#BDS: S. African university mulls BGU boycott

University of Johannesburg to vote on termination of collaboration agreement with Ben-Gurion University. 'Boycott might risk activities that strengthen co-existence,' BGU president warns

Academic boycott in works: Ben-Gurion University officials said Monday they were closely following political groups affiliated with Islam pressuring South Africa's University of Johannesburg to impose an academic boycott on the southern Israel institution.

Such boycott would see the termination of a signed agreement on a joint research project between the two schools.The project aims to solve water contamination problems in a reservoir near Johannesburg.

An official response issued Monday evening read, "The leadership of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) is deeply disturbed by the attempts of certain political groups...applying pressure on the University of Johannesburg to boycott BGU and cancel a signed research collaboration agreement."

#BDS: 'A one-state solution in Israel is difficult but not impossible'

We often hear the word apartheid used to describe Israel's treatment of Palestinians. Is it comparable to the South African apartheid?

It is similar but not identical. If we refer to Palestinians inside Israel proper, who are Israeli citizens, then their situation is better. They can individually reach similar standards as Jews in Israel, which Blacks in South Africa could not.

The situation of Palestinians in the occupied territories is much worse than had been in South Africa. These Palestinians are in constant existential danger of losing their jobs, homes, lives simply because they are Palestinians. And the situation in Gaza is still different where 1.5 million people have been incarcerated inside the strip.

The term apartheid is symbolic as far as the international community is concerned because when it decided that there was apartheid in South Africa it caused things to change there and now it can help change the situation in Israel- Palestine.

As an Israeli academic do you find the call for boycott, disinvestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel, including academic boycott, ethical?

Yes. In South Africa too many conscientious academics supported the boycott call even though that hurt them. So we have to sometimes support things that hurt us. Next, it is the non-violence of the act that is ethical. The number of academics in Israel against the occupation is quite small, and the university should be more democratic space than the state. I support a boycott of the institution and not individuals. BDS is gradually working and more Israelis are now supporting it and they are being challenged by the state.

#BDS: Al-Ma'sara calls for boycott of Israeli products

Today the IOF repressed the weekly protest in al-Ma’sara village shooting tear gas canisters and sound bombs at the demonstrators causing dozens to suffer from teargas inhalation. Protesters set fire to a number of Israeli products next to the Apartheid Wall, to demonstrate the boycott and their rejection of the occupation, which penetrates all aspects of Palestinian lives.

The protest saw the participation of villagers and international solidarity activists and began in front of the school al-Zawahra marching towards the area of the Apartheid wall. The demonstrators carried Palestinian flags, singing national slogans and called for the boycott of Israeli products. Boxes containing the boycotted products were also carried. The media coordinator of the Popular Committee in Bethlehem, Muhammad Brijiyeh, gave a speech in which he talked about the occupier’s products that invade the Palestinian markets. He stressed the importance of its boycott and then the demonstrators burned the boxes containing the occupier’s products. After a few minutes the IOF shot gas and sound bombs to the demonstrators causing dozens to suffer from teargas inhalation. The demonstrators replied then by throwing stones. 

#BDS: American Universities Say Yes to Apartheid

A letter from Gaza appeared on the Web dated September 24, 2010. It was from a group of Gaza academics and students and sought to publicize the fact that eight American universities have recently signed agreements with various Israeli universities to offer U.S. students free semester long programs in Israel. Among the American universities participating in this venture are Harvard, Columbia and Michigan.

The Gaza academics and students expressed shock at this turn of events. And so they might given the fact that they are sitting in an outdoor prison of Israeli making and have seen their educational institutions both starved of resources by an Israeli blockade and literally bombed to rubble by Israeli warplanes.

The situation in Gaza is but the worst of a bad situation for all Palestinians, including those in the West Bank and Israel proper. When it comes to education in all of these locales apartheid policies are in place to interfere with Palestinian students and teachers and minimize the educational experience. Actually, this is part of an unspoken strategy of cultural genocide. Such policies are directly or indirectly supported by the Israeli academic institutions to which the participating American universities now want to send their students.
 

#BDS: لبنان: مؤتمر “غيّرلو النظام” يدعو لحملات توعية لمقاومة التطبيع مع العدو الاسرائيلي ومقاطعة الشركات الداعمة لاسرائيل

نقلا عن جريدة النهار عدد الاثنين 27 أيلول 2010

تحت شعار “غيّرلو النظام”، اجتمع اكثر من 500 شاب وشابة من “التحالف الوطني التقدمي” على مسرح رسالات في المركز الثقافي لبلدية الغبيري، حيث عقد “المؤتمر الوطني للشباب”، في حضور رئيس “حركة الشعب” النائب السابق نجاح واكيم ومسؤول “الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين” في لبنان مروان عبد العال ورئيس الحزب السوري القومي الاجتماعي (جناح ابي حيدر) علي حيدر.

بداية، القى كلمة الافتتاح الزميل ابرهيم دسوقي، قال فيها: “ان نظاما يصادر وعي الناس وارادتهم في عصبيات مريضة متخلفة، ويمنع عنهم حقهم في صنع الحياة، ويجبرهم على اجترار ماضيه المتخم بالتوحش والموت والتبعية هو ليس نظاماً لدولة ولكنه نظام لعصابة.

ان نظامنا يمنع من الحريات انفعها، حرية الرأي والمعتقد، حرية التعليم والعمل، حرية التقدم والأمل… ويبيح من الحريات افظعها، حرية التعصب والجهل، حرية التخلع وتعاطي المخدرات، حرية النهب والقتل على الهوية، ليس نظاماً لدولة ولكنه نظام العصابة”. واضاف: “لا أمل باصلاح هذا النظام لان العيب في اساساته، من هنا يجب ان نبدأ.

يجب ان نبدأ بطلب التغيير، وبالعمل من اجل التغيير (…) نحن قادرون على تحقيقه، ومن أجله علينا ان نبني القوة التقدمية الشابة، المتجاوزة للعصبيات المتخلفة”.

ثم عقدت الجلسة الاولى وتضمنت مناقشة النظامين السياسي والاقتصادي، وفي الجلسة الثانية تمت مناقشة حقوق اللاجئين الفلسطينيين والمقاومة.

وفي موضوع المقاومة، دعت خطة العمل الى “نشر ثقافة المقاومة بين الشباب ضد كل اشكال الهيمنة الاستعمارية والرجعية، اضافة الى تنظيم حملات توعية من اجل تفعيل مقاومة التطبيع مع العدو الاسرائيلي ومقاطعة الشركات الداعمة لاسرائيل، اضافة الى تفعيل المقاومة المدنية ضد الطبقة السياسية المهيمنة…”.

في الختام، تم تشكيل لجنة متابعة لوضع خطة عمل بناء على الاقتراحات المقدمة من المشاركين.

#BDS: Ozzy Osbourne arrives in Israel

English rock star lands in Holy Land with wife Sharon ahead of Tuesday's Ozzfest at Tel Aviv's Yarkon Park

Prince of Darkness in Israel : English rock star Ozzy Osbourne arrived at Ben-Gurion Airport on a private plane Sunday evening, along with his family members.

Osbourne and his wife, Sharon, who also served as his personal manager, held a press conference at a Tel Aviv hotel.

Asked whether he had any hesitations about visiting Israel, on the backdrop of the latest cancellations by international artists, he replied that he tries to stay away from politics because "I wouldn't know what I was talking about."

His wife added that "Britain has the IRA and no one cancels concerts there." Asked why it took him so long to arrive, Osbourne said, "I don't know, I was drunk for years."

#BDS: WHY UJ SHOULD SEVER RELATIONS WITH ISRAELI UNIVERSITY

WHY UJ SHOULD SEVER RELATIONS WITH ISRAELI UNIVERSITY
By Professor Ran Greenstein
Sunday Independent - South Africa - [26_09_2010]


Can one live a normal life in an abnormal society? The anti-apartheid
movement believed that you could not, and must not. It set out to
disrupt the comfortable lives of white South Africans, to force them
to understand that change was necessary. One tactic chosen in this
regard was boycotts and sanctions. Other campaigns against oppressive
regimes have used similar tactics, selecting targets in order to
maximize strategic advantage. The closer the target was to the core
identity of oppressive groups, the more likely it was to be effective.
Thus, it made sense to boycott South African cricket and rugby teams
to disrupt the sense of normality of sports-mad white South Africans.
This tactic would not work in, say, Burma or Sudan, whose oppressive
elites have limited interest in sports. Using the same logic, it made
sense to boycott Chilean wine and Argentinian football, when both
countries were under military dictatorships, but not the other way
around.


When we consider the campaign against the Israeli occupation and
oppression of Palestinians, a careful choice of targets must guide
action. While Israeli Jews are not the only ones who violate human
rights, as the stronger side they are the chief culprits today. Their
greatest source of vulnerability is the obsessive need to feel an
integral part of the West and the global community. This feeling is
particularly strong among the elites, including academics. It is
central to their professional identity and it contributes to a sense
of political complacency. With their eyes turned to the West,
Palestinians living under conditions of military occupation and
suffering from massive violation of human rights have become invisible
to them. This is the challenge, then: how to use the quest for
normality and legitimacy in order to force ordinary people to move
against extraordinary circumstances?


With this in mind, a group of academics at the University of
Johannesburg (UJ), with the support of fellow academics elsewhere,
have started a campaign to sever UJ’s relations with an Israeli
academic institution – Ben-Gurion University (BGU). The campaign calls
on UJ to suspend an agreement for scientific cooperation until Israel
abides by international law, and the university takes a stand against
the occupation.


As one of the signatories to a petition supporting the campaign, I
would like to explain some of the reasons behind it (without speaking
on behalf of any other signatory). But first, to clarify: the campaign
targets relations between institutions. It is not aimed at individual
academics of whatever political persuasions. It attacks oppressive
practices rather than political views. It seeks to enhance exchanges
and debates between different opinions rather than close them up. In
other words, it is seen as an educational tool that opens us new
opportunities to learn more about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and
allow us to make an intervention on the side of protecting and
promoting human rights for all.


Why use this particular tactic? There is nothing specific about BGU –
it collaborates with the military, it turns a blind eye towards
oppressive practices, and it practices discrimination against
Palestinian students – but all Israeli academic institutions do the
same. In a sense, signing the petition is a way of expressing concern
about the broader context of occupation, denial of human rights and
political oppression in Israel. It is unlikely on its own to change
anything and the chances that BGU would yield to demands to renounce
the occupation are extremely low.


At the same time, the potential educational value of this initiative
is great, both in relation to South African and Israeli audiences.  It
sends a clear message that there is strong and growing disapproval of
Israel’s practices, which are illegal and immoral, and that those who
fight such practices within Israeli universities can expect solidarity
from fellow academics elsewhere.


For this to work, it is important that it should not be seen as a
punitive and externally imposed measure. Rather, it should be a step
towards forging international links of solidarity and activism with
Israeli and Palestinian progressive academics. Ideally it would help
create a counterweight to the increasing pressure from right-wing
forces that seek to silence critical voices at Israeli universities,
including BGU.


Ultimately, this may be the most important contribution of the
initiative: to side with those fighting for change from within. Local
activists in Israel/Palestine – of both national groups - are subject
to enormous pressure internally, and the only way they could sustain a
campaign for change is by maintaining a constant exchange of
information, solidarity, and a flow of moral and material assistance
from the outside.  It is only in dialogue between all the relevant
constituencies that the campaign can move forward.

#BDS: Tutu to University of Johannesburg: A CHANCE TO DO THE RIGHT THING

"We can easily be enticed to read reconciliation and fairness as meaning parity between justice and injustice. Having achieved our own freedom, we can fall into the trap of washing our hands of difficulties that others face. Yet we would be less than human if we did so. It behoves all South Africans, themselves erstwhile beneficiaries of generous international support, to stand up and be counted among those contributing actively to the cause of freedom and justice." - Nelson Mandela, December 4 1997

Struggles for freedom and justices are fraught with huge moral dilemmas. How can we commit ourselves to virtue - before its political triumph - when such commitment may lead to ostracism from our political allies and even our closest partners and friends? Are we willing to speak out for justice when the moral choice that we make for an oppressed community may invite phone calls from the powerful or when possible research funding will be withdrawn from us? When we say "Never again!" do we mean "Never again!", or do we mean "Never again to us!"?

Our responses to these questions are an indication of whether we are really interested in human rights and justice or whether our commitment is simply to secure a few deals for ourselves, our communities and our institutions - but in the process walking over our ideals even while we claim we are on our way to achieving them?

The issue of a principled commitment to justice lies at the heart of responses to the suffering of the Palestinian people and it is the absence of such a commitment that enables many to turn a blind eye to it.

Consider for a moment the numerous honorary doctorates that Nelson Mandela and I have received from universities across the globe. During the years of apartheid many of these same universities denied tenure to faculty who were "too political" because of their commitment to the struggle against apartheid. They refused to divest from South Africa because "it will hurt the blacks" (investing in apartheid South Africa was not seen as a political act; divesting was).

Let this inconsistency please not be the case with support for the Palestinians in their struggle against occupation.

I never tire of speaking about the very deep distress in my visits to the Holy Land; they remind me so much of what happened to us black people in South Africa. I have seen the humiliation of the Palestinians at checkpoints and roadblocks, suffering like we did when young white police officers prevented us from moving about. My heart aches. I say, "Why are our memories so short?" Have our Jewish sisters and brothers forgotten their own previous humiliation? Have they forgotten the collective punishment, the home demolitions, in their own history so soon?

Have they turned their backs on their profound and noble religious traditions? Have they forgotten that God cares deeply about all the downtrodden?

Together with the peace-loving peoples of this Earth, I condemn any form of violence - but surely we must recognise that people caged in, starved and stripped of their essential material and political rights must resist their Pharaoh? Surely resistance also makes us human? Palestinians have chosen, like we did, the nonviolent tools of boycott, divestment and sanctions.

South African universities with their own long and complex histories of both support for apartheid and resistance to it should know something about the value of this nonviolent option.

The University of Johannesburg has a chance to do the right thing, at a time when it is unsexy. I have time and time again said that we do not want to hurt the Jewish people gratuitously and, despite our deep responsibility to honour the memory of the Holocaust and to ensure it never happens again (to anyone), this must not allow us to turn a blind eye to the suffering of Palestinians today.

I support the petition by some of the most prominent South African academics who call on the University of Johannesburg to terminate its agreement with Ben-Gurion University in Israel (BGU). These petitioners note that: "All scholarly work takes place within larger social contexts - particularly in institutions committed to social transformation. South African institutions are under an obligation to revisit relationships forged during the apartheid era with other institutions that turned a blind eye to racial oppression in the name of 'purely scholarly' or 'scientific work'." It can never be business as usual.

Israeli Universities are an intimate part of the Israeli regime, by active choice. While Palestinians are not able to access universities and schools, Israeli universities produce the research, technology, arguments and leaders for maintaining the occupation. BGU is no exception. By maintaining links to both the Israeli defence forces and the arms industry, BGU structurally supports and facilitates the Israeli occupation. For example, BGU offers a fast-tracked programme of training to Israeli Air Force pilots.

In the past few years, we have been watching with delight UJ's transformation from the Rand Afrikaans University, with all its scientific achievements but also ugly ideological commitments. We look forward to an ongoing principled transformation. We don't want UJ to wait until others' victories have been achieved before offering honorary doctorates to the Palestinian Mandelas or Tutus in 20 years' time.

#BDS: برنامج إلكتروني لمقاطعة منتجات إسرائيلية

ذكرت صحيفة هآرتس الإسرائيلية أن ثلاثة من المدونين الإسرائيليين أطلقوا مؤخرا برنامجا إلكترونيا جديدا يسهل عملية مقاطعة المنتجات التي تنتجها المستوطنات الإسرائيلية في الضفة الغربية.

فعبر اختيار منتج معين من خلال هذا التطبيق، الذي يحمل اسم Buy No Evil، يمكن للمستخدم معرفة ما إذا كان من إنتاج مستوطنة إسرائيلية أم لا، وبالتالي تترك له الخيار في شرائه أو عدم شرائه.

وقد قام بتطوير هذا المنتج كل من نوعام روتيم، وبوريس بولتيانسكي، وإيتامار شالتيل، الذي كتب في رسالة نشرت على المدونة: "تم تطوير هذا البرنامج بالتعاون مع موقع activismos.com، وهو يسمح للمستخدمين بصورة عامة بإدخال معلومات حول منتجات تصنع في المستوطنات الإسرائيلية."

ويؤكد شالتيل أن المعلومات التي يحويها هذا البرنامج لا تتوقف عند ما إذا كان المنتج مصنعا في المستوطنات أم لا، بل يمكن أيضا التعرف إلى تلك التي تم اختبارها على الحيوانات، أو تلك التي تضر بالبيئة، وغيرها."

#BDS: Czech public figures call on Václav Havel: “Do not use your name to whitewash Israeli war crimes, human rights violations and ap

[ISM Czech Republic] - In response to news about Václav Havel’s support for an international campaign to fight so-called ’delegitimisation’ of Israel and to fight against the worldwide boycott movement against Israelinitiated by the former Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar, ISM Czech Republic and Friends of Palestine Czech Republic issued an open letter signed by a dozen public, political and cultural figures.

Václav Havel, the first democratically elected president of the Czech Republic after the fall of the Berlin Wall, former Czech dissident and political prisoner, is internationally renowned for his struggle for freedom, democracy, freedom of speech and human rights, criticizing the abuse of power by the powerful and writing as a dissident in support of the ‘power of the powerless’, as he entitled one of his most influential essays of that time. He has received several prestigious awards, including a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Czech personalities and public figures such as Petr Uhl (journalist), Jan Kavan (former President of the UN General Assembly), Milan Daniel (journalist), Milan Kozelka (performer and author), Milan Kohout (performer and university lecturer) and others joined the appeal:

”The worldwide boycott movement (BDS), opposed by the former Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar and his initiative, came out of the unified call of Palestinian civil society and is in a direct response to the failure of Israeli and world governments to honour their commitments to international law.

#BDS: PROTEST CALL: oppose the OECD’s Tourism Conference in Jerusalem October 20-22nd

The International Solidarity Movement is calling on activists to protest in Jerusalem in the third week of October against the annual tourism conference of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) which should not be held in the occupied capital of an apartheid state in violation of a plethora of international laws.

>>>>> ISRAEL IN THE OECD:

Despite Israel’s persistent violation of human rights as protected by the law, the OECD – whose member countries include most of the rich countries of the world – granted Israel membership on May 27th this year. This not only symbolized diplomatic approval of Israel’s policies on the part of the most powerful countries in the international community, but also brought many potential economic benefits to Israel.

>>>>> ABOUT THE CONFERENCE & JERUSALEM:

The conference consists of 2 parts, in total lasting three days (Oct 20th-22nd). According to theofficial website the war criminal Shimon Peres will be attending, along with representatives from each of the powerful OECD nations. Its stated aim is to discuss how to make the tourism industry ‘greener’.

Having disgracefully admitted Israel to the OECD, this conference represents a further instance of the international community deliberately turning a blind eye to the slow and insidious ongoing process of ethnic cleansing taking place in Jerusalem in which Israel is clearly working to ‘Judaize’ all areas of Jerusalem, employing numerous means to this end, including: evictions of Palestinians from their homes, house demolitions, residency permit revocation, settler takeovers of Palestinian houses, illegal settlement construction, land confiscation, discriminatory allocation of municipal resources, police persecution combined with impunity for settlers, restrictions on freedom of movement, permit systems and legal discrimination against Palestinians. This is occurring everywhere inside Israel but is perhaps most acutely felt in Palestinian East Jerusalem neighbourhoods such as Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan.

#BDS: Leviev opens diamond boutique in Singapore

Diamond jewelry chain owned by Israeli business tycoon expanding to Asia, launches first flagship store in continent in lobby of Marina Bay Sands luxury hotel

The Leviev diamond jewelry chain, owned by Israeli business tycoon Lev Leviev, is expanding to Asia and has launched its first flagship store in the continent in Singapore.

The boutique store is located in the lobby of Singapore's new luxury hotel Marina Bay Sands, joining the chain's stores in London, New York, Dubai and Moscow.

Marina Bay Sands is the new hotel of the Las Vegas Sands casino resort company owned by billionaire Sheldon Edelson. The store will offer prestigious jewelry embedded with thousands of carats of diamonds, including rare white diamonds and diamond jewelry in unique colors: Pink, blue, green and red.

#BDS: New app makes boycotting West Bank settlements a touch easier

Ahead of settlement freeze expiration, Israeli bloggers release 'Buy no Evil' Android application to raise consumer awareness.

Israeli bloggers have recently released a new Android application geared toward informing users whether or not their potential purchases were manufactured in one of the Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

The bloggers behind the new application are Noam Rotem, Itamar Shaltiel, and Boris Boltianski, who run the "Activism is an Open-Source Code," blog, recently released the settlement-boycotting app, naming it "Buy no Evil."

In a message posted on the blog ahead of the app's release, Shaltiel wrote that Buy no Evil was "developed as part of the Activismos.com open-source project, and allows the insertion of a detailed product list, thus allowing consumers to deicide whether or not they wished to support this or that product."

#BDS: 200 prominent South Africans sign BGU boycott petition

Pro-boycott petition letter circulated ahead of University of Johannesburg vote on whether to end ties with Ben-Gurion University set for Sept. 29.

Two hundred prominent South Africans have publicly called for the University of Johannesburg to end its relationship with Ben-Gurion University as part of an ongoing global boycott campaign against Israeli institutions, a group organizing the boycott petition announced on Friday.

Ahead of a vote on the issue by the University of Johannesburg's Senate scheduled to occur on Wednesday, September 29 at the school's Soweto campus, boycott advocates are trying to raise support from academics as well as prominent South Africans.

The most prominent supporters of the boycott petition are the regular, strident Israel critic former Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former government minister Ronnie Kasrils, but the petition has also been signed by members of South Africa's academic community, including Professors John Dugard, Breyten Breytenbach and Mahmood Mamdani.

#BDS: Israel Divestment Campaign (IDC) holds press conference in Los Angeles

The Israel Divestment Campaign, led by US Campaign Steering Committee Member Shakeel Syed, held a press conference to announce its "Divestment of State Retirement Funds From Israel Act" in California, which is the first BDS ballot measure in the US to target Israeli occupation at the state government level.

See video below.