Jan 20, 2011

#BDS: Intel to invest $2.7 billion in Israel chip plant

"(Reuters) - U.S. chipmaker Intel will invest $2.7 billion over the next two years upgrading its chip plant in southern Israel to produce 22 nanometer technology.
The amount includes a 740 million shekel ($210 million) grant recently approved by the Israeli government.
"We are already in preparation for hiring," Maxine Fassberg, general manager of Intel Israel, told a news conference. "We are scheduled to start production in December."
Fassberg said the Israeli plant in Kiryat Gat will be Intel's second worldwide to produce the smaller 22 nanometer chips."
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#BDS: Boycott? Oui! Culturel? Aussi!

"Les artistes ont joué un rôle clé pour isoler le régime d’apartheid en Afrique du Sud dans les années 1980, alors même que les gouvernements occidentaux poursuivaient leurs relations diplomatiques et économiques, dans une complicité criminelle. Aujourd’hui encore, il est trop tôt pour attendre de nos gouvernements de mettre Israël au ban des nations, ou même au banc des accusés ! Mais les artistes peuvent et doivent montrer la voie, suivis par les citoyens que nous sommes tous, pour qu'enfin cesse l'oppression du peuple palestinien.

La campagne BDS
Face à la campagne de Boycott, Désinvestissement et Sanctions (BDS) contre l’Etat d’Israël, pour le forcer à respecter le droit international et les droits humains des Palestiniens, même les défenseurs d’Israël en sont réduits à demander : « Pourquoi ne boycotter que Israël et pas aussi les autres pays qui ne respectent pas non plus le droit international ? ». Au-delà de l’argument d’efficacité, la justification principale de cette stratégie (car le BDS est avant tout une stratégie) est qu’elle répond à un appel à la solidarité qui nous vient des Palestiniens eux-mêmes, depuis 2005[1]. Ce sont eux qui, aujourd’hui, nous demandent de mettre en œuvre cette campagne, et qui en définissent les contours."
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#BDS: A call to the anarchist movement to join the BDS campaign

"The Israeli anti-authoritarian, anti-capitalist organization in Israel, Matzpen, of which Anarchists Against the Wall (AAtW) is a worthy heir, was the first to expose Israel as the culmination of a settler colonialist project (which continues to the present day) in spite the endorsement the country's establishment received in 1947 which has still not been retracted by the local communist party.
The first BDS call in Israel was initiated by Matzpen during the first year of the first intifada, in February 1988. It called for a boycott of the products of the colonialist settlements (see http://www.matzpen.org/index.asp?p=kria in Hebrew). Then there was an internet petition initiated by Matzpen members in 2001** for "Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions", to punish Israel (a call that Noam Chomsky refused to join, saying it was "too early").
The development of joint struggle together with the Palestinians against suppression and the Occupation, promoted by Matzpen and later by the AAtW, has not been done in the name of some nationalist urge or the illusion of building a Palestinian nationalist entity (so-called "national liberation"), but for simple "Liberation" - an end to Israeli settler colonialism and occupation.
Anarchists from all over the world have joined the ISM (International Solidarity Movement with the Palestinians) as individuals, and have come here to participate in our joint struggle. Members of the AAtW already participate in the local and international BDS initiative, as do many anarchist activists all over the world."
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#BDS: Finland shopping for "battle-tested" Israeli weaponry

I wonder who Finland will be testing these on:


"Finland's Ministry of Defense has narrowed the field in its competition to provide the Finnish army with mini unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Of the five remaining bidders, four are Israeli firms with deep ties to the occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Syrian Golan Heights. In addition, three of the models offered are or have been in active recent use in Israeli military operations in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and south Lebanon. The Finnish army already employs a UAV produced by Israel Aerospace Industries, as well as other "battle-tested" Israeli weapons including anti-armor missiles, artillery munitions, avionics and more. 

The aviation news website Flight Global recently reported that the remaining models were the pan-European consortium EADS' DRAC model, and four models from Israeli manufacturers: BlueBird's Spylite, Elbit Systems' Skylark, the Israel Aerospace Industries Bird-Eye 650 and Aeronautics Defense Systems' Orbiter. The article noted that the Finnish army "plans to acquire 30-45 UAV systems that will include between 120 and 176 air vehicles, with the deal to have a value of around $25 million" ("Five bidders to contest Finnish UAV deal," 1 December 2010)."

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#BDS: Israeli Activists Call on UK TeleComm. Giant to Cut Ties with Israeli Phone Company

"Tel Aviv – PNN - Israeli activists on Tuesday called on UK telecommunications giant BT to “live up” to the company’s “professed ethical standards” and “cut all ties with Israel’s occupation” by severing links with Israeli phone company Bezeq.

On the one year anniversary of BT accepting Bezeq into its exclusive ‘Global Alliance’, Israeli citizens from ‘Boycott From Within’ said they were “saddened and dismayed” at BT’s relationship with a company deeply involved in illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
“We, Israeli citizens devoted to the promotion of a just peace and a true democracy in the Middle East”, the letter begins, “are deeply concerned about the potentially irreversible damage inflicted on Palestinians by the brutal Israeli occupation, and about the outrageous international support of such policies.”

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#BDS: Update on Macy Gray's Decision Whether to Perform in Israel or Not

Macy Gray has not yet decided whether she is going to perform in Tel Aviv, Israel or not. We still have time to make her do the right thing. Leave her a message on her facebook page or her twitter account asking her to boycott the apartheid state.


#BDS: Macy Gray is waiting to hear from you: Shall I perform in Israel?

Macy Gray left the following post on her official fan page on facebook:


I'm booked for 2 shows in TelAviv. I'm getting alot of letters from activists urging/begging me to boycott by NOT performing in protest of Apartheid against the Palestinians. What the Israeli government is doing to the Palestinians is disgusting, but I wana go. I gotta lotta fans there I dont want to cancel on and I dont know how my NOT going changes anything. What do you think? Stay or go?

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz has dedicated a whole article to urge Israelis and Zionists to tell Macy they're waiting for her in Israel, so let's unite our efforts and ask her to join the international BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) Movement!


Please like Macy Gray's pagehttp://www.facebook.com/pages/Macy-Gray-Official/176046896552 then leave her a comment asking her not to perform in Israel!

OR copy and paste the following:


Dear Macy,

Please support the Palestine call for BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) and boycott the occupying apartheid Zionist entity!

Say no to massacres, ethnic cleansing, tree uprooting, home demolition, war crimes, racism, religious supremacy, discrimination, collective punishment, official torture, disgrace unto the nation...

Join Vanessa Paradis and Johnny Depp who recently canceled their trip to Israel in support the boycott calls.

Say NO to ISRAEL!

Remember GAZA:

More than 1,300 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip were killed during 22 days of Israeli shelling from sea, air and land. Palestinians in Gaza had nowhere to flee from Israel's onslaught as the border has been closed for two years, with disastrous consequences for the 1.5 million in habitants of Gaza -- the majority of them children and refugees.