History of French #BDS Movement

"The birth of a movement (January 2009 – June 2009)

Up until 2008, the 2005 call for boycott, divestment, and sanctions [BDS] against Israel that had been issued by the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) was debated and argued in France, but it was only an option on the French political activist scene. The war on Gaza, in the winter of 2008-2009, was the major event that mobilized supporters of the boycott and silenced the critics. So far, the mobilization in France during major Israeli attacks had seemed primarily emotional, but the war on Gaza [Operation Cast Lead] was a turning point in awareness. It helped activists understand the Oslo Accords policy and the “peace process” as nothing but a means to continue the occupation and building settlements.

After the emotional shock [of Cast Lead], [people were willing to make a strong committment and to unite behind the cause], especially in neighborhood communities (suburbs of large French cities), including Muslims and youth, girls and boys. Those relatively new players will play a key role in building the BDS movement and in the type of actions and directions that will be taken."

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#BDS: No Valentine for Israeli blood diamonds. #Ireland

"Members of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign joined London human rights campaigners in Hatton Garden, the centre of London’s jewellery trade, to raise awareness among shoppers and jewellers about the continuing sale of Israeli blood diamonds.

Israel is one of the world’s leading manufacturers and exporters of cut & polished diamonds which generate more than US$ 1 billion (about UK£ 600 million) a year for the Apartheid State. Many jewellers falsely claim Israeli diamonds are “conflict-free” which is totally unjustified, given Israel’s blatant violation of international laws."

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#BDS: Equality’s Racism: Using #LGBT Rights to Veil Apartheid

"Imagine the magazine Good Housekeeping awarding the Texas Department of Corrections its seal of approval for the cleanliness of its death row — pristine conditions, though the seating’s a bit clunky!

There is something obscene about an organization devoted to equality planning to feature at its national summit a theocratic police state whose existence is founded on the expulsion and ongoing repression of its indigenous population.

Equality Forum, a nonprofit organization whose mission “is to advance national and international lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights through education,” is hosting Israel’s ambassador to the United States as their keynote speaker and featuring Israeli artists at their May conference in Philadelphia. Its celebration of Israel’s purported LGBT civil rights is truly an elaborate expression of totally missing the point."

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#BDS Leader: 'End Game’ Coming in Mideast #PennBDS

"A prominent Palestinian rights activist said Saturday night that the recent fury around the first national conference advocating a boycott of Israel, being held at the University of Pennsylvania, signifies that the Mideast conflict is at an “end game.”

“This insane hysteria about the conference tells us something about the moment we are in,” said Ali Abunimah, a co-founder of the Electronic Intifada news site, in his keynote speech at the conference. “In terms of the battle of ideas, we are in the end game.”

The three-day conference, which continues today, focuses on the BDS movement — the initiative to boycott, divest from, and implement sanctions against Israel. The conference has caused a stir in the Jewish community in Philadelphia, with local Jewish leaders organizing a counter speech on Thursday by Alan Dershowitz, a Harvard law professor and a defender of Israel."

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#BDS: Anti-Israel Pastor Mitri Raheb Awarded Deutscher Medienpreis #Palestine #Germany

"The ELCJHL is proud to announce that Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb, Pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem and President of the Synod is to be awarded to prestigious “Deutscher Medienpreis” (German Media Prize) at an official ceremony in the city of Baden-Baden in Germany on 24 February 2012.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the awarding of the Deutscher Medienpreis, which annually awards prizes to individuals who show exceptional performance, leadership qualities, and visionary work. Usually this prize is awarded to those individuals whose work has garnered much media attention, but to mark this anniversary the jury decided to honor individuals who, in their work for peace, have quietly continued on without much media attention."

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#BDS: Organizers say pro-Israel filmmaker with controversial past deceives, disrupts #PennBDS conference

"Organizers of the University of Pennsylvania's BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) conference acted to prevent a rightwing pro-Israel filmmaker from interviewing participants at the conference because he misrepresented himself and disrupted the event Saturday, they said. 

The fracas started when organizers got word that Martin Himel, a Canadian filmmaker with a controversial ideological history, had registered for the event without identifying himself as a reporter and was interviewing conference-goers. After some discussion, a decision was made to tell Himel that he could not film any more, although he was allowed to attend the conference since he registered as a participant."

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#BDS: #OO «احتلوا أوكلاند» تدعو إلى سحب الاستثمارات الأميركية من إسرائيل

صوّت ناشطو حركة «احتلوا أوكلاند» في ولاية كاليفورنيا الأميركية بغالبية ساحقة على مشروع قرار يدعو إلى دعم حركة المقاطعة وسحب الاستثمارات وفرض العقوبات على إسرائيل، وذلك بعدما قام ناشطون أميركيون مؤيدون للقضية الفلسطينية على تقديم مشروع القرار الذي حصل على تأييد بالإجماع تقريباً، يوم الأربعاء الماضي، بعد مناقشة قصيرة. وهاجمت الحركة، في بيان بثته على موقعها الإلكتروني، المساعدات الأميركية لإسرائيل، قائلة إن إسرائيل هي التي دفعت الولايات المتحدة وشجعتها على شنّ حربها على العراق وأفغانستان.

وحركة «احتلوا أوكلاند» هي جزء من حركة احتجاج واسعة في الولايات المتحدة على تناقضات الوضع الاقتصادي في البلاد، حيث تحمّل مسؤولية الأزمة الاقتصادية والمالية، التي تشهدها البلاد منذ سنوات، لسياسات «وول ستريت» والرأسمالية الأميركية وجشع الشركات الأميركية الكبرى.

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