#BDS Song: Ode to Boycott #fuckIsrael

#BDS: Berlin Jewish Museum event calls for Israel boycott #fuckIsrael

"The internationally renowned Jewish Museum in Berlin hosted a podium discussion on Saturday with US academic Judith Butler, who renewed her calls to boycott Israel. It appears to be the first anti-Israel event held in the Jewish museum since its opening in 2001 with the aim of exhibiting the 2,000- year history of Germany’s Jews. At least 700 people attended the event.

The German taxpayer-funded museum’s decision to showcase a speaker in the capital city, which during the Nazi period served as the launching pad for a boycott movement against German-Jewish businesses, has raised eyebrows about the management’s direction of the museum."

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#BDS: تضامناً مع جوديث بتلر المثقفة العادلة #fuckIsrael

أصدرت «الحملة الفلسطينية للمقاطعة الأكاديمية والثقافية لإسرائيل» (PACBI) واتحاد نقابات أساتذة وموظفي الجامعات الفلسطينية، و«الاتحاد العام للكتاب والأدباء الفلسطينيين»، و«جمعية أساتذة الجامعات ـ غزة» بياناً نددوا فيه بالحملة الاسرائيلية على جوديث بتلر التي تسلّمت يوم الثلاثاء الماضي جائزة «أدورنو» في فرانكفورت، هي المعروفة بنقدها الشرس لاسرائيل ودعمها لـ«حركة مقاطعة إسرائيل وسحب الاستثمارات منها وفرض العقوبات عليها» (BDS).

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#BDS: معرض «بلاد العجائب» جمع فنانين فلسطينيين واسرائيليين #fuckIsrael

صفعة قوية تلقتها الحملات الفلسطينية والعالمية الهادفة إلى مقاطعة إسرائيل في المجالين الثقافي والأكاديمي. معرض «بلاد العجائب» جمع فنانين فلسطينيين واسرائيليين بمبادرة من «بلدية حيفا» التي لا يختلف أحد على عنصريتها الممنهجة بحق أهل المدينة الباقين في أرضهم

حيفا | في أول مشروع كبير يكسر حالة الإجماع على مقاطعة المؤسسة الاسرائيلية والأنشطة التي تصب في خدمتها، افتتح رئيس «بلدية حيفا» الاحتلالية يونا ياهف، وعضو البرلمان الألماني وولفغانغ غيركي، وشخصيات إسرائيلية وألمانية حكومية، معرضاً فنياً أول من أمس الثلاثاء يحمل عنوان «بلاد العجائب ــ فنانون اسرائيليون وفلسطينيون: الصراع السياسي في الفن». يقام المعرض في كل من «بيت الفنانين» التابع لـ«رابطة الفنانين والنحاتين الإسرائيليين» و«الغاليري الجديد للفن المعاصر» في حيفا. ويشارك فيه حوالي 16 فناناً فلسطينياً إلى جانب أكثر من 20 فناناً إسرائيلياً، بالإضافة إلى مشاركة كاتبين هما الاسرائيلي تسفيكا شطرنفيلد وعلاء حليحل محرر موقع «قديتا» الالكتروني.

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#BDS: Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions [ICAHD] endorses one-state solution #fuckIsrael

"Over the past 15 years, ICAHD has actively resisted the Israeli Occupation. For almost that long we have argued that the two-state solution is dead and gone, based on our intimate knowledge both of Israeli politics and the massive “facts” that Israel has imposed on the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), and constantly expands. However, ICAHD has refrained from advocating for any particular solution to the conflict, believing that is the Palestinians’ prerogative. We do not rule out the two-state solution in principle (although it is not fair or just), especially if the Palestinians nevertheless decide to go that way. ICAHD supports any solution – be it two-state, one-state or regional – which offers a just and inclusive peace and is acceptable to our Palestinian partners. In fact, because a workable resolution of the conflict must involve the entire region, we have long proposed a Middle East economic confederation including, at a minimum, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. From that perspective, the creation of a single state in Palestine/Israel may represent only a stage, albeit an unavoidable stage, towards a more comprehensive solution."

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#BDS: Why a boycott of Israeli academics is fully justified by @benabyad #fuckIsrael

"Steve Caplan believes that calls for the academic boycott of Israel, part of the wider Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) campaign, are hypocritical and counterproductive. Leaving aside his Israel advocacy "talking points" version of history, Caplan's argument has three significant flaws.

First, his only really substantive case against the boycott as a tactic is the claim that it is "aimed at the very segment of the population" – those in academia – who back Palestinian statehood and "compromise".

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#BDS Earlham College drops Sabra hummus over involvement in Israeli human rights violations #fuckIsrael

In Response to Student and Faculty Concerns, Earlham College’s Dining Services Decides to Stop Selling Sabra Products

On the 5^th of September, Earlham College’s dining service agreed to have Sabra Hummus removed from the coffee shop after being informed of the involvement in Israeli human rights violations in Palestine by Strauss Group Ltd., of which Sabra Dipping Company, LLC is a subsidiary. The decision comes after a group of concerned students and faculty approached Earlham’s dining services requesting the removal of the product from the college’s facilities.

Strauss Group Ltd. provides financial support and supplies to the Golani and Givati brigades of the Israeli army, which is responsible for enforcing Israel’s illegal, 45-year-old military occupation and colonization of Palestinian lands, and other grave and systematic human rights abuses.

“We applaud Earlham College’s dining service for taking this principled stand and refusing to do business with Sabra Dipping Company,” said Basil Farraj, of BDS Earlham. “Earlham students will no longer be unwittingly supporting Israeli abuses of Palestinian human rights when they purchase hummus and other products on campus.”

Earlham College’s dining services has promised to provide an alternative for the removed product, and were quick to note that they take student concerns seriously and follow through with immediate action.

Two years ago students launched a campaign calling on Earlham College to divest from Motorola Solutions, Caterpillar, and Hewlett Packard, companies that profit from and enable Israeli violations of international law. Last semester students with BDS Earlham also launched a “Dorm Storm” that has continued into the current school year, visiting all dorms and houses on campus and engaging in discussions with students to educate them about Earlham BDS and the larger global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which was launched by Palestinian civil society in 2005.  Source
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#BDS Report: South Korea complicit in Israel occupation #fuckIsrael

"Palestine Peace & Solidarity in South Korea (PPS), a Seoul-based group part of the global Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, launched a report denouncing South Korea's complicity with Israel's regime of occupation, colonization and apartheid against the Palestinian people. The report details Korea's ties with Israel at the military, economic, academic and cultural levels. This relationship, the report contends, has contributed to Israel's impunity and lack of accountability. "

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#BDS: The Baramki House: The Absent / Present #fuckIsrael

"In 1932, the prominent Palestinian architect, Andoni Baramki, built his own breathtaking house in Jerusalem. He dedicated it to his wife, Eveline. In 1948, during the Zionist ethnic cleansing campaign, or Nakba, the Baramki family, like hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, were uprooted and ended up briefly in Gaza, and then in Ramallah. The Baramki House was transformed into a military outpost: the Turjeman Post. The building stood on the seam line between what became Israel and what became the West Bank, across from Mandelbaum Gate, the only crossing point between the two sides of the divided city of Jerusalem.

After the 1967 war, Israel occupied the rest of historic Palestine and put the West Bank and Gaza Strip under its military control.  The Mandelbaum Gate was abolished and the military outpost was abandoned. Since Andoni and Eveline Baramki were residents in the now occupied East Jerusalem, they were issued Israeli identity cards from the Israeli authorities. The Israeli army had no more need for the house as a post, so the Baramki family felt their quest to reclaim the House could finally come to fruition. Alas, the family’s request was denied by the Israeli authorities under the racist Absentees’ Property Law of 1950, which was used to pillage the property of Palestinians ethnically cleansed during the Nakba and even those who were internally displaced and declared as “present absentees.”(1) This infamous law recognizes the presence of internally displaced Palestinians as “residents or “citizens” of the state of Israel, but “absent” as far as their own individual property is concerned."

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#BDS: Palestinian civil society denounces Bashar Masri’s normalization with #Israel #fuckIsrael

"The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC), the largest coalition in Palestinian civil society that includes Palestinian political parties, unions, NGOs and grassroots organisations and leads the global BDS movement, strongly condemns the participation of Palestinian businessman Bashar Masri in the Israeli High Tech Industry Association (HTIA) annual conference taking place between the 10^th and 12^th of September in Haifa and Jerusalem.[1] Other speakers to the conference include Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Nir Barakat, the Israeli mayor of occupied Jerusalem. Masri will be speaking at a panel with Israeli businessman in a conference that is supported by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, among other Israeli state bodies. Masri’s participation in this conference constitutes an act of normalization with Israel that helps it whitewash its ongoing occupation, colonization and apartheid against the Palestinian people and that undermines the Palestinian struggle for freedom, justice and self determination."

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#BDS: Growing out of the fringe

"The Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement is putting an increasing amount of pressure on Israel, thus providing a potential alternative to stagnant negotiations.

Seven years ago, Palestinian civil society let out a call for nonviolent resistance through Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions against the Israeli state. Signed by 108 organizations and bodies, it represented the largest consensus within Palestinian civil society in recent history. This year, on the movement’s seventh birthday, it can no longer be considered a “fringe” movement. While backs have been turned, this grassroots initiative seems to be the only movement garnering support amongst international activists on university campuses worldwide."

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#BDS: أوروبا تقرر مقاطعة منتجات المستوطنات الشهر المقبل #fuckIsrael

قال دبلوماسي يوناني كبير بان الاتحاد الأوروبي يدرس مقاطعة منتجات المستوطنات الصهيونية في الضفة الغربية. وقال المندوب اليوناني بان اليونان هي إحدى الدول الصديقة جدا لـ "اسرائيل" ولكن الآن هناك لجنة تابعة للاتحاد الأوروبي شكلت لبحث مقاطعة بضائع المستوطنات في أوروبا، موضحاً  أنه سيتم رفع توصيات اللجنة الشهر القادم لاتخاذ قرار في ممثلية الاتحاد الأوروبي.

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#BDS roundup: Full cultural and academic boycott of Israel adopted at South African University #fuckIsrael

"On this week’s roundup of news from the global boycott, divestment and sanctionsmovement: A South African university adopts a full academic and cultural boycott of Israel; A new Sodastream store will be protested every week in Brighton; Protesters disrupt the Israeli Batsheva Dance Company’s performance in Edinburgh; Protests in Hyderabad, India against Israeli participation in education summit; and Palestinian civil society and academic groups applaud Judith Butler being awarded the Adorno prize."

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#BDS Video: Boycott against #Israel at the University of Michigan #fuckIsrael

EU considering ban on settlement trade, Israeli media reports #BDS #fuckIsrael

Norweigan foriegn minister Jonas Gahr Store has hinted that the Norwegian government is considering action against produce from illegal Israeli settlements

 (Policy Network)

In the latest sign that some European governments are starting to realize that they must do more that merely condemn Israel’s colonization of Palestinian land, comments by a Greek diplomat and the Norwegian foreign minister suggest that European governments are discussing taking action against settlement produce. 

Israeli media reports are claiming that a Greek diplomat told reporters that the EU is considering a ban on importing settlement produce. An article in the The Jerusalem Poststates: 

The European Union is considering instituting a ban on imports of products made in Israeli settlements, a Greek Foreign Ministry official was quoted as saying to a group of Israeli and Palestinian journalists in Athens on Friday.

According to multiple Israeli media reports, the Greek diplomat, speaking to reporters during a Geneva Initiative seminar in the Greek capital, said that EU nations were currently holding discussions on the issue. Among moves being considered were a total import ban on settlement goods or the implementation of special labels for goods made in communities beyond the Green Line, such as South Africa adopted last month.

Channel 10 quoted the official as saying the EU Executive Commission would likely make a decision on the issue next month.

Meanwhile, Norway’s foreign minister Jonas Gahr Store hinted that his country is also considering taking action against trade in settlement goods. Haaretz reported(subscription required): 

The international community must consider how to relate to the import of goods that are produced in the settlements, “which we consider illegal according to international law,” the Norwegian Foreign Minister, Jonas Gahr Store told Haaretzon the eve of his visit to Jerusalem and Ramallah.

Store, head of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee - a donor support group to the Palestinian Authority - said that Norway would “consider various options to demonstrate its policy in regard to the expansion of the settlements.”

Settlement products are illegal

One commentary interpreted Store’s comments to mean that the Norwegian government believes settlement products are illegal, a view shared by two recent publications from Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq. 

A legal memorandum entitled “State Responsibility in Connection with Israel’s Illegal Settlement Enterprise in the Occupied Palestinian Territory” released in July and endorsed by legal experts including Professor John Dugard, the former UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine, made clear that states have a responsibility to end all forms of support or recognition for Israel’s settlement enterprise, including by preventing the trade in settlement goods. 

On 3 September, Al-Haq published a report on Ahava, the Israeli cosmetics firm that operates in an illegal settlement, in which it called for “restrictive measures” on the import of Israeli products from Israeli settlements, “because of the serious violations of peremptory norms of international law that settlements and their related infrastructure entail, such as the violation of Palestinian right to self-determination.” 

The report explained that EU member states — and, by implication, all other states that allow imports of settlement goods — are violating their own legal obligations by allowing the trade in settlement goods to continue: 

On the one hand, by allowing the entering of such products in their internal market, the EU and its national authorities are in breach of their duty of non-recognition of Israel’s unlawful conduct in the OPT [occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip]. On the other hand, by trading goods coming from Israeli settlements, the member States of the EU are actively cooperating and supporting the maintenance of the illegal situation created by the Israeli authorities in the occupied territory, in clear violation of their legal obligations under international law.

Time to end trade with companies operating in settlements

These latest comments from European officials follow recent decisions by the Danish andSouth African governments to join the UK in issuing guidance that settlement products should be labeled in a way that distinguishes them from other Israeli exports. 

Irish foreign minister Eamon Gilmore has stated that Ireland supports an EU ban on settlement trade. In May, a UK foreign minister appeared to hint that the UK government is considering further action on settlement products. Campaigners from several other European countries have reported that foreign ministries have become much more open to calls for action on settlement products in recent months. 

This gradual but significant change in attitude by major governments should be viewed as a response, at least partially, to succesful campaigning by the movement for boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel. 

Agrexco, formerly Israel’s largest exporter of agricultural produce, entered into administration in September 2011 following a campaign that took place in more than 15 countries and played a major role in the company’s collapse. Building on this success, campaigners in the UK successfully persuaded the Cooperative Group, one of the UK’s biggest retailers, to end trade with companies like Mehadrin that export from Israel’s illegal settlements. 

In a statement celebrating the Cooperative Group’s decision, agricultural organizations in Palestine explained their support for a focus on complicit companies rather than just settlement produce itself: 

Agricultural export companies routinely mislabel their produce and are known to market settlement produce as originating from inside Israel. More importantly, agricultural companies as a whole are accountable for their conduct, and any trade with companies that export — even if partially — from settlements or participate in other Israeli violations of international law only serves to encourage further Israeli violations of international law and is inherently unethical.

Further campaigning against trade that supports settlement expansion is expected to take place over the coming months and can start to generate the public pressure that will be necessary to force governements and more big retailers to take comprehensive action.  Source