#BDS: Calls to #boycott #Israel grow on #US campuses

On December 4, the council of the American Studies Association (ASA) voted unanimously to endorse the call from Palestinian civil society for an academic boycott of Israeli academic institutions (USACBI), becoming only the second academic association in the US to do so. The decision was described by the ASA as an "ethical stance", which "represents a principle of solidarity with scholars and students deprived of their academic freedom and an aspiration to enlarge that freedom for all, including Palestinians".

Support for the resolution was described to Al Jazeera by author and Professor of American Studies Alex Lubin as "nothing less than the breaking of what Edward Said called 'America's last taboo'…Creating a space within US society to break through the enforced silence on Israeli occupation".

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#BDS Victory: #Moddi cancels Tel Aviv gig after appeal from Gaza

Norwegian musician Moddi has canceled a scheduled Tel Aviv show following a call from Palestinians in Gaza, echoed by solidarity activists.

In his powerful statement, Moddi explains that “Although music can be a unique arena for public debate, the debate over these territories has been misused for a long time. Discussion and dialogue creates an impression of constant progress.”

Meanwhile the “discourse of peace creates a thick veil, concealing the increasingly tighter besiegement of Gaza, the ongoing fragmentation of the West Bank and the continuing discrimination of Arab-Israeli citizens.”

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#BDS: #Israel’s real fear is BDS and ‘delegitimization,’ says Goldberg

One of the fascinating new trends inside US political culture is that the Israel lobby is dividing and reconstituting itself, slightly to the left, in order to take on its new enemy: the BDS movement. The lobby needs to reconstitute itself because it recognizes that the neoconservatives and Likudniks expose Israel and the lobby to grave political risk at a time when Europe is inching toward boycott of settlement goods and Americans say clearly they don’t want war with Iran. The lobby has to re-unify to deal with its greatest threat: the delegitimization movement, anti-Zionists who are questioning the fundamental character of the Jewish state and promoting democracy in Israel and Palestine.

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#BDS: #G4S contracts in occupied territories face major investigation

G4S, the security company which has lurched from crisis to crisis over the past two years, is facing an investigation by international authorities into its alleged activities in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. Sources said the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) UK staff have indicated that it will be investigating the company’s work supplying Israeli security services. It is alleged that G4S provides Israel with surveillance equipment at its checkpoints in the occupied territories, although the precise nature of the equipment is not known. Read more

#BDS: Boycott “greatest threat” facing #Israel, leaders say

While Israeli hasbara (propaganda) initiatives continue to bravely deny that the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement is having any impact, two statements from prominent politicians indicate otherwise. Israeli justice minister and war crimes suspect Tzipi Livni, who is in charge of the moribund negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, told a conference last week that Israel was living in a “bubble.” “Livni said that a country usually only finds out the cost of living in a bubble after it bursts, such as in the case of South Africa,” Ynet reported. Read more

#BDS: Dutch pension manager divests from Israeli banks

One of the world's largest pension asset managers pulls investments out of Israeli banks in protest of their involvement in West Bank construction PGGM of the Netherlands, one of the 20 largest pension asset managers globally, said Wednesday it has divested from five Israeli banks because they are involved in financing the construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

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#BDS: شوكولاتة #سعودية في #إسرائيل

قريبا سيستطيع الإسرائيليون شراء شوكولاتة "النسمة" الفاخرة والتي ستصلهم من منطقة الخليج. وشوكولاتة "النسمة" هي حلوى فاخرة وفريدة من نوعها، تصنع في الإمارات، ويستخدم فيها حليب الناقة بدلا من حليب البقر. وتعد "النسمة" من أغلى أنواع الشوكولا في العالم لما تحمله من ميزات وخصائص.

وقد كتبت صحيفة "يديعوت أحرونوت" أن الشكولاتة المصنوعة من مواد طبيعية تحتوي على العسل والقليل من الفاينلا. وأشارت إلى أن الحلوى ستصل إلى إسرائيل من السعودية.

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#BDS: إسرائيليون يحتجون على رفض "ماكدونالدز" فتح فروع له في مستوطنات الضفة

في قرار فاجأ الاسرائيليون، رفضت شركة مطاعم الوجبات السريعة العالمية "ماكدونالدز" اقامة فرع لها في مستوطنة ارئيل، كبرى المستوطنات الاسرائيلية والتي ترفض اسرائيل الانسحاب منها في اي اتفاق سلام مستقبلي.

واثار القرار غضب الاسرائيليين فيما خرج مستوطنو المكان بحملة ضد الشركة. ووصف رئيس مجلس المستوطنة، ايلي شيبرون، القرار بـ"الخطوة الحقيرة" قائلاً:"من حقنا هنا في هذه المستوطنة، الحصول على كل خدمة ولنا حقوق كجمهور تل أبيب والقدس. فالمقيم في أرئيل لا يختلف عن الاسرائيليين المقيمين في أي مكان اخر".

وتبين ان صاحب امتياز الشركة في إسرائيل، هو احد ابرز مؤسسي حركة "السلام الآن"، اليسارية، عمري فدان، الذي اعلن عدم فتح فرع لها في المركز التجاري الجديد والمزمع إقامته في المستوطنة، كونها مقامة على أراضي فلسطينية، خارج الخط الأخضر.

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#BDS Victory: Artists, Nobel laureates call for military boycott of Israel

"Mike Leigh, Ken Loach, Alice Walker, Noam Chomsky and Roger Waters among those who signed letter saying Operation Pillar of Defense 'new chapter in Israel's decades-old violations of international law, Palestinian rights'

A group of Nobel Peace Prize laureates, prominent artists and activists have issued a call for an international military boycott of Israel following Operation Pillar of Defense in Gaza, The Guardian reported Wednesday."

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URGENT #BDS ACTION ALERT: Is Stephen Hawking right to join the academic #boycott of #Israel? Vote YES!

"Stephen Hawking has pulled out of a conference hosted by the Israeli president, Shimon Peres, in Jerusalem as a protest at Israel's treatment of Palestinians. Is he right to do so?"

Click here to vote YES

#BDS VICTORY: Teachers Union of Ireland calls for Academic Boycott of Israel in unanimous vote

"At its Annual Congress on Thursday 4th April 2013, the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) became the first academic union in Europe to endorse the Palestinian call for an academic boycott of Israel. The motion, which refers to Israel as an “apartheid state”, calls for “all members to cease all cultural and academic collaboration with Israel, including the exchange of scientists, students and academic personalities, as well as all cooperation in research programmes” was passed by a unanimous vote during today’s morning session.

The motion further calls on the Irish Congress of Trade Unions to “step up its campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against the apartheid state of Israel until it lifts its illegal siege of Gaza and its illegal occupation of the West Bank, and agrees to abide by International law and all UN Resolutions against it”, and on the TUI to conduct an awareness campaign amongst members on the need for BDS. The motion was a composite motion proposed by the TUI Executive Committee and TUI Dublin Colleges Branch. It was presented by Jim Roche, a lecturer in the DIT School of Architecture and member of the TUI Dublin Colleges Union branch, and seconded by Gerry Quinn, Vice President of the TUI."

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#BDS: Cristiano #Ronaldo 'Snubs #Israel Shirt Swap to Support Palestine' [VIDEO]

 

"Palestinian supporters claim Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo publicly endorsed their cause by refusing to swap shirts with Israeli players during Friday's World Cup qualifier in Tel Aviv.

After the match Ronaldo walked straight off the pitch rather than exchange his shirt for an opposition player's, a ritual which is common in international football. He appeared to chat briefly to one Israeli player, before walking away."

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#BDS: After hard-fought battle, students celebrate divestment vote victory at UC San Diego #US

"After a hard fought battle, Students for Justice in Palestine at University of California, San Diego (UCSD) claimed a major victory last night when the Associated Student Council passed a resolution calling for divestment from companies profiting from Israeli occupation.

The result – 20 in favor, 12 against and 1 abstention – was announced to loud cheers, the video above shows.

The resolution, proposed by Students for Justice in Palestine, is similar to recent resolutions passed at UC Irvine and UC Riverside and names Boeing, General Dynamics Corporation, Hewlett Packard, Ingersoll-Rand and Raytheon among other companies that “profit from Israel’s military occupation and violence against Palestinians in violation of international law and human rights.”

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Land Day: Celebrate Resistance and Intensify #BDS

"On March 30, Palestinians will commemorate Land day, a day in 1976 when Israeli military forces shot and killed six young Palestinian citizens of Israel. These brave youth were among thousands protesting the Israeli government’s expropriation of Palestinian land. Today, we continue to celebrate Palestinian resistance to Israel’s ongoing land expropriation, colonization, occupation and apartheid.

Thirty-seven years after the first Land Day demonstrations, Israel continues its expropriation and colonization of Palestinian land. Israel continues to expand its illegal settlements in occupied Palestinian territory, forcing Palestinians from their land. Palestinians also face dispossession and displacement inside Israel."

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The #BDS movement explained

"In many media reports on the recent panel held at Brooklyn College on theboycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel, BDS was subjected to relentless vilification and unfounded allegations.

This was yet another ruthless campaign to demonize and shut down all criticism of Israel. Following congressional Israel-centered bullying of secretary of defensenominee Chuck Hagel, it is further evidence of the rise of a new McCarthyism — one that uses unconditional allegiance to Israel as the litmus test of loyalty."

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