#BDS: Israeli physicist to represent Israel in Sahara Race alongside runners from Lebanon, Iran

n addition to the race's physical and mental challenges, Yitzhak is also concerned about being an Israeli man in an Arab country. "I'm not booking a taxi to the hotel in advance. I'd rather order it on the spot," he explained. Yitzhak will be wearing a sponsor's T-shirt with Israel's flag on it. "I fear a security incident," he admitted. "There will be a problem if such a thing occurs. I hope it will be alright."

After spending the night in Cairo, Yitzhak will join 156 runners from 36 states, including Lebanon and Iran, at the starting line in Egypt's Fayyum City. For a week he will be running 35 km per day and will be spending his nights in a large tent with 10 other participants. "One of the goals of the race is to form connections and interact socially with the runners."

During the race, Yitzhak will be carrying a 10 kg backpack containing his equipment: Two pairs of trousers, three shirts, four pairs of socks, a sleeping bag, toiletry, wet wipes, sunscreen lotion and most importantly - food. "A relative is sending me special high calorie portions from the US, 800 calories per portion," he said. To have a taste of home, he will also be packing some instant soup and halva bars.

#BDS: N.Y. musicians’ union shuts down debate over Israel/Palestine

Rich Siegel has been a member of Local 802, Associated Musicians of Greater New York, for 25 years, and lately resigned. Below, his explanation, followed by his letter of resignation to the president of the union as well as to the editor of the union paper, Allegro.

There has been an ongoing struggle and controversy about the publishing of letters on this issue at local 802 for awhile. It began with an article about a member bringing a music program to Palestinian children on the West Bank. The article was a human interest story which did not get into the politics at all. Even so, predictably, a Jewish member wrote in complaining about Anti-Semitism. I responded to that, as did Tom Suarez, and our letters were published.

This began a fire-storm of responses, a couple were published, and then the union decided to stop publishing letters on the subject, so no rebuttals, and nothing at all on the subject for several months. With a new administration in place at the union, I was able to get a letter published asking members to respect BDS. Another fire-storm.

Another member, cellist Aaron Minsky, organized a letter writing campaign, not to disagree with me, but to shut down all mention of Israel in our union paper. He succeeded. The union published one letter as a rebuttal to my letter, and is now refusing to publish any letters on the subject at all. Additionally no further articles relating to Palestine have been published after that one article two years ago. I don't know whether this is a matter of policy or not.

#BDS: SA university must reconsider Israel ties - Haidar Eid

As a graduate of the University of Johannesburg and a resident of Gaza, I find it distressing that the university has signed an agreement with Israel's Ben Gurion University despite the policy of ethnic cleansing and the latest war crimes committed against the people of Gaza by the nation's government.
Israeli academic institutions are known to be complicit in Israel's policy of colonization and apartheid. As such, an agreement with an academic institution goes against the words of Nelson Mandela, who said in 1997:
“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 … we know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”

#BDS: 500 Swiss sign up to board Freedom Flotilla 2

More than 500 activists from Switzerland alone have signed up to take part in the humanitarian Freedom Flotilla 2 convoy, which is expected to set sail to an under siege Gaza before the end of 2010 to deliver aid, the European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza said, adding that the campaign has received thousands of other requests from the world over.

The European campaign spokesman in Switzerland and Swiss MP Josef Zisyadis said in a press statement Monday: “Preparations to participate in the Swiss ship in the Freedom Flotilla 2 are complete, as more than 500 people signed up to participate in breaking the unjust siege imposed on the Gaza Strip for the fifth straight year.”

The number of signees chosen to board the ship will be announced, Zisyadis said, adding that his campaign desires to make a third of the participants media leads. Dozens of Swiss media outlets have already placed requests to board the ship. The ship’s operators have stopped accepting requests from media.

#BDS: Boycotting Israel gains momentum

The boycott by activists from the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement is gaining momentum in spreading protest against the selling of Israeli goods made in Palestinian occupied lands.

"They have shops selling goods from the illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. There is no reason why we should have shops here selling goods which are basically produced in an illegal settlement," a protester outside a London branch of the Israeli cosmetics firm Ahava told Press TV.

Stolen Beauty is CODEPINK's contribution to the BDS Movement against Ahava Dead Sea Laboratories.

"There is nothing beautiful about occupation and beauty products made in settlements on the West Bank, on occupied Palestinian land, that are subsidized in illegal settlements," the Campaign Manager of Stolen Beauty Nancy Kircorian said.

This boycott is just one in a long line of others gaining momentum worldwide. 

#BDS: MMA superstars to take on Israeli fighters

Critics call it barbaric, but fans of Mixed Martial Arts say it is a serious sport that demands highest level of athleticism. World's best to enter octagon cage in Tel Aviv's Nokia arena in November. Get ready for some blood, sweat and tears

Eighteen of the best Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighters in the world are scheduled to arrive in Israel on November 9 to take exchange blows in Tel Aviv's Nokia arena. The fighters, who have been elevated to god-like status around the world, will take on some local fighters as well.

The full contact combat sport is immensely popular around the world, with billions of dollars in annual revenue. The MMA's fan base in Israel has been growing steadily since local television stations began airing the bouts regularly.

Ticket prices for fight night at Nokia arena range from NIS 99 ($26) to NIS 1,000 ($265) near the octagon "cage."

Former heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez, "The African Assassin" Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou Nkamhoua and Jeff Monson are among the MMA stars who are due to appear in Tel Aviv.

#BDS: 'Love Revealed' debuts in Jerusalem

Christian American composer Esther Upham presents her oratorio 'Ahava Mitgala' as theme of hope for Israel, Jewish people

While anti-Semitism and sentiment against Israel is growing and international performers boycott the nation, one artist is bringing a message of comfort for the Jewish state.

Esther Upham, a Christian American composer, will debut her oratorio, “Ahava Mitgala” (Love Revealed), in Jerusalem during the High Holidays. This classical has a theme of hope for Israel and the Jewish people.

Upham, a pianist and composer, drew her inspiration from scripture and from living in Israel for two years as she composed this 15-song piece.

The piece, in Hebrew, will debut on Tuesday at the YMCA on King David Street. Upham, who will play the piano, will be accompanied by the Israel Chamber Orchestra conducted by Elli Jaffe together with the Jerusalem A-Cappella Singers directed by Judi Axelrod.

“The theme of Ahava Mitgala is an expression of God’s love and the continued covenant promises that he has made to Israel, both the land and the people,” Upham says.

Her inspiration for writing the oratorio came from the biblical text but also from living in Israel.

#BDS: الزراعة تقرر استئناف تصدير الزيتون الى اسرائيل

ذكرت مصادر مطلعة ان وزارة الزراعة وافقت اليوم على ثلاثة طلبات لتصدير ثمار الزيتون الى اسرائيل، مشيرة الى ان هذه الخطوة وجدت معارضة من جمعية مصدري منتجات الزيتون.  

 وعزت الوزارة قرارها الى "حرصها على مصلحة المزارعين  والمستثمرين الأردنيي".  

وتعقد جمعية مصدري منتجات الزيتون مؤتمرا صحفيا يوم غد الاربعاء  بالتعاون مع نقابة أصحاب المعاصر وبعض الجهات الأخرى  لشرح مخاطر فتح باب تصدير ثمار الزيتون  إلى إسرائيل

#BDS: Israel, South Africa, Academic Boycotts

The Faculty Senate at the University of Johannesburg will vote this week on whether to end an academic relationship between the South African university and one in Israel, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

The vote has set off an intense debate among South African academics and intellectuals, with Archbishop Desmund Tutu last week urging the faculty at Johannesburg to cut their ties to Ben-Gurion. "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," Tutu wrote in Times Live.

For Israeli academics and many others who oppose academic boycotts, a vote to sever ties to Ben-Gurion could mark a major defeat. Not only would there be a concrete example of institutional support for an academic boycott, but there would be added symbolism to the move coming from South Africa. Boycott backers have repeatedly compared Israel's treatment of Palestinians to the apartheid regime in South Africa's treatment of its black majority -- a comparison that has been fiercely opposed by Israel's supporters (and by some critics of Israel as well).

#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."