Youth Against Normalization

Jun 26, 2011

#BDS: #Egypt to boycott #Shakira over #Israel? YOU BET!

"Facebook groups call for cancellation of Colombian singer's Cairo concert in November following her recent visit to Jewish state, want her banned from country

Will Shakira pay a price for attending Israeli Presidential Conference? Egyptian newspaper al-Dostor reported over the weekend that many Egyptians are furious over the popular Colombian singer's visit to Israel last week."

#BDS: #Apple Bans Palestinian Activist App From iTunes, But Allows Israeli Government Propaganda App

"Earlier this week, Apple announced that it would pull an iPhone app published by a group of Palestinian activists calling for a third intifada (Arabic for uprising). Thebanning of the app came after complaints from the Israeli government and allied activists. In explaining the decision, an Apple spokesman said it violated “the developer guidelines by being offensive to large groups of people” — likely because it protested Israeli policies and helped organize protests against that country’s military presence."

#BDS: حملة مصرية لمقاطعة شاكيرا بعد زيارتها اسرائيل

القدس - معا - بدأت مجموعات شبابية مصرية بحملة مقاطعة ضد المغنية الكولومبية من اصول لبنانية شاكيرا على الفيس بوك، نتيجة زيارتها لاسرائيل ولقائها رئيس اسرائيل شمعون بيرس.

وبحسب ما نشر موقع "قضايا مركزية" العبري اليوم الخميس، فقد اعتبر الشباب المصري انه من غير المسموح لشاكيرا الغناء امام الشعوب العربية كونها زارت دولة معادية، وطالبوا الشعوب العربية بمقاطعة شاكيرا لهذه الزيارة ولتصريحها بأن رئيس اسرائيل شمعون بيرس هو رجل السلام في المنطقة.

#BDS: Israeli Academic faces boycott in London

"London, (Pal Telegraph) - On Tuesday evening, June 14th, Palestinian rights campaigners in London produced a determined and visible show of opposition when Israeli historian Benny Morris came to the London School of Economics to expound his repugnant views of Arabs and his whitewashing of the Nakba.

Earlier that evening, Palestinian rights campaigners sitting in a coffee shop near the LSE, spotted Benny Morris walking down Kingsway, a busy street near Holborn Tube Station. This was too good an opportunity to miss; in a flash, campaigners gathered around him and took turns to put questions directly to Morris about his writings and statements on the necessity of ethnic cleansing, his call for the caging of Palestinians, and the racist overtones of his descriptions of Arabs."

#BDS: Earlham College students launch divestment campaign

"The following call for BDS at Earlham was circulated by Earlham Alumni Against Apartheid:

At Earlham College, a group students supported by alumni are calling on their college to join the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement against Israeli apartheid. BDS Earlham and Earlham Alumni Against Apartheid are asking you to join their campaign by signing their petition.

BDS Earlham is calling on Earlham College to end its investments in Motorola, Caterpillar, and Hewlett-Packard. "

#BDS: Dublin: Don’t dance for Israeli Apartheid

"On Tuesday 28th June at 6pm the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) will hold a loud and colourful ‘Don’t Dance for Israeli Apartheid’ protest outside Riverdance’s opening night in the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin. The protest was called to highlight the shameful fact that Riverdance is scheduled to tour Israel this September.

The protest forms part of the international Cultural Boycott of Israel campaign which has seen many stars such as Roger Waters, Elvis Costello, Carlos Santana, Christy Moore and Damien Dempsey refuse to perform in Israel. The Palestinian call for a cultural boycott of Israel – until it ends the occupation of Palestine and abides fully by its obligations under international law – has also been endorsed by over 200 Irish performing and creative artists as well as countless others internationally (See http://www.ipsc.ie/pledge )."

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#BDS: Academic Complicity: Princeton University, #Israel, and the Pakistani Military

"PACBI has recently learned of an academic job announcement that highlights the nefarious connections between Princeton University and Israel. In this particular case, Princeton academics are being asked to assist the Israeli state in advising the Pakistani military. The Pakistani government is a repressive, anti-democratic government whose army is deeply implicated in grave violations of international law. We wonder if this is what Princeton University means by its informal motto: "Princeton in the nation's service and in the service of all nations."

#BDS: Add this to your boycott list: #HelloKitty arrives in #Israel

"Japanese brand to open 18 stores in Israel, sell wide variety of products dedicated to famous fictional cat, including items 'never seen here before'

Famous Japanese cat makes aliyah: The Hello Kitty brand is launching a chain of 18 stores in Israel at an initial investment of $2-3 million.

Sanrio, the company which created the pink icon in 1974, has chosen Leader Brands as its franchiser in the Jewish state."

#BDS: Israeli cafe #Aroma opens 3rd Kiev branch

"Israeli café chain inaugurates its biggest ever store in Ukrainian capital after winning title of Kiev's best coffee shop for past two years

KIEV – Israeli café chain Aroma has opened its biggest branch ever in Kiev, Ukraine. The new café, Aroma's 122nd branch, measures some 600 square meters (6,460 square feet) in size and is surrounded by a large terrace."

#BDS: #Apple under fire for pulling Intifada app

"US computer giant Apple has culled a Palestinian application (app) from its iPhone offerings at the request of Israel, which said it incited people to violence against the Jewish State.

The Arabic-language app ThirdIntifada, released by Apple just days ago, provides users with details of upcoming anti-Israel protests, access to news articles and editorials, and links to Palestinian nationalist material.

In calling on Apple to act decisively, Israel's public diplomacy minister Yuli Edelstein said the iPhone app was "anti-Israel and anti-Zionist", and warned that it could "unite many towards an objective that could be disastrous".

The decision by Apple to purge the app has been criticised by pro-Palestinian campaigners, who claim that the term "Intifada", used to refer to a mass uprising, is not necessarily a call to violence. Apple said the app "violates the developer guidelines by being offensive to large groups of people".

#BDS: Growing LGBTQ solidarity with Palestine

"Over the last few years, as the movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions of Israel (BDS) has gathered steam in the U.S. and throughout the world, the apartheid state of Israel has turned to various tactics in an attempt to counter the growing solidarity with the Palestinian people. One such strategy is to portray Israel as the only place in the Middle East that is friendly to lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer people.

The tactic, dubbed “pinkwashing” by progressive pro-Palestinian LGBTQ forces, relies on a broad-brushed slander of the entire Arab and Muslim world, which is presented as “backward.” It is further based on the egregious lie that the Israeli settler state treats LGBTQ Palestinians equally to LGBTQ Israelis. Pinkwashing not only serves to legitimize the Israeli state but also reinforces U.S. imperialist propaganda, which claims that the U.S. wages war in an effort to “liberate” LGBTQ peoples and women in the Middle East and throughout the world — even as LGBTQ peoples face police brutality, added economic hardship and denial of social services here in the U.S."

#BDS: Fighting apartheid on land and sea

"Earlier this month, 100 activists from nine countries gathered in Montpellier, France for the first European Forum Against Agrexco to strengthen the boycott campaign against Israel's largest fresh produce exporter, which exports under the brand Carmel primarily to European markets. Up to 70 per cent of the fruit and vegetables grown in the illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank are marketed by Agrexco, making it a prime strategic target for BDS.

The Palestinian BDS National Committee's Rafeef Ziadah explains that the campaign includes all three components of BDS: in the first place, the boycott of Agrexco products, but also divestment via suspension of commercial agreements, and sanctions through court actions directed at Agrexco's violations of international law, especially false labelling of produce. According to Stephanie Westbrook, "Its complicity in a broad range of human rights violations, profiting from crops grown on stolen land, irrigated with stolen water and worked with child labour also provides the campaign with ample opportunities to reach out beyond the Palestine solidarity networks to find allies in other social justice movements."

#BDS: Palestinian sports community appeal to #UEFA – Red Card Israeli Apartheid

"Mr. Platini,

We, Palestinian footballers, athletes and sporting organizations and officials, are dismayed that Israel has been rewarded for its continued impunity and violent oppression of our people with the honour of hosting the UEFA Under-21 tournament in 2013. This decision is a drastic reversal of your brave stand just last year against Israeli attacks on Palestinian sport and its persistent violations of universal principles of human rights. You said: “We accepted them in Europe and furnished them the conditions for membership and they must respect the letter of the laws and international regulations otherwise there is no justification for them to remain in Europe. Israel must choose between allowing Palestinian sport to continue and prosper or be forced to face the consequences for their behaviour”. We write today to remind you of the facts that no doubt informed this brave stance and to urge you to take steps to ensure that the 2013 tournament does not take place in Israel."

#BDS: Australian Police called to action on BDS #Australia

"NEWLY appointed Member of Legislative Council Walt Secord has wasted no time demonstrating his support for Israel. Secord has called on NSW Police Minister Michael Gallacher to provide assurances for the protection of businesses with Israeli links in light of recent Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) protests.

Secord, a former AJN journalist, asked a series of formal questions on Monday, including what measures the government was taking to protect businesses and patrons affected by actions, such as the demonstration outside the Max Brenner chocolate shop on June 11."

#BDS: Too Little Too Late: Mostafa El-Sayed: I would never repeat the Hebrew honorary doctorate experience

During a lecture by the Egyptian American chemist and physicist Mostafa El-Sayed at AUB yesterday, a student interrupted the scientific discussion to ask El-Sayed if he would accept to receive an honorary doctorate from the Hebrew University today the way he did in 1993. El-Sayed, who was expecting the question because of the controversy raised about granting him an honorary doctorate from AUB, replied by saying no. He noted that he agreed to be honored in Israel because 'peace with Israel' was more acceptable at the time, especially in light of the Oslo Accords.