#BDS: Bob Geldof told 'boycott Israel or lose credibility'

"Pro-Palestinian campaigners have launched a campaign to stop Bob Geldof from visiting Israel next month on the basis that going there would damage the singer's "credibility as a defender of the rights of the dispossessed".

The former Boomtown Rats singer is to make his first trip to the country to accept an honorary degree from Ben Gurion University (BGU) in recognition of his anti-poverty work.

But Raymond Deane, the cultural and academic boycott officer for the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Camp (IPSC) has demanded that the star reject it and also pull out of a conference the same week on Israel's humanitarian aid work in Africa.

In a letter to Mr Geldof, who has an honorary knighthood, he said it was "a shock" that the Irish star would accept the BGU award."

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#BDS: Open Letter to Bob Geldof: Do not choose the side of the Israeli oppressor

"Dear Bob Geldof,

Your decision to accept an honorary doctorate from Israel's Ben-Gurion University (BGU) has come as a shock to many of those who respect your humanitarian activities. Before you travel to Israel, there are a number of points that you might consider.

You might consider that David Ben-Gurion, Israel's founding father, believed that Jews were "more intelligent and diligent" than Arabs and hence should receive higher wages, and supported compulsory transfer of indigenous Palestinians from an ethnic Jewish state: "I support compulsory transfer. I don't see anything immoral in it." Ben-Gurion, after whom the university offering you this doctorate is named, thereby set down the template for an Israeli state premised on racism and ethnic cleansing.

If you believe that BGU, being a university, somehow stands above all such matters, then you might consider that South African academics from the University of Johannesburg (UJ) have called for BGU to be boycotted because "by maintaining links to both the Israeli Defence Force... and the arms industry BGU structurally supports and facilitates the Israeli occupation... BGU is also complicit in the general discrimination at Israeli universities against Palestinians and Palestinian citizens of Israel." (1)

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#BDS: Musician-activist Bob Geldof to Receive Award from Israeli University

"Musician and human rights activist Bob Geldof will accept an honorary degree from Israel’s Ben Gurion University later this year, thus ignoring the Palestinian call to boycott Israeli institutions. Ben Gurion University itself is particularly active in supporting the Israeli army and arms industry.

The award is meant to honor Geldof's anti-poverty activism, including organizing the Live Aid and Live 8 concerts, and his work with a range of charitable causes.

During his visit, Mr Geldof, who has been twice nominated for the Nobel Peace, will also attend a conference on humanitarian aid while in Israel, entitled “Israel in Africa – Past, Present and Future”, being organised by The Israel Forum for International Humanitarian Aid (IsraAID).

The Palestinian Academic and Cultural Boycott Initiative (PACBI) was launched in Ramallah in 2004 and called on the international community to comprehensively and consistently boycott all Israeli academic and cultural institutions until Israel withdraws from all lands occupied in 1967, removes all colonies on these lands, abides by UN resolutions concerning Palestinian refugees’ rights and dismantles its apartheid system. This call later fed into the 2005 united Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel until it complies with international law and universal principles of Human Rights."

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Click here to ask Bob Geldof to respect the Palestinain call for boycott.