish terrorists, andillegal Jewish-only colonies on Palestinian land.  So it really shouldn’t come as a surprise that US charity money also goes directly to the Israeli army, and yet I still find it remarkable that US government subsidies in the form of tax breaks can be used to fund foreign militaries.

Meet the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, which helps support “young men and women soldiers of Israel who defend the Jewish homeland.”  This support includes nationalistic “support programs”, physical construction projects on Israeli military bases, gives discretionary pocket money directly to Israeli army commanders for use on their soldiers, pays for soldiers to take leave and go on vacation, and on and on.  And in 2008, the most recent year for which CharityNavigator has data, this group raised over $48 million and gave over $31 million dollars to Israel’s occupation army."

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#BDS: Vanessa, n'y va pas!