Youth Against Normalization

Apr 29, 2011

#BDS: Anti Arms Trade campaigners shut down arms factory

"Early this morning three activists locked themselves to the Brighton arms factory EDO/ITT, in solidarity with the people of Gaza.

Six Palestinians have been killed over the bank holiday weekend by Israeli air strikes in Gaza.

EDO is currently working on contracts for supply of weapons umbilical connectors to US firm Lockheed Martin who are incorporating them onto the new F35 fighter plane, bound for Israel. Paul Hills, EDO, managing director, has described the function of the connector as “to provide coordinates to the guidance unit… on the weapon.”
EDO’s connector systems have already resulted in civilian deaths in Afghanistan. In 2009 Royal Dutch Air Force F-16s, equipped with EDO’s FRCS connectors, killed 52 civilians in a bombing raid in Helmand."

#BDS: SJP Open Letter to the UCSD Community Regarding 2011 Divestment Effort

"This quarter, UCSD Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) had been organizing a “Resolution to Divest from Companies Profiting from Violent Conflict.” The resolution particularly addressed General Electric and Northrop Grumman, two companies that provide parts of Apache helicopters that have been documented by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International to cause deaths of civilians in the Palestinian territories.

The resolution was originally set to be presented on April 20, 2011. In respect of those students observing Passover, specifically those connected with the resolution, SJP leadership agreed to postpone the presentation until April 27. On April 22, five days before the resolution was to be presented, an unaffiliated third party council member arranged for representatives from Tritons for Israel (TFI) and SJP to meet."

#BDS: Another BDS Success! EUSA votes for boycott of Israeli goods.

"A motion to boycott Israeli goods was overwhelmingly passed at the Edinburgh University Students Association (EUSA) General Meeting on March 15.

Boycott Israeli Goods in EUSA shops and supply chains received around 270 votes in favour, with only 20 students voting against.

Proposed by students from Edinburgh University Students for Justice in Palestine, the motion noted that Israel is an apartheid state and resolved to affiliate EUSA to the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, to boycott Israeli goods in EUSA supply chains and shops, and to mandate the EUSA executive to lobby the University to do the same.

Since the call was made in 2005 by over 170 Palestinian civil society organisations, the BDS movement has grown rapidly in the UK.

University unions such as Sussex, Manchester and SOAS have had BDS motions passed."

#BDS: New Egypt: Egypt detains ex-energy minister over gas deal with Israel

"Egypt's public prosecutor on Thursday ordered former Energy Minister Sameh Fahmy and five other senior energy officials detained for questioning over a natural gas deal with Israel that the government is reviewing.

Israel gets 40% of its natural gas from Egypt under an arrangement put in place after a 1979 peace deal. Opposition groups have long complained the gas was being sold at preferential prices and that East Mediterranean Gas (EMG), the company which supplies it, violated bureaucratic regulations. (Reuters)"

#BDS: New BDS Song by Radio Rahim!

Apr 22, 2011

#BDS: ناشطون يوقفون بيع منتجات إسرائيلية في كبرى محال لندن

لندن: أقنع محتجون محلات بيع مستحضرات وأدوات تجميل معروفة وسط العاصمة البريطانية لندن, يوم السبت، في التخلي عن اقتناء وبيع مستحضرات التجميل التي تنتجها شركة اهافا الإسرائيلية والتعهد بعدم بيعها وتسويقها.

وتأتي الخطوة تتويجاً لجهود عشرات من الناشطين والمتضامنيين مع القضية الفلسطينية، حيث يسعون إلى توسيع نطاق حملات المقاطعة التي تستهدف المنتجات الإسرائيلية في أوروبا.

وأستخدم الناشطون طريقة وصفت بـ«الفعالة»، للترويج إلى حملتهم، حيث أحتشد عشرات المتضامنين والناشطين في حملات مقاطعة إسرائيل في «كوفنت جاردن» وسط العاصمة لندن، وأعلنوا هذا الانجاز الذي جاء بعد سلسلة من الاعتصامات التي استمرت نحو عام كامل، بواقع مرة كل أسبوعين.

إقرأ/ي المزيد

#BDS: Marrickville puts BDS on the map in Australia

"The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC), the broadest coalition of Palestinian political parties, trade unions, NGOs and networks, warmly salutes those Marrickville councillors who remained steadfast and principled in their support of the three fundamental Palestinian rights that constitute the core of the boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS). In the face of what Mayor Fiona Byrne rightly described as a “sledgehammer of pressure”, these courageous councillors recalled the most sincere spirit of solidarity that marked the global struggle against South African apartheid by insisting on supporting the Palestinian struggle to end Israel’s decades-old occupation, colonization, apartheid, and obdurate denial of UN-sanctioned rights of our refugees to return and receive reparations. We deeply appreciate Marrickville’s moral commitment to the objectives of the BDS movement — freedom, justice and equality — despite the current inability to maintain a majority in support of taking effective BDS measures to help reach these noble objectives."

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#BDS: Imaging Apartheid around the world

"A small collective of artists and activists under the name of Imaging Apartheid have spent the past six months calling upon their creative colleagues to submit work related to the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

With a stated goal to “bring awareness and support to the Palestinian struggle for liberation through the production and dissemination of poster art,” the collective has gathered a diverse collection of posters, from which they will select the strongest images to exhibit in Montreal and several locations across the world.

We caught up with designer Kevin Lo, one of the Imaging Apartheid organizers, to find out more about the project."

#BDS: بطل كرة السلة الأمريكي كريم عبد الجبار ينوي زيارة الكيان الصهيوني

أعلن لاعب كرة السلة المعتزل كريم عبد الجبار نيته زيارة الكيان الصهيوني قريباً والإلتقاء بأحد الحاخامت الصهاينة في سياق قيامه بالتجهيز لفيلم عن الحرب العالمية الثانية. وتأتي هذه الزيارة في ظل إزدياد عزلة العدو الإسرائيلي وإزداياد حالات المقاطعة الفنية له. وتستنكر مجموعة شباب ضد التطبيع هذه الزيارة المزمعة وتدعو عبد الجبار لإلغاءها وعدم الإنسياق خلف الدعاية الصهيونية التي تجعل من معاناة اليهود الأبرياء في الحرب العالمية الثانية مبرراً لإحتلال فلسطين وأراضي سورية ولبنانية إلى اليوم، ناهيك عن سياسات القمع والفصل العنصري وسرقة المياه والثروات الطبيعية والإعتقالات التعسفية والتعذيب وسياسات الإغتيال والحصار.

#BDS: Moby - Please Don't Play for Apartheid Israel!

"Moby is sceduled to play for the Pic.nic Festival in apartheid Israel. His concert is for July 12, in Tel-Aviv-Yafo. We ask Moby to stand for the Palestian call for the cultural boycott of Israel until it abides by international law and stops its brutal occupation of the Palestinian people. Following the lead of other artists such as Roger Waters, Pete Seeger, Massive Attack, Klaxons, Gorillaz Sound System, Carlos Santana, Elvis Costello, Devendra Banhart, Faithless, Gil Scott-Heron, The Pixies, Snoop Dogg (Snoop was quoted as telling Palestinian-American hip hop producer Fredwreck “Why they building a wall around y’alls people’s shit. That’s fucked up, cuz.’)

One way to contact moby is to call the cafe that he owns directly and leave a message, that # in nyc is 212-475-9190 see https://www.teany.com/cafe"

Also check the facebook event

#BDS: Southern African Christians call for BDS

"The Palestine Kairos Document was launched in South Africa on Monday evening 4 April 2011, at a meeting of Kairos Southern Africa in Bredell near Johannesburg. The document is called: A moment of truth – A word of faith, hope and love from the heart of the Palestian suffering.

The notion of a Palestine Kairos Document was inspired by the South African Kairos Document as a Christian testimony of faith during the dark and last days of apartheid. Palestinian lay people, theologians and church leaders came together to express a testimony of faith in relation to their experience under the occupation of Palestine by Israel.

In response to the message of the Palestine Kairos Document, Christians from South Africa and countries in Southern Africa gathering at the conference decided to state the following:"

#BDS: Understanding the Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions Movement Against Israel

"In the last few years, Palestinians and the solidarity movements in support of Palestinian rights have been successful in drawing attention to Israel as an apartheid state deserving of the same treatment as apartheid South Africa. Prominent individuals such as former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Richard Falk and many others, have used the term apartheid at various moments to refer to Israel’s regime of gross violations of international law. But what is apartheid and exactly why is Israel an apartheid state? Most importantly, why should conscientious people across the world join the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, which has been growing over the last six years?

What Is Apartheid?

Apartheid is an Afrikaans term meaning separation or apartness. While it was first used in the South African context and took the form of clear institutionalized and legalized segregation by white settlers over the rest of the population, apartheid later took on an international legal dimension. As a result, the “crime of apartheid” no longer exists as a crime limited to a South African-style apartheid context. Rather, the crime has come to hold a specific legal definition that was adopted by the 2002 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and that has its basis in the 1973 International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid.

Under the Convention, the crime of apartheid is defined as “a crime against humanity . . . inhuman acts resulting from the policies and practices of apartheid and similar policies and practices of racial segregation and discrimination, as defined in article II of the Convention, are crimes violating the principles of international law.” Article II of the Convention defines the crime as “inhuman acts committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons and systematically oppressing them,” and also includes “similar policies and practices of racial segregation and discrimination as practiced in southern Africa.” While South African style apartheid is one benchmark, the real determinant of the crime of apartheid is whether or not policies and practices of oppression fall under the list of violations included in Article II of the Convention.

Of particular significance, the crime speaks in terms of oppressor and oppressed (not majorities and minorities), and prohibits the institutionalization of racist discrimination and oppression in which racism is legally enshrined through state institutions. Racial discrimination is defined in international law as any distinction based on race, color, descent, or national or ethnic origin."

#BDS: Politics and Sports Definitely Don't Mix: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to visit Israel

"Former NBA star, who is making film about WWII, to meet Rabbi Lau whom his father liberated from Nazi concentration camp

American basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar will visit Israel in July and meet with Rabbi Israel Meir Lau to discuss a film that he is making about World War II, the rabbi said recently.

The film is based on the book "Brothers in Arms", which Abdul-Jabbar co-authored and deals with the American troops who liberated Nazi concentration camps in the end of World War II. Abdul-Jabbar's own father served on the 761st Tank Battalion, which liberated the Buchenwald Concentration Camp in Germany."

#BDS: BDS means freedom, justice and self-determination

"Daniel Meyerowitz-Katz’s ill-informed and manifestly misleading attack on the Palestinian-led, global movement of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel contained several misrepresentations and some outright fabrications. The historical account given by Meyerowitz-Katz is not only skewed; it is a typical attempt to obscure or omit altogether the basic facts about BDS.

An overwhelming majority of Palestinian civil society issued the BDS Call on July 9, 2005 as an effective, non-violent strategy to end Israel’s violations of international law and Palestinian rights. This civil, peaceful and inclusive struggle, largely inspired by the successful South African anti-apartheid movement, is based on international law and universal principles of human rights."