#BDS: #France Penalizes Boycott of #Israel-i Products

"Last May, the Cour de Cassation, the Supreme Court of France, ruled that calls for a boycott of Israeli products constitute discrimination and as such are illegal under French law.

The verdict was the final ruling in a legal battle that went on for years. On 9 July 2005, exactly seven years ago, the Palestinian Authority called for a worldwide Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Campaign against the Jewish State. In February 2009, following the Gaza War in the winter of 2008-2009, several leftist and pro-Palestinian organizations in France convened to organize a French BDS campaign. The activists target French and international corporations that do business in Israel, French branches of Israeli companies, and supermarkets selling Israeli products."

Read more

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."

Read more

#BDS: Campaign launched against French purchase of Israeli drones #France

"French boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaigners have called on their government to abandon a €318 million deal to buy Heron TP drones from Israel Aircraft Industries. Meanwhile, senior members of France’s Senate have called publicly for the country to abandon the purchase on grounds that the Israeli drones are unsuited to the needs of the armed forces.

Campaign against Israeli drones

A petition launched by Campagne BDS France urging the government to end the deal and calling for an immediate military embargo on Israel has already garnered more than 1300 signatures. The text states:"

Read more

#BDS: In blow to #Israel, French BDS activists acquitted of crime in calling for boycott

"Twelve French activists from a group called Boycott 68 have been acquitted on charges of “inciting discrimination and racial hatred” for calling on French shoppers to boycott Israeli goods.

The court judgment in the eastern city of Mulhouse deals a blow to efforts by French prosecutors and Zionist groups to outlaw the growing boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement. The acquittal received wide coverage in French media."

Read more

#BDS: Israeli author kicked off literary panel after request by Palestinian colleague

"In the previous two years the conference had been held in Marseilles, Palestinian writers had refused to come because there were Israeli participants.

There was a stir at a conference of Mediterranean writers in Marseilles yesterday when Israeli author Moshe Sakal was booted from a panel discussion at the request of Palestinian poet Najwan Darwish.

The director of the conference, French-Jewish author Pierre Assouline, said Sakal's participation in the panel, which was on the Arab Spring, "was not crucial."

Read more

#BDS: European Bank Pulls Out Of Israel After Pressure From Boycott Campaign

"The French bank, BNP Paribas, has decided to cease operations inside Israel, after the bank was targeted by the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, which aims to use economic pressure to get Israel to adhere to its obligations and abide by international law.

Although the bank stated that its withdrawal from Israel was not due to the pressure campaign, but instead due to heavy losses sustained during the Greek financial crisis, Israeli officials and bankers have stated that they believe the bank gave in to pressure from European human rights groups to pull out of Israel.

BNB Paribas will close its offices and lay off sixty employees in Israel, and will end its financing of projects in the Jewish state.

Read more

#BDS: French giant #Veolia cut down to size for abusing Palestinian rights

"The French corporation Veolia once appeared unassailable; today it is ailing. It is faced not only with the global economic crisis but also the growing impact of theboycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against its involvement with Israeli apartheid infrastructure and transport projects. A recent merger between Veolia’s transport division and a subsidiary of the main French state investment fund indicates French industry and government have united to find a simple solution to Veolia’s problems: let the taxpayers finance Veolia’s income losses — and its complicity with Israeli war crimes and human rights abuses against the Palestinian people.

On 4 August, Veolia management held a conference call with major financial analysts to defend the company’s latest figures. It wasn’t an easy task. Veolia’s management was forced to gloss over the terrible financial situation of the group that has forced it to draw up sharp cost reduction plans, initiate a complete restructuring of management, plan the pullout from more than forty countries and search for more investors to cover a high debt."

Read more

#BDS: #France to buy Israeli-made drones, 42 years after it banned weapons sales to #Israel

"The French Defense Ministry decided last week to purchase unmanned aerial vehicles from Israel, 42 years after French President Charles de Gaulle placed an embargo on weapons sales to Israel.The approved sale of Heron TP, or Eitan, will be the first time the drone is sold to a foreign country.

The Eitan is the largest and most sophisticated drone made in Israel. It is assembled by Israel Aerospace Industries, and went into operational service in the Israeli Air Force a year and a half ago." 

Read more

#BDS: دعوة فى فرنسا لمقاطعة شراء تمور إسرائيل

أطلقت جمعية "يورو- فلسطين" الفرنسية تحت شعار "مقاطعة إسرائيل، مقاطعة تمور التمييز العنصرى" دعوة الى الفرنسيين والجاليات العربية المقيمة فى فرنسا بالامتناع عن شراء التمور الوارد من دولة إسرائيل.

وحثت المنظمة على مقاطعة التمور الإسرائيلية بهدف عدم تشجيع احتلال الأراضى العربية و حرمان مستوطنى وادى نهر الأردن الذين يعتمدون على الزراعة من أهم مصدر للدخل بالنسبة إليهم.

ترافقت هذه الدعوة مع نشرة بأسماء الموردين الإسرائيليين حتى يسهل على المستهلك التعرف عل هذه التمور المشبوهة.

إقرأ/ي المزيد

#BDS: Boycott Israël : Olivia Zémor gagne son procès !

"La 17ème correctionnelle du tribunal de Paris a prononcé vendredi la relaxe d’Olivia Zémor, poursuivie sur ordre du gouvernement et des officines israéliennes en France, à la suite d’une action BDS (Boycott Désinvestissement Sanctions) dans un hypermarché Carrefour en 2009.

L’audience avait eu lieu le 17 juin dernier. Elle avait duré près de 9 heures au cours desquelles de nombreux témoins avaient démontré l’absurdité de la poursuite, tandis que des centaines de partisans de la solidarité avec le peuple palestinien se mobilisaient."

Read more

#BDS: Lebanese Dancer Johayna Fakhri with Israeli band at Belfast festival, #France

"Israeli metal band " Orphaned Land "continues to bridge the gap Israeli - Arab because of the music: after buying herself tens of thousands of fans the various Arab countries and appeared on the cover of the magazine in Iran , this week the band collaborated with an artist from Lebanon.

Festival "Belfast" in France, one of the world's biggest metal festivals, the band appeared on Sunday on the main stage alongside the Lebanese belly dancer Johanna Fakhri, who danced on stage while the band played. This has been a tradition of the band, belly dancers to its numerous performances abroad, but the first time they shared a stage with the Lebanese Fakhri. On stage and in front of tens of thousands of spectators, raising the band and Fakhri flags of Israel and Lebanon."

Read more

#BDS: #France prosecutes BDS activist

"One of the leaders of a pro-Palestinian group in Paris has been sued for racial hatred after she called for a boycott of Israeli products from the occupied Arab land.

On Friday, Olivia Zemor of the CAPJPO-EuroPalestine group was taken to court by pro-Israeli groups after she appeared in a video made back in 2009 at a supermarket in the French capital that called for the boycott of products made on the land occupied by Israel since 1967.

“The challenge today is to know what degree of independence is the foreign justice able to have related to the French government, how long will it go on with blackmailing people with the accusation of anti-Semitism,” Zemor told a Press TV correspondent. "


Read more

#BDS: محاكمة فرنسية أيدت مقاطعة إسرائيل #France

انطلقت الخميس بباريس محاكمة الناشطة الفرنسية المناصرة للقضية الفلسطينية أوليفيا زمور المتهمة بنشر دعوة مقاطعة البضائع المستوردة من إسرائيل.
وتميزت الجلسة الأولى من المحاكمة بشهادات لشخصيات فرنسية مرموقة أجمعت على شجب قرار القضاء الفرنسي ملاحقة الداعين للامتناع عن اقتناء منتجات "الدولة الاستعمارية المارقة على القانون الدولي"، على حد وصفهم.

وطالبت تلك الشخصيات المحكمة بتبرئة ساحة زمور واحترام حقها في حرية التعبير من خلال الحكم الذي من المقرر الإعلان عنه في الثامن من الشهر المقبل.

وقالت زمور في تصريح للجزيرة نت إن مقاضاتها تأتي على خلفية نشرها على الموقع الإلكتروني لجمعية التضامن الأوروبي مع فلسطين شريط فيديو يظهر مناصرين للقضية الفلسطينية وهم يدعون رواد أحد المراكز التجارية بضاحية باريس للامتناع عن شراء السلع المستوردة من إسرائيل.


إقرأ/ي المزيد

#BDS: Mise au point de la campagne BDS-France sur l'action BDS au Carrefour d'Evry en 2009

"Dont la publication sur le site Capjpo-Europalestine entraîne la comparution d'Olivia Zémor devant la 17ème chambre correctionnelle du Palais de Justice de Paris, le vendredi 17 juin prochain
Suite au message envoyé le 5 juin par Olivia Zémor, y compris sur les listes internationales, nous tenons à préciser des éléments importants :

- Cette action a été faite dans le cadre de la Campagne BDS France (www.bdsfrance.org) et c'est au nom de cette Campagne dont nos différentes associations sont membres que nous témoignerons le 17 juin.

- Il n'y a pas eu de principaux organisateurs de cette action, contrairement à ce qu'affirme ce mail. Les différentes organisations qui  y ont participé sont partie prenante de  la Campagne BDS France, et ont mené cette action collectivement."


Continuer à lire

#BDS: French Activist summoned to court over Israel Boycott Video #France

"Olivia Zemor a French national has been summoned to appear before the Paris tribunal for publishing a video on the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against israel on the website of the organisation she is heading. Zemor is expected to appear before the court on June 17.

The video features Palestinian and French activists dancing in a supermarket in the town of Evry, near Paris, wearing T-Shirts written on them phrases calling for Boycotting Israel."

Read more

#BDS: BDS victories: Dexia bank to sell Israeli subsidiary; Veolia loses another contract

"Just six weeks after French-Belgian bank Dexia gave notice that it was looking for a buyer for its Israeli subsidiary company, the Israeli business news website Globes reported on 15 May that the bank will sell off its 65 percent stake in Dexia-Israel (established in 2001) “by the end of the summer,” even as the parent company faces a loss with its sale. 

This news comes as a victory to the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement. For two years, BDS activists in Belgium and the Netherlands — along with solidarity groups in France, Turkey and and Luxembourg — sustained a campaign against Dexia after it was revealed that the bank provided long-term loans to illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Who Profits, a project of the Coalition of Women for Peace,publicized Dexia’s role in financing the Israeli settlement industry. "

Read more

#BDS: World Cup winning former France star Thuram visits Palestine

"World Cup winning former France star Lilian Thuram visited young Palestinians in a West Bank refugee camp in Qalandia, near Jerusalem.

The former Barcelona, Juventus and Parma defender, who won the World Cup in 1998, is spending four days in the Palestinian territories as part of his work for the Lilian Thuram anti-racism education foundation."

Read more

#BDS: Vous invitez Israël, alors BDS-France s’invite

"Lorsqu’un salon, un évènement culturel ou sportif méprise l’appel au Boycott, Sanctions et Retraits des Investissements contre Israël lancé par la Société Civile Palestinienne le 10 juillet 2005 en invitant l’occupant sioniste, alors soyez sûrs qu’il recevra la visite des militants pro-palestiniens, comme cela s’est passé aujourd’hui au Salon du Tourisme à Paris.


Une cinquantaine de militants de BDS-France et d’ISM s’étaient donnés rendez-vous en ce dimanche 20 mars 2011 au Salon du Tourisme de Paris où Israël et El Al, la compagnie aérienne nationale israélienne tenaient un stand."


Continuer à lire

#BDS: France: Israeli artist singer of the year

"Three years after winning Album of the Year award in World Music category, Israeli artist takes center stage at French music award ceremony

Israeli singer Yael Naim was crowned Best Female Singer of the Year in France's musical award ceremony "Victoires de la Musique" on Tuesday.

Naim competed against French singer Vanessa Paradis, who recently called off her concert in Israel, and Asa, a singer of Nigerian descent considered a rising star in France."

Read more

#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.."