#BDS: 'It's hard to connect this way, as politics [AND ISRAELI BOMBS] always gets in the way''

"The 2011 Speaking Arts Conference, which was held in Jerusalem last week, attempted to bring together dozens of Jewish and Palestinian artists involved in performing arts (music, theater and movement). The conference featured open performances, workshops and mater classes held in a variety of auditoriums across the city.

The music workshops were led by musician and composer Sameer Makhoul, and the opening concert at the Masie House Theater Center was presented by Achinoam Nini and Gili Dor, with Arab dancer Mona Mashi'l."

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#BDS: #Engelbert to Perform in #Israel Next Month

"Engelbert Humperdinck is not at the height of his career right now, but that hasn't stopped pro-Palestinian elements from targeting him with the same pressures experienced by any foreign artist planning to perform in Israel.

The British pop singer has been facing an anti-Israel campaign in recent weeks, trying to convince him to cancel his scheduled performance at Tel Aviv's Nokia Arena on December 1."

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#BDS: London Boycott Israel Committee Launches ‘Take Apartheid off the Menu’

"The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) in London and other European cities Saturday started its campaign 'Take Apartheid off the Menu: A European Day of Action against Israeli Agricultural Exporters,' according to campaign activists.

The activities in the UK included spreading brochures, raising banners in front of major shopping centers in more than 20 locations, such as London, Manchester, Bristol, Birmingham and Oxford.

BNC called European shoppers not to purchase Israeli agricultural products, especially those made in settlements in the Palestinian Territory, particularly after the organization succeeded in forcing importing enterprises in UK to specify the source companies, whether from Israel or Israeli settlements on Palestinian land."

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#BDS: Chicagoans Show Support for Boycotting Israeli Goods and Apartheid

"On the morning of Black Friday - the single largest shopping day of the year - demonstrators went through three of the busiest shopping centers in Chicago: H&M, Nordstrom and the Water Tower Place Mall. The demonstrators asked holiday shoppers to think of the ethics behind their purchases, and organized brief two-minute chants in favor of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israeli apartheid and advocated a consumer boycott of Israeli products. 

Specifically, this holiday season, they singled out five brands: American Apparel, H&M, Ahava, The Body Shop and Soda Stream. As they chanted, several shoppers walked out, expressing support and recognizing that their purchases should not lend financial assistance to corporations upholding Israel’s discriminatory and forcibly violent - not to mention generally-illegal - policies of colonial apartheid.

The demonstrations were led by the group Chicagoans for Palestinian Rights (CPR) and joined by Palestine Soldiarity Group (PSG) and members of various Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapters (DePaul University, Northwestern University and University of Chicago) as well as unaffiliated community members.

Palestine solidarity activist and University of Chicago doctoral student Ishan Chakrabarti explained, “Some of these companies, like Ahava, The Body Shop and Soda Stream produce goods in the occupied Palestinian territories, on stolen land with stolen resources. Still others, like American Apparel and H&M, profit from apartheid and turn oppression into money by opening numerous stores in Israel on land which was ethnically cleansed of Palestinians by Zionist settlers in 1948. All partake and invest in an ethically bankrupt system.”

In Chicago, the consumer boycott of Israel has seen recent success at DePaul University, where students successfully lobbied the university to allow them the choice of purchasing either Sabra Hummus (produced by the Strauss group, which supports two divisions of the Israeli Defense Forces implicated in human rights abuses) or an alternate brand. 

“Each time, the message is the same: don’t buy into apartheid,” said Chakrabarti."