Open Letter to John Lydon from the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign

Dear John,

Although you were born in Ireland, you may not be aware that on 12th August the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) launched its "boycott pledge" campaign, whereby over 140 (now over 160 and counting) Irish artists undertook "not to avail of any invitation to perform or exhibit in Israel, nor to accept any funding from any institution linked to the government of Israel, until such time as Israel complies with international law and universal principles of human rights."

Proportionally, the largest number of these artists are musicians: musicians of all kinds ranging from classical composers to sean nós dancers to death metallers to - yes - punk rockers, but all described without discrimination as musicians. I'm proud to be one myself.Some of these artists are starting out on their careers, and may be taking a risk in signing such a pledge: the reach of the Zionist lobby in the USA is long, and who doesn't want to be big in the States? Others are already household names, and can and do whistle at the risk.

Few of these artists waste time proclaiming their rebelliousness or their anarchism: they are natural-born rebels with historical awareness and a social conscience, and are prepared to put their reputations on the line to demonstrate it.

In calling for a boycott, they are contradicting the policy of the Irish government and of the European Union which is "not to support boycotts or sanctions of Israel at this time". Instead, these governments ignore Israel's crimes, offer it substantial trading privileges, and treat it like a European country and a model democracy - thus in reality demonstrating their complicity with an Apartheid state engaged in a pitiless process of colonial expansion and dispossession and slow genocide of the indigenous Palestinian people.

You, on the other hand, who explicitly claim to be "anti-government", apparently agree with the EU governments on this, because you plan to break the cultural boycott of Israel by performing in Tel Aviv on 31st August. You are also willing to play by the rules of the criminal Israeli government which, through its spokesman Nissim Ben-Sheetrit in 2005, stated that "We see culture as a propaganda tool of the first rank, and...do not differentiate between propaganda and culture."

John, do you really wish to be "a propaganda tool" for such a foul regime? Because, believe me, the Israeli state doesn't need to hi-jack your music or your words (just in case you do "protest" while you're there, as you've promised) - the very fact of your presence will be hi-jacked to prove how "normal" that abnormal state is.

But it's not too late: you can still cancel your trip to Israel, and join the ranks of those honourable artists who refuse to play along with Apartheid. The IPSC Cultural Boycott Pledge (http://www.ipsc.ie/pledge) is still open and you would be most welcome to sign it: we'll be waiting for you with open arms!

Sincerely -

Raymond Deane

(Composer, IPSC Cultural Boycott Officer)

Christians, Jews meet over boycott

JEWISH and Christian leaders have met in Sydney to heal the wounds caused by a call last month for Australians to boycott Israeli goods made in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The National Council of Churches in Australia called for Australians to consider the boycott at the request of Middle Eastern churches, but the Jewish community was outraged.

The president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Robert Goot, wrote to the council saying the resolution was a ''most unpleasant surprise … we feel that we have been badly let down by people we have long thought of as our friends''.

Last week members of both councils, including heads of the Catholic and Anglican churches, archbishops Philip Wilson of Adelaide and Phillip Aspinall of Brisbane, met to restore relations.

Yesterday the councils, the leading organisations for the respective faiths, said in a joint statement that a ''serious exchange of views'' had helped Christian leaders better understand Jewish concerns and Jewish leaders better understand why the resolution was adopted.

Mr Goot would not comment further and the general secretary of the churches council, Tara Curlewis, said only that the statement showed the depth of the relationship between the groups. But the boycott resolution remained in place. They will meet again to work on a ''more comprehensive'' statement.

Public Image Ltd. To Play In Israel Despite Boycott

Israel has been boycotted by a broad range of artist in recent times, including Elvis Costello, Gil Scott-Heron and the Pixies. While most musicians are pulling out of shows due to concerns over the Israeli government’s treatment of Palestine, John Lydon has no such worries about bringing his recently revived Public Image Ltd. to the country.

“Of course, there are all sorts of terrible politics going on down there but there is just about all over the world,” Lydon said, in an interview with 6 Music. “You cannot separate yourself from your audience because of the political powers-that-be. I mean, I'm anti-government—I have been all my life no matter where I go—and I shall be making that loud and clearly proud once I'm in Israel."

How effective Lydon’s protest will be once he arrives in Israel remains to be seen, although he is likely to be unconcerned about raising the ire of people angered by him traveling there. "We've received a lot of hate mail, as it happens,” he claims. “[That] going to Israel is some kind of political faux pas. I say, 'Don't be so ignorant -- it's John speaking here and I'm going there to cause trouble and I will do it musically.'"

Iranian taekwondo fighter boycotts final, Israeli wins gold by default

Israeli taekwondo fighter Gili Haimovich, 17, wins gold medal at Summer Youth Olympics in Singapore when Iranian opponent refuses to compete against him in final.

Israeli taekwondo fighter Gili Haimovich, 17, won a gold medal at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics in Singapore on Sunday on a technical victory after an Iranian fighter Mohammed Soleimani refused to compete against him in the championship match.

Haimovich waited several minutes until it was clear Soleimani would not appear before beginning his victory celebration.

Harvard not divesting from Israel

Harvard University sold off some of its investments in Israel but is not divesting itself from the Jewish state and the portfolio changes were not politically motivated, according to the university's spokesman.

Reports that Harvard sold off all of its holdings in Israel sparked immediate outrage across the Internet Monday morning, based on the news that the Harvard Management Company's most recent SEC filing revealed that it had sold stocks amounting to $39 million in Israeli companies such as Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., NICE Systems Ltd., Check Point Software Technologies Ltd., Cellcom Israel Ltd., and Partner Communications Ltd.

But Harvard spokesman John Longbrake tells The Cable that the filing shows only a change in holdings, not a change in policy.

"The University has not divested from Israel. Israel was moved from the MSCI, our benchmark in emerging markets, to the EAFE index in May due to its successful growth. Our emerging markets holdings were rebalanced accordingly," he said.

Harvard still is invested in Israel, Longbrake said, but he declined to go into specifics. He said the filing in question only represents a small portion of Harvard's overall portfolio, which is about $26 billion.

In other words, Israel's growth and development resulted in a status change whereby the stocks could no longer be considered "emerging market" holdings, requiring Harvard to rebalance its emerging market portfolio.

Israel boycott not self-serving

K Nolan refers to the proposed boycott of Israel by 150 (now over 160) Irish artists as "sanctimonious and self-serving to say the least!" (Letters, August 16).

This puzzles me. Is K Nolan not being "sanctimonious" when he refers to "the sectarian and apartheid state of Israel"? The artists share this view of that state, but are prepared to go beyond invective and take action in the most effective way that is open to them.

In the process, they are potentially depriving themselves of income (Israel pays well for those who are prepared to act as its propaganda tools) while simultaneously risking their careers in the USA, where the vindictiveness of the Zionist lobby leads to discrimination against Israel's critics.

Surely this is the very opposite of "self-serving"?

Raymond Deane
Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Dublin 2

Irish Independent

No Business as Usual with Israel: PACBI Salutes Faithless

PACBI | 15 August 2010

No Business as Usual with Israel: PACBI Salutes Faithless

Occupied Ramallah, 15 August 2010

The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) salutes the British dance group Faithless for declining to play in Israel this summer. The cancellation of the group’s Israeli gig is the latest in a string of cancellations of performances in Israel by artists and musicians of conscience, artists who say no to normalizing relations with Israel, no to business as usual with a state that practices the most pernicious forms of occupation, colonialism and apartheid.

We applaud Faithless frontman Maxi Jazz for the unequivocally clear message explaining the band’s decision:

“While human beings are being wilfully denied not just their rights but their NEEDS for their children and grandparents and themselves, I feel deeply that I should not be sending even tacit signals that this is either 'normal' or 'ok'. It's neither and I cannot support it. It grieves me that it has come to this and I pray everyday for human beings to begin caring for each other, firm in the wisdom that we are all we have.” [1]

This statement brings to focus the fact that performing in a state that practices occupation, colonization and apartheid, as Israel does, cannot be regarded as a purely artistic act, if any such act exists. Regardless of intentions, such an act is a conscious form of complicity that is manipulated by Israel in its efforts to whitewash its persistent violations of international law and Palestinian rights. This is because artistic performances in Israel promote a “business as usual” attitude that normalizes and sanitizes a state that has committed war crimes over several decades -- in Gaza, Jerusalem, the Naqab (Negev), and recently in the high seas against international humanitarian relief workers aboard the Freedom Flotilla.

An artist who performs in Israel today -- just like any artist who violated the boycott and performed in Sun City, South Africa, during apartheid -- can only be seen by Palestinians and people of conscience around the world as motivated by profit and personal gain far more than by moral principles. We know that Israeli concert promoters offer large sums of money to lure international performers as part of Israel’s “Brand Israel”[2] campaign, designed explicitly to hide Israel’s criminal violations of human rights under a guise of artistic and scientific glamour and a deceptive image of cultural excellence and “liberalism.”

Artists who courageously take principled positions on the side of justice deserve the highest commendation. We also take this opportunity to reiterate our appreciation to the 150 Irish artists and writers for their endorsement of the pledge to boycott Israel:

In response to the call from Palestinian civil society for a cultural boycott of Israel, we pledge not to avail of any invitation to perform or exhibit in Israel, nor to accept any funding from any institution linked to the government of Israel, until such time as Israel complies with international law and universal principles of human rights."[3]

We urge all artists of conscience to follow the example of Faithless dance group as well as the brave Irish artists and writers. In particular, we urge them to heed the Unified Palestinian Call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel [4], and to respect the PACBI Guidelines for the International Cultural boycott of Israel [5].

Once again, hats off to Faithless: you are faithful indeed!

www.PACBI.org

pacbi@pacbi.org

A million dollar festival will not rescue Israel’s image as an apartheid state

PACBI | 15 August 2010

Occupied Ramallah, 15 August 2010

Once again, the Brand-Israel machine is in high gear, this time organizing a million-dollar international youth extravaganza in Eilat in September 2010 called “Funjoya.” This unabashed propaganda exercise is sponsored by the Israel Ministry of Tourism and the Israeli Student Union, among other official and semi-official bodies. The Ministry of Tourism explains one of the aims of the festival: “branding Israel as an attractive tourism destination for students, an improvement in Israel’s image among this target group and facilitating multi-cultural encounters for students from Israel and European countries.” [1]

There is no question that Israel is working hard to whitewash its crimes and to justify its occupation, colonization and system of apartheid. Since 2005, the official “Brand-Israel” campaign [2] has tried to present Israel in a new light, as a vibrant state promoting culture and the arts. However, Israel’s own actions make a mockery of this branding exercise, proving that no amount of re-branding will cover up the escalating agenda of apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and violence against the Palestinian people, the last of which were the deadly assault on the Gaza Strip in the winter of 2008-2009, and the lethal attack on humanitarian aid workers aboard the Freedom Flotilla in Gaza in May 2010, which resulted in the murder of nine Turkish citizens. This viciousness is customary to Israel. The report of the UN Fact-Finding Mission led by Judge Richard Goldstone, released in September 2009, found strong evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the assault on the Palestinian people in Gaza, and called for holding Israel accountable before international law.

We call upon students from around the world not to take part in this festival. We invite you to join the international movement for boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel (BDS) until Israel respects international law [3]. As students, you should be aware that Palestinian students do not enjoy the rights taken for granted by many of you: Palestinian students’ freedom of movement is severely restricted by the Apartheid Wall, checkpoints and road blocks and hundreds are detained in Israeli jails for resisting the occupation. [4]

We urge you to heed the words of the Gaza-based Palestinian Students’ Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel in their open letter to students a few days ago: “From under a most brutal siege humanity has witnessed during this modern age, we urge all students around the globe to boycott this festival We ask: will it speak about the cultural confiscation, the occupation of Palestinian history, the system of racial discrimination, home demolition, settlement expansion, settler colonialism and land expropriation? Will it tell of how apartheid Israel slices the West Bank into Bantustans separated by more than 600 checkpoints and a monstrous Apartheid Separation Wall preventing Palestinians from access to local hospitals, schools and universities, not to mention their families and relatives?” [5]

Don’t come to Eilat and honour the apartheid state! Support the Palestinian people in our struggle for self determination by boycotting “Funjoya” and exposing this vulgar Israeli hasbara effort!

PACBI

www.PACBI.org

pacbi@pacbi.org

Notes

[1] http://www.thinkeilat.com/Tourism_Euk/Tourist+Information/Press+Releases/FunJoya+Student+Festival.htm; http://eu.mfa.gov.il/mfm/web/main/Print.asp?DocumentID=172430

[2] http://www.forward.com/articles/2070/. Jonathan Cook provides a comprehensive discussion of the brand-Israel effort in http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11093.shtml

[3] See the Unified Palestinian Call for BDS at http://www.bdsmovement.net/?q=node/52

[4] For further information on the violation of students’ rights check: http://right2edu.birzeit.edu/

[5] http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=1336

UK Embraces the Boycott

In this part of the world, where Israel seems to be regularly singled out as the world’s bête noire, recent developments in Britain have given even veteran pro- Zionism watchers a sense of alarm. Even the most optimistic observers of what is loosely referred to as the “boycott, divestment and sanctions” (BDS) movement, are worried about this summer’s activities.

In late June, the Methodist Church of Britain, the fourth largest Christian denomination in the UK with 70 million members worldwide, voted to boycott Israeli-produced goods and services from the West Bank because of Israel’s “illegal occupation of Palestinian lands.”

The one-sided characterization of the Israel- Palestine conflict is based on the platform published by the World Council of Churches, which formally espoused a boycott by all its affiliates in 2009 and took its bearings from the Kairos Palestine Document that emerged from the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem. The Kairos declaration brands the occupation as “a sin against God and humanity” and calls on companies, countries, religious institutions, NGOs and individuals “to engage in divestment and in an economic and commercial boycott of everything produced by the occupation.”

Israel at center of boycott row once again at Melbourne Film Festival

The Melbourne International Film Festival is a marquee event on the cultural calendar of Australia, in what some would call the world's most livable and multicultural city. Once again, it was struck by controversy with independent film makers threatening legal action if their own movie was not revoked from the set-list. The row was sparked by funding for a return economy-class airfare for an Israeli director.

The makers of Son of Babylon, a film set in Iraq, wanted to withdraw their movie because the organizers of the festival received funding from the Israeli government. But the demand went unheard, and the film screened on July 26 and July 28 as scheduled.
"The festival was informed in enough time to stop the screening … therefore if you have knowingly disregarded our wishes and screened the film, we will of course be left with little alternative than to take appropriate action against the festival,'' producer Isabelle Stead wrote to festival executive director Richard Moore last week in an email exchange leaked to crikey.com.au.

''You should not underestimate our resolve to ensure that our film is not associated with the state of Israel as long as it continues its illegal crimes against humanity,'' she wrote.

This is not the first time a film has been revoked because of an Israeli influence. Ken Loach decided to withdraw his film Looking for Eric from last year's festival on the same grounds. The veteran English filmmaker warned at the time that, ''if it did not reconsider the sponsorship, I would not allow the festival to screen my film''. Loach cited ''illegal occupation of Palestinian land, destruction of homes and livelihoods'' and ''the massacres in Gaza'' as reasons for the boycott.

The festival's executive director, Richard Moore, refused to give in to Loach's demands and return the money to the Israeli government, saying that it would be ''like submitting to blackmail''. This refusal led to Moore being shunned by the Edinburgh Film Festival, which had bowed to Loach's will. However, his stance led to the Melbourne festival being honored with the Liberty Victoria's free speech award - the Voltaire award - given "in recognition of its refusal to buckle in the face of intense pressure from a left-wing extremist filmmaker last year."

However, this year's flare-up was a little different.

Harvard University fund sells all Israel holdings

In another blow to Israeli shares, the Harvard Management Company notified the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday that it had sold all its holdings in Israeli companies during the second quarter of 2010. No reason for the sale was mentioned. The Harvard Management Company manages Harvard University's endowment.

Harvard Management Company stated in its 13-F Form that it sold 483,590 shares in Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) for $30.5 million; 52,360 shares in NICE Systems Ltd. (Nasdaq: NICE; TASE:NICE) for $1.67 million; 102,940 shares in Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: CHKP) for $3.6 million; 32,400 shares in Cellcom Israel Ltd.(NYSE:CEL; TASE:CEL) for $1.1 million, and 80,000 Partner Communications Ltd. (Nasdaq: PTNR; TASE: PTNR) shares for $1.8 million.

Harvard Management Company's 13-F Form shows some interesting investments. Its two largest holdings, each worth $295 million, are in iShares ETFs, one on Chinese equities, and the other on emerging markets. Harvard also owns $181 million in a Brazilian ETF.

Tory leader calls himself 'Zionist'; U.K. Jews campaign against boycott

U.K. Conservative party leader David Cameron: Support of Israel is in DNA of party members; U.K. Jews object to call to boycott Israel's academe.

The leader of Britain's Conservative party, David Cameron, called himself a "Zionist" Tuesday as he slammed a British initiative for an academic boycott against Israel.

Cameron, responding to questions at the annual luncheon of Conservative Friends of Israel, said the academic boycott was completely uncalled for, and that attacks against Israel often slid into anti-Semitism.

"If by Zionist you mean that the Jews have the right to a homeland in Israel and the right to a country then I am a Zionist," the Tory leader said, adding that support for Israel is "in the DNA" of members of his party.

He also justified construction of the separation fence, but expressed concern that it might torpedo a two-state solution.

British Jews launch campaign against academic boycott

A coalition of British Jewish organizations will launch a campaign Thursday to combat the University and College Union's initiative for an academic boycott of Israel.

Advertisements signed by hundreds of anti-boycott academics were scheduled to appear in Wednesday's newspapers, followed Thursday by a press conference by Jewish politicians, university lecturers and community leaders.

Jeremy Newmark, director of the Jewish Leadership Council, told Haaretz that the campaign's goal was to get British University and College Union director Sally Hunt to make good on her pledge to bring the boycott proposal to a referendum of the union's rank and file.

Zionists and racist EDL unite to counter Ahava Protest

In celebration of the recent court victory in which four campaigners were acquitted for blockading the Covent Garden Ahava shop in 2009, approximately 60 protestors gathered outside its doors in Monmouth Street, central London, to celebrate and continue promoting boycott, divestment and sanctions against the Israeli occupation. While demonstrators were met by the usual Zionist counter-demonstrators, on this occasion they arrived flanked by the openly racist English Defence League.

Ahava, the cosmetics retailer and spa outlet, manufactures its products on the illegal Israeli settlement of Mitzpe Shalem. It has openly flouted tax requirements by exploiting the EU-Israel trade agreement and violates UK DEFRA guidelines in respect of proper labelling. The campaign against Ahava supports the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions as a global nonviolent means to challenge the Israeli Occupation of Palestine and the ongoing siege upon Gaza.

At the outset the small group of around ten EDL members remained close to the Zionist contingent of Ahava supporters, handing out leaflets. Over the course of the demonstration they began to take an increasingly prominent role, culminating with the unravelling of a flag of St. George and chanting “E-E-EDL.” This was accompanied by racist remarks towards a number of Ahava protestors who were of Asian/Middle Eastern descent. What was more surprising, and unsettling, was the apparent unwillingness of the Zionist contingent to distance themselves from the EDL.

Support ISM work in Palestine

** please circulate widely **

The ongoing suppression of the Palestinian grassroots resistance has

included targeting international solidarity activists. Numerous

volunteers with the International Solidarity Movement have been

arrested or deported in past months.

A tactic of challenging the occupation and the Israeli authorities is

via legal measures.

As Israel’s crackdown on popular resistance escalates, International

Solidarity Movement activists are working on the ground to fight the

authorities’ attempts to arrest, imprison and deport us – all

strategies employed by Israel in their attempts at disconnecting us

from our role in the struggle against apartheid. Legal challenges are

an important battle field in non-violent resistance because often the

occupation is forced to change their policies when these are held up

to scrutiny.

The past six months have seen a surge in Israel’s crackdown on

Palestinian and international activists involved in the popular

resistance, marked by a wave of arrests targeting grassroots

organizers from the popular committees of Bil’in, Ni’lin, Al Masara

and Nablus and international activists involved in these regions’

struggles. Several ISM activists have been illegally abducted by

Israeli forces and continue to fight lengthy legal battles against the

Israeli state for these cases, in addition to the frequent arrests of

activists at the growing number of West Bank demonstrations that the

military has struggled in vain to crush.

American ISM activist Ryan Olander was arrested on December 18 in

Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem. He was then illegally re-arrested by

“Oz” immigration unit the following day, just moments after his

release. He spent 29 days in Ramle Givon detention center resisting

deportation before he was released. On June 3 the Israeli District

Court ruled in Olander’s favor, the precedent-setting ruling

articulating that the police and “Oz” immigration unit practices were

illegal. This victory paves the way for a legal grounding for future

activists (see: http://palsolidarity.org/2010/02/11278/).

Czech activist and ISM media co-ordinator Eva Novakova was kidnapped

by Oz forces in a night raid operation on her Ramallah apartment on

January 11. Australian activist and ISM international co-ordinator

Bridget Chappell and Spanish activist Araidna Jove Marti were abducted

by Israeli military forces in a similar night raid on the ISM media

office in Ramallah on February 7 (see: http://palsolidarity.org/2010/02/11224/).

All three activists pursued the issue in the Israeli Supreme Court,

bringing Israel’s repreated violation of the Oslo accords in to focus.

In the case of Chappell and Marti, the State Prosecutor was forced to

admit the their arrests had been outside the legal framework, with the

judge declaring their detention illegal.

These legal battles, taking the Israeli power structures on at their

own game, constitutes a form of “resistance” that has the potential to

set decisive precedents and alter Israeli policy, while at the same

time exposing the level of corroboration between various Israeli

departments in the occupation’s implementation.

This kind of legal work comes at a high price tag, we currently owe

around 18,000 NIS to our lawyers. The ISM is asking its supporters to

donate now to support the work of the ISM’s solidarity with the

Palestinian movement against apartheid. Activist groups may consider

throwing fund-raising events to raise money, and continue raising

awareness for the cause. You can donate online via Paypal (not through

AJ Muste), please see http://palsolidarity.org/donate for details.

--

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Boycott Apartheid Israel!

July 17 in the Myer Centre, Brisbane: activists target Israeli cosmetics company Seacret as part of the international boycott, divestment, sanctions campaign against apartheid Israel. Justice for Palestine activists dropped the banner (pictured), surrounded the cosmetics stalls and distributed information about the boycott to potential customers, causing the stall to close down for the day. The action launched an ongoing BDS campaign in Brisbane, with the next action planned for Saturday August 14. See Justice for Palestine, Brisbane for more information. Photo by Owain Lewis-Jones.