#BDS: Israel Launches New PR Campaign on North American Campuses: Faces of Israel

"A delegation of young Israelis will embark next week on a singular public relations campaign on North American campuses. Entitled Faces of Israel, the delegation includes Arabs and Jews, representatives of the LGBT community and Ethiopian immigrants who are meant to show the “real face” of Israeli society.

Yuli Edelstein, the Minister of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs and the initiator ofFaces of Israel, said that “We believe this is the appropriate answer to the campaign of delegitimisation occurring against Israel throughout the world. This campaign will bring local students face to face with Israeli students just like them. The delegation will be divided into groups and go to various universities, where they will participate in panels and direct encounters on campus.”

According to Israel’s Artuz 7 news outlet, delegation members were “carefully selected with the goal of representing Israeli society as a colourful and diverse society which protects equality and human rights, and thus refute attempts to present Israel as an apartheid state.”

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#BDS: Josep Carreras to perform in Israel"

"Letter to Josep Carreras

Dear Mr Carreras,

 
We were saddened to hear that you will be giving a concert in Israel in March. 

You may not be aware of the serious violations of International Law and Human Rights that have been carried out against the Palestinian population by Israel over the last 60-odd years. One of the most recent violations was the brutal attack made on the Gaza Strip in 2008-2009, during which Israel committed war crimes and crimes against humanity as detailed in the report that the South African judge Richard Goldstone drew up for the United Nations in 2009.

In 1948-1949 the budding Jewish State implemented a policy of ethnic cleansing that converted more than 750,000 Palestinians into refugees. From then on, the Israeli regime has denied basic rights and freedoms to the whole of the Palestinian population, whether resident in Israel, in the territories occupied by Israel in 1967 or in other countries as refugees. Since then the indigenous population of Palestine –made up of Christian, Druze and Moslem Arabs– has suffered occupation, colonisation of their lands and apartheid measures. Since 2002, the Jewish State has been building a separation Wall in the occupied territories (East Jerusalem and the West Bank). This was declared illegal on 9 July 2004 in a ruling by the International Court of Justice."

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#BDS: Israel — a fruitless lie

"I understand the point of complaining that Jaffa Grapefruit are being sold by Coles Australia under the cover of false labelling.

I realise also that it puts a lie to the claim of ‘Ethical Sourcing’ by Coles (see Coles Ethical Sourcing Supplier Fact Sheet). Especially when its purchase of fruit involves the exploitation of Palestinian people whose land was stolen by deception and by force of arms.

Coles false labelling of Jaffa Grapefruit as a 'Product of Australia'

Boycott Divestment & Sanctions (BDS) groups in Australia request that the fruit be labelled ‘Product of Israel’ so that people can choose not to buy those fruit — fair enough.

But to label Jaffa Grapefruit/oranges as a ‘Product of Israel’ contains an historic lie.

The incorrectly labelled Jaffa (in Arabic: يَافَا‎, Yāfā) oranges/grapefruit were the product of Palestine long before Israel existed as a ‘country of origin’.

For example, the Palestinian people of the village Al-Jammasin in the precinct of Jaffa grew citrus for generations before the Zionist settlers came in 19th and 20th centuries."

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Testing

#BDS: Edmonton Israeli Apartheid Week 2011

#BDS: Action Alert: Ban Ahava from Professional Beauty 2011

"We, the undersigned, are aware that Ahava have a stand at Professional Beauty 2011 ExCel 27-28 February. We urge Professional Beauty to reconsider granting Ahava a stand for the following reasons:
• Ahava’s products are made with natural resources from areas in the Dead Sea which are within the West Bank, an internationally-recognised part of the Palestinian Territories 
• These natural resources are taken against the will of their owners and are thus stolen
• Ahava’s products are produced in a settlement in the West Bank called Mitzpe Shalem 
• All settlements in the West Bank, including Mitzpe Shalem, are illegal under international law 
• Palestinians, the internationally-recognised owners of the resources and the land, do not benefit in any way from the resources and lands Ahava uses against their will
• It would be compliant to international law and decent to the true owners of the resources and land to send a strong message of condemnation to Ahava, which is an illegitimate company"

Sign petition here

#BDS: SEPHORA Mulhouse retire les produits AHAVA de la vente!

"La marque de cosmétiques AHAVA est produite dans la colonie Mitzpe Shalem de la vallée du Jourdain à partir de boues. L'exploitation de territoires occupés est illégale selon les Conventions de Genève. 

depuis septembre 2010, le collectif Boycott 68 mène une action d'information auprès de Sephora et de ses clients et appelle au boycott de la marque.
La direction régionale Alsace a décidé le retrait des produits de marque.."

#BDS:Seriously, what else did you expect? Bill that prohibits boycotts of Israel approved in preliminary reading

Ynet reported:


"In a first reading, the Knesset's Constitution, Law and Justice Committee approved a law proposal that would prohibit boycotts of Israel. If the bill is passed, the State would place criminal sanctions on anyone wishing to boycott it. The proposal was accepted despite opposition from the Foreign and Justice Ministries, whose representatives claimed that the law might hurt Israeli interests."