BDS success

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07Q1daqgqHk

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BDS victories in 2018 reflect a growing movement
https://mondoweiss.net/2018/11/victories-reflect-movement/

Most people date the global boycott campaign to end South African apartheid to the 1980s.  By then, many student governments in the US were asking their university administration to divest from South African companies, activists were calling upon artists not to perform in South Africa, and most conscientious shoppers knew to avoid South African oranges.  The 1980s were the decade of mass concerts for progressive causes ("We are the world," "Do They Know it's Christmas," etc.) and none other than Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band's Steven Van Zandt organized the performance of "Sun City," with its star-studded cast that included Miles Davis, Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt, George Clinton, and many, many more, vowing they will participate in the cultural boycott of South Africa by refusing to perform there. One would think, looking back at the stellar line-up of 58 artists, that everyone who was anyone was on board.  But of course, this was never the case. Paul Simon, for example, crossed the picket line, as he insisted on performing in the pariah state.

And of course, the powerful Western governments, from the US's Reagan administration to  the UK's Margaret Thatcher, insisted that boycotts were not the way to bring justice to South Africa.  Reagan insisted on "constructive criticism," engaging with "moderates" in South Africa, so they could bring about some reform in their country, and even vetoed a bill to impose sanctions on South Africa, only to be overruled by Congress.  But the official embrace of the hateful racist system did not detract the grassroots activists, who persisted in their campaign, and ultimately won, despite the ongoing political and diplomatic immunity the US and UK offered South Africa, until the very eve of the official abolition of this violent system.  Indeed, as Steven Van Zandt put it, after visiting South Africa twice before organizing "Sun City," you can't reform apartheid, you need to abolish it completely.

What is frequently omitted from a discussion of the South African boycott campaign is that, while it picked up most in the 1980s, as people everywhere, catalyzed by the global rise against colonialism and segregation, sided with the oppressed, against the oppressor regimes, the call for boycotts was not issued in the 1980s, but in 1959.  Between 1959 and the 1980s, when most people were finally aware of the magnitude of state-sanctioned oppression in South Africa, the more committed activists were doing the non-glamorous work of educating, educating, and educating some more. A change in the narrative was needed, and it took decades to bring it about. But then, in the 1980s, a critical mass had finally been achieved:  Hampshire College was the first college to vote in favor of divestment, in 1977, by 1984, 53 schools had voted for divestment, inching up to 128 in 1987, and 155 in 1989.  Just as with the cultural boycott, some heavyweights refused to be on the side of justice: Harvard University, for example, only very reluctantly agreed to a partial divestment.  Nevertheless, there was no denying the domino effect.

Today, we are witnessing a similar grassroots phenomenon, as throughout the country, acts of resistance are bubbling up to the surface. Prof. John Cheney-Lippold, and graduate student Lucy Peterson, both at the University of Michigan, refused to write recommendation letters for students wishing to participate in a Study Abroad in Israel program.  The student government at Pitzer College voted to end their Study Abroad program in Haifa, citing Israel's official discriminatory policies as the reason for their vote.   And the entire state of Vermont, as well as the city of Northampton, in Massachusetts, both  just voted to end their police training exchange program with Israel.  It is as if the boycott movement were a pot of water that has been heating up on a stove, and is now approaching boiling point, and one watches with anticipation, looking for the next bubble...

However, even as we list "BDS victories" over 2018, we must note that this is not your "average roundup." Indeed, one of the more encouraging aspects of these breakthroughs—for that is what they are—is that most were accomplished by local individuals, groups, and coalitions with no direct involvement from the "leaders" of the BDS movement, the steering collectives of various groups focused on BDS.  Pitzer's decision to cancel its Study Abroad program, while fully in compliance with USACBI's national campaign, launched earlier this year, was taken independently of USACBI. Vermont's decision to cancel a training trip in Israel, a victory for JVP's Deadly Exchange campaign, was the outcome of a community effort that involved a coalition of Jews, Muslims, Christians, veterans, immigrants, and lawyers who, according to JVP deputy director, Stefanie Fox, "came together practically overnight" to express their collective rejection of the program.  Of course, they could not have come together "practically overnight" without all of the behind-the-scenes work by hundreds of activists and organizers.  Indeed, some of the earlier discussions around BDS focused on the identity of its "leaders," and I recall explaining that it is not a leader-less movement, but a leader-full movement, as every single individual can not only engage in boycotts, but can initiate a boycott campaign–so long as it complies with the BDS call's principles, grounded in human rights and anti-racism.  This is the spontaneity we are now witnessing, which must be celebrated as the most irrefutable proof of the change in progressive activist scenes.

Each of these victories is extremely  significant on its own terms, but also illustrates that the many years of political discussion that were catalyzed by the 2005 Palestinian call for BDS against Israel—a call that itself came after decades of diligent education–are bearing fruit.  The greater political context, the rise of fascism, is not to be ignored, and also corresponds with the climate of the 1980s, when Reagan was US president, and Margaret Thatcher prime minister in the UK. If we must make lemonade out of lemons, if we must look for the silver lining of the otherwise stormy days we live in, where a respected political commentator is fired for stating that Palestinians deserve human rights,  then we can indeed appreciate the resistance to fascism, racism, xenophobia that is rising amongst the grassroots, as more coalitions form to confront the hatred.  And we can celebrate our grasp that we, the people, have agency, and can bring about change.

So, here's to more "random acts" of boycott, resistance, and joint action in 2019!

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BDS victory: HSBC divests from Elbit Systems
https://mondoweiss.net/2018/12/victory-divests-systems/

On the 10th anniversary of Operation Cast Lead, Israel's murderous assault on Gaza which killed over 1000 Palestinians in 3 weeks, the movement to 'Stop Arming Israel' is stronger than ever before.

We have great news to share with you as we end 2018: HSBC have announced they have divested in full from Elbit Systems, which is Israel's largest private arms security firm, who market their weapons as "battle-tested" due to them being tested on Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

This victory comes after a campaign calling on HSBC to end its financial support for Israel's military, led by PSC, War On Want and Campaign Against the Arms Trade with huge support from the British public. The campaign saw more than 20,000 individuals writing to HSBC, monthly protests outside 40 local HSBC branches across the UK, social media actions and student campaigns aimed at UK universities. At HSBC's AGM in April, no issue received more questions than HSBC's complicity in supporting the arms trade with Israel.

PSC thanks all of our branches, activists and members who made this victory possible with relentless determination to campaign for freedom, justice and equality for the Palestinian people.

HSBC's investments in Elbit Systems was a primary target, making this victory a significant milestone in the campaign. However, HSBC still invest over £800 million in, and provide syndicated loans worth up to £19 billion for, companies arming Israel. This includes shares worth approximately £100 million in Caterpillar, a company which supplies the Israeli army with weaponised bulldozers to demolish Palestinian communities, construct Israel's illegal settlements and apartheid wall. We will continue to campaign and amplify the call for HSBC to end all of it's complicity with Israel's arms trade.

This is a great step forward for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and a huge boost for us all as we head into 2018. Thank you for supporting PSC and we look forward to campaigning with you all for freedom, justice and equality for the Palestinian people in the new year.




HSBC 'divests' from Israeli arms company Elbit Systems
Bank faced pressure from pro-Palestinian activists over its dealings with firm, which makes drones and weapons systems.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/12/hsbc-divests-israeli-arms-company-elbit-systems-181227152127652.html

Banking giant HSBC has pulled out its investments in Israeli arms firm Elbit Systems after a campaign by pro-Palestinian activists, according to sources.

Sources within HSBC confirmed the move to Al Jazeera on Thursday, but the bank has not issued an official statement on the decision.

The company says it does not take positions on political issues but "observes international human rights principles" that apply to businesses.

According to a 2017 report by activist group War on Want, HSBC had 3.1m British pounds ($3.92m) invested in Elbit Systems.

The activist group, which says it is committed to rooting out the causes of poverty and human rights abuse, said HSBC had a total of 831.5m British pounds ($1.05bn) invested in companies that provided equipment to the Israeli military.

Several of the companies listed, such as Rolls Royce and BAE Systems, had a large civilian customer base, too.

Based in the city of Haifa, Elbit produces military and civilian-use equipment, including drones, aircraft, weapon control systems and artillery.

The company's customers include the Israeli army, the US Air Force, and the British Royal Air Force.

Elbit also provides the US Customs and Border Protection agency with surveillance equipment for use along the US-Mexico border.

'Positive first step'
War on Want said more than 24,000 people emailed HSBC with concerns over its investment in Elbit and activists picketed retail branches of the bank in the UK.

Ryvka Barnard, a senior campaigner with War on Want, said the bank had taken "a positive first step" but added that it needed to act further.

"Doing business with companies like Elbit means profiting from violence and human rights violation, which is both immoral and a contravention of international law, " Barnard said.

"HSBC continues to do business with over a dozen companies selling military equipment and technology used in human rights violation, including Caterpillar, whose bulldozers are used in demolition of Palestinian homes and properties, and BAE Systems, whose weapons are used in war crimes by Israel, Saudi Arabia, and other repressive regimes."

BDS movement
The BDS (boycott, divestment, sanctions) movement started in 2005, after a call issued by Palestinian civil society groups for "people of conscience" around the world to help end Israel's abuses against Palestinians, by cutting off cultural, academic and economic ties with the state.

With the advent of social media in recent years, the movement has gained traction and popularity among supporters of the Palestinian cause.

Its successes have been enough to earn the ire of senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has sought to ban organisations that promote BDS in Israel.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohrkhZnG4Ww

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=658&v=V12mF-aPvIo

Leaked: Pro-Israel Lobby Groups Secretly Admit BDS Is Effective
https://israelpalestinenews.org/leaked-pro-israel-lobby-groups-secretly-admit-bds-is-effective/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=48148fe1-3f45-48da-a7f1-3df3418d57f5

Ali Abunimah discusses a leaked report from Creative Community for Peace (CCFP), a front for Israel government-backed lobby group StandWithUs, which admits the cultural boycott is "constantly growing" and "innovative".
from IMEMC

TRNN Video & Transcript
BEN NORTON: It's The Real News Network, and I'm Ben Norton.

As the campaign to boycott Israel for Palestinian rights is growing internationally, even pro-Israel lobby groups are secretly admitting on the inside that the boycott tactic is effective. A new confidential report from Creative Community for Peace, CCFP, which is a Los Angeles-based pro-Israel lobby organization that targets the entertainment and art industry, a leaked report from this group reveals that the cultural boycott against Israel has an even deeper impact than was previously recognized.

The CCFP was recently exposed by the progressive organization Jewish Voice for Peace to be a front organization for Stand With Us. Stand With Us is a staunchly right-wing pro-Israel lobby group that is, in fact, partially funded by the Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs, so it receives money from the Israeli government. And CCFP, its goal is to attack and organize smear campaigns against artists who participate in the cultural boycott of Israel.

So joining us to talk about what this means for the International BDS, Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions, movement against Israel is Ali Abunimah. Ali is co-founder of the award-winning online publication The Electronic Intifada, and he's the author of One Country and The Battle for Justice in Palestine. Thanks for joining us, Ali.

ALI ABUNIMAH: Thank you, Ben.



BEN NORTON: So, Ali, can you walk us through who CCFP is, and specifically what its links are to Stand With Us? These are right-wing, pro-Israel lobby organizations. Can you explain to the viewers what the cultural boycott is, and why these groups are so aggressive against the cultural boycott?

ALI ABUNIMAH: CCFP, Creative Communities for Peace, poses as a sort of a nonprofit peace group that tries to counter the cultural boycott of Israel by telling artists who have been approached by Palestinian rights campaigners and asked not to go to Israel, then CCFP steps in and tries to tell them, you know, music is the universal language, and dialogue is better than boycotts. And so it tries to give this soft, you know, lovey-dovey image that it's a peace group, and that it just wants everyone to come together in peace and love.

The reality, as you've mentioned, is that it's a front for Stand With Us. Now, Stand With Us is a far-right pro-Israel group that a few years ago, the Prime Minister's Office in Israel, the office of Benjamin Netanyahu, decided to fund directly in order to do propaganda for Israel. Now, it's not clear if that funding ever went through. It was widely reported that the funding was awarded, but then Stand With Us subsequently denied ever receiving the funding. But nonetheless, Stand With Us is part and parcel of the network of propaganda organizations that work closely with the Israeli government to spread an anti-Palestinian message and try to sabotage and thwart the nonviolent Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.

BEN NORTON: Now let's look at the specific report. This report, that was a confidential report from CCFP and has been cited by Jewish Voice for Peace, it really clearly spells out the organization's politics. One of the things that the report does is condemn intersectionality, which is the idea that multiple systems of oppression are linked together. And specifically the report is very critical of the fact that there are a lot of civil rights organizations and black American organizations and feminist groups in the United States that are increasingly in solidarity with Palestine. In fact, CCFP describes the growing black Palestine solidarity and the growing feminist support for Palestine as a, quote, "troubling and growing trend." So it's very clear that this is a right-wing organization. So can you talk about why this report was confidential, and what CCF has to hide?

ALI ABUNIMAH: Right. Well, there's a couple of really important things that need to be kind of teased out. One is the the observation–which is not unique to CCFP. Other Israel lobby groups, and in fact the Israeli government, have said very clearly time and again that they view growing black solidarity with Palestine to be a real threat to their efforts to shore up support for Israel in the United States. Why? Because black support for Palestine is rooted in such historic struggles; the identification was the Palestinian struggle based on the black struggle for liberation from American state racism, apartheid, and Jim Crow, and of course the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa. So Israel fears that black support not only widens the base of support for Palestinians, but gives the Palestinian cause much more progressive credibility. That's exactly what the CCFP report is saying.

But you'll remember, Ben, that the recently-leaked Al-Jazeera film on the Israel lobby, in that film you hear an Israeli official saying the same thing, that Black Lives Matter is a threat. Now, where this really concerns CCFP is that, because they're intent on fighting cultural boycott, is that they see many black cultural figures really being in the forefront of speaking out on Palestinian rights. And that's artists in the hip hop community. It is also not just in music, but also in sports. We've seen NFL players refusing to go on propaganda junkets to Israel, or speaking out for Palestinians.

So they fear that black support for Palestine combined with the willingness of black cultural figures to speak out is really something very dangerous for Israel's efforts to whitewash its apartheid regime.

BEN NORTON: Yeah. And then finally can we talk, maybe, about some of the specific performances and cancellations from artists that CCFP have targeted? This report cites a few different incidents, including the German pop culture festival. They also talk about a dance group called Batsheva. But we've also seen that in the past CCFP has really gone after artists like Roger Waters, and other pop stars who have canceled performances in Israel. Sometimes these artists, like Roger Waters, have explicitly done so in support of Palestinian rights. Sometimes other artists, like Ariana Grande and others, have not necessarily said it was because of the conflict in Israel-Palestine and the illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories, but it's clear that that was one of the reasons they canceled. So maybe can you talk about some of the specific artists that CCFP has targeted?

ALI ABUNIMAH: Yeah. Well, over the past year in general we've seen a massive growth of the cultural boycott. We saw, you know, just over a year ago we saw Lorde, the New Zealand pop star, cancel a performance in Tel Aviv, which was huge international news. In the past year we've seen Gilberto Gil, we've seen Shakira, and other big names refusing to go. And you mentioned the German pop culture festival, where a number of bands refused to participate for the second or third year running in that festival because of sponsorship from the Israeli government. And we've seen literally hundreds of independent artists and bands and deejays stating publicly that they will abide by the boycott. All this has happened in the last year.

Now, what's significant is Israel has really tried to thwart this through a carrot and stick approach. The carrot is offering artists very large paydays–and of course, also, Lana Del Rey canceled recently, despite reportedly being offered a massive amount of money to go and play at the festival in Israel. But she canceled after a campaign. So that's the carrot approach, is offering large paydays for these artists. And the stick is to really smear them and go after them, as has happened to Roger Waters, where there have been efforts to prevent him from performing in public stadiums, or to have his shows canceled, or just generally to smear him. But what this report shows is that neither approach is working, neither the carrot nor the stick.

And the report says very clearly that this, what they call the 'silent boycott,' is growing. You mentioned Ariana Grande and others, where they just refuse to go to Israel. They don't necessarily come out with a statement saying, you know, I'm taking a stance in solidarity with the Palestinians. They just view Israel as toxic. They don't see it worth the the public relations nightmare. Or perhaps they even agree with the view that Palestinians should have full human rights, but they just don't want to say it. But for whatever reason, the silent boycott is seen by Israel as really an even bigger threat than, let's call it, the vocal boycott. And this was something that was also stated very clearly and explicitly in another leaked report which was written by the ADL, the Anti-Defamation League, and the Israeli think tank the Reut Institute that also leaked last year, and was published by the Electronic Intifada, where they said clearly that they view one of the biggest threats and one of the fastest-growing threats to be the silent boycott. And by the way, that silent boycott is not just in terms of culture and music and art, but also academia and scientific research, as well.

BEN NORTON: We'll have to end our conversation there. We were speaking with Ali Abunimah, who is an award-winning journalist and the co-founder of the Electronic Intifada. He is also the author of One Country and The Battle for Justice in Palestine. As always, thanks for joining us, Ali.

ALI ABUNIMAH: My pleasure. Thank you, Ben.

BEN NORTON: For The Real News Network. I'm Ben Norton.

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How did the Israel boycott campaign grow in 2018?
read the article at this link to see all the pictures and links and tweets:
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora-barrows-friedman/how-did-israel-boycott-campaign-grow-2018

The year 2018 was one of victories by human rights activists despite heavy pressure, attacks and propaganda efforts by Israel and its lobby groups to whitewash its image.

Starting off the year, it was revealed that US President Donald Trump's alliance with white supremacist groups and anti-Semitic figures has pushed support for Israel to a low point, especially among young American Jews.

By October, it was confirmed in another survey that support for Israel is coming primarily from Trump's base, a hotbed of right-wing, white nationalist and Christian Zionist views, while support from other Americans continues to erode.

Early on in the year, AIPAC, Israel's powerful lobby group on Capitol Hill, was forced to admit that it was facing mounting problems in its efforts to shore up support for Israel among progressive American leaders.

However, AIPAC, along with the Anti-Defamation League and similar advocacy groups, continued to push for federal legislation – the Israel Anti-Boycott Act – that seeks to criminalize supporters of the boycott movement, even as the ADL determined behind closed doors that such bills are ineffective and unconstitutional:

But there were signals that even Israel's hardline supporters in Congress began pushing back.

Just in the past few weeks, Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Dianne Feinstein of California urged top congressional leaders to pull the Israel Anti-Boycott Act from an omnibus spending package, citing blatant First Amendment violations.

Following Israel's premeditated massacre of Palestinians in Gaza on 30 March, The Electronic Intifada's Ali Abunimah noted that not one Democrat in either houses of the US Congress spoke up to defend Israel's actions, a notable difference in policy of elected leaders who have reflexively done so in the past.

It reflected a recognition of Israel's increasingly toxic brand, especially among the Democratic base.

Israel's attacks on BDS activists were sometimes absurd – like when a Mossad-backed Israeli lawfare group sued two New Zealand activists for successfully encouraging pop star Lorde to cancel her Tel Aviv gig at the end of 2017.

The activists named in that lawsuit – which legal experts said could not be enforced – used the publicity generated by the case to raise money to support mental healthcare in Gaza and bring more attention to the humanitarian crisis across Palestine.

The Electronic Intifada's release of a censored documentary produced by Al Jazeera on the Israel lobby's tactics in the US helped reveal the efforts of Israel and its lobbyists to spy on, smear and intimidate US citizens who support Palestinian human rights, especially the BDS movement.

Despite Israel's attacks, smears and threats, boycott activists continued to make enormous gains – much to the dismay of Israeli leaders.

"We are exposing Israel's crimes and apartheid policies and building pressure to end them," noted prominent activists in the BDS movement in their annual roundup of boycott highlights.

Here are some of the top BDS victories as covered by The Electronic Intifada over the last year.

Israel remains a toxic brand
Performers continued to ditch their Israel gigs in 2018, following sustained appeals by human rights activists in Palestine and all over the globe.

Shakira and Gilberto Gil led a list of notable cancellations, while dozens of DJs and music producers took public pledges not to perform in the apartheid state.

Over the summer, Israel's Meteor Festival fizzled without its headliner Lana Del Rey, who pulled out of her gig just days before the festival began, stating that she wanted to "treat all my fans equally."

Sixteen other Meteor Festival acts, including Of Montreal, dropped out of the festival following sustained appeals by Palestinian and international activists to respect the boycott call.

Israeli-American actor Natalie Portman refused to receive an award in Jerusalem in April, ostensibly over Israel's massacres of Palestinians, much to the scorn and shock of Israeli leaders.

In June, 11 LGBTQ filmmakers refused to let Israel use them to pinkwash its crimes, joining the boycott of TLVFest – the Tel Aviv International LGBT Film Festival.

Artists also boycotted the Istanbul Film Festival after it was revealed that Israel was sponsoring it.

The cultural boycott also saw gains in the sports world, as Argentina's football team canceled a high-profile match in June with Israel after an intense global campaign that kicked off in Argentina and swept Latin America and Spain. Fans and activists urged Argentina, and the team's star, Lionel Messi, not to help Israel whitewash its massacres of unarmed civilians in Gaza.

Earlier in the year, a motorcycle racing event sponsored by Honda in Israel was canceled following pressure by BDS activists.

Other Israel propaganda efforts ended in failure, with international chefs pulling out of the Round Tables festival in the fall while an Israeli diplomatic source admitted that the hundreds of cultural events included in the Saison France-Israël (France-Israel Season) "had zero success regarding Israel's image in France, or that of France here."

Meanwhile across Europe, activists continue to pressure television broadcasters not to allow Israel to host next year's Eurovision Song Contest as a part of its whitewashing campaign.

Protesters have held regular demonstrations outside performances by Netta Barzilai, Israel's 2018 Eurovision winner who has been deployed as part of the country's officially backed international propaganda efforts.

Churches, corporations, unions ditch Israel
In December, banking giant HSBC confirmed it was divesting from the Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems following a grassroots campaign.

The company has already been excluded from pension and investment funds around the world over its involvement in supplying surveillance systems and other technology to Israel's wall and settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Saying it was the first British church to take such a step, the Quaker Church announced in November it would not invest any centrally held funds in companies that profit from Israel's human rights violations.

Joining other Christian denominations in the US, the Episcopal Church voted to adopt an investment screen to avoid profiting from human rights abuses against Palestinians. It also resolved to safeguard the rights of Palestinian children and Palestinians in Gaza, support Palestinian self-determination and to call for continued US aid to Palestinian refugees.

Another resolution demands equal access to Jerusalem and opposes the Trump administration's move of the US embassy to the city.

In August, trade union workers and boycott activists in the Arab world forced Israel's shipping line Zim to indefinitely halt its routes to Tunisia.

Tunisia's main labor federation, the UGTT, called on its members to prevent the Israel-linked ship Cornelius A from landing in Tunisia, and backed demands for an official inquiry into clandestine trade with Israel.

Jordanian workers refused to supply materials for a Jordan-Israel gas pipeline, while French firm Systra committed to pulling out of plans to expand Israel's light rail project.

And in November, vacation rental giant Airbnb announced it was dropping its listings from Israeli settlement properties in the occupied West Bank. All Israeli settlements in occupied territory are illegal under international law.

Though there has been some confusion recently around if – and when – the policy change will be implemented or if the company, under Israeli pressure, will backtrack on its announcement, it helped highlight corporate complicity with Israeli war crimes.

Local governments back the boycott
Despite Israeli lobby efforts to interfere in local and national politics, city councils in Europe and Latin America passed strong resolutions in support of the BDS campaign, in a growing wave of resistance to Israel's war crimes against Palestinians.

In June, Monaghan became the fifth county or city council in Ireland to declare its support for BDS. It followed Dublin's vote in April to endorse a boycott against Israel, becoming the first European capital to do so, and its subsequent dropping of a contract with HP, a computer firm that has long been complicit in Israel's military occupation.

Around the same time, the city council of Valdivia in Chile passed a motion to endorse the BDS campaign and declared the city an "apartheid-free zone."

A wave of similar "apartheid-free zone" measures passed in more than 30 cities in Spain.

In May, Bologna, Italy's seventh largest city, also called for a military embargo on Israel.

In June, Norway passed a motion that supported individual cities' rights to boycott Israeli settlements, dealing a blow to right-wing politicians who attempted to appeal boycotts passed in the cities of Trondheim and Tromsø.

In the UK, members of the Labour Party voted overwhelmingly to support an arms sales freeze against Israel.

Anti-BDS laws blocked, challenged
In 2018, US laws attempting to muzzle the right to boycott were blocked.

Federal courts ruled against anti-BDS laws in Arizona and Kansas, while lawsuits were filed in Texas and Arkansas courts against mandated Israel loyalty oaths.

In February, human rights activists in the New Jersey town of Maplewood helped defeat a local resolution that would have condemned the BDS movement. The resolution was introduced to the town council by representatives of Israel advocacy groups which had lobbied other nearby towns to adopt similar resolutions.

And activists in Missouri and Massachusetts successfully campaigned to block state anti-BDS measures.

In Germany – which has been hostile to BDS activism and has ruled to conflate Palestine rights advocacy with anti-Semitism – local boycott activists won a significant victory in September that could set a legal precedent across the country.

The Oldenburg municipal court ruled that a previous decision by the city council to cancel a BDS event in 2016 was unlawful and violated freedoms of expression and assembly. It was the first time that a German administrative court had declared it unlawful to disallow a BDS event.

Students pass sweeping resolutions protecting Palestinian rights
Resisting Israel lobby pressure, shadowy blacklisting websites and targeted harassment campaigns, student activists across the US, Canada and Europe stood strong in support of Palestinian rights and urged university administrations to divest from Israel's crimes of occupation and apartheid.

In May, students at California State University, East Bay voted unanimously in favor of a resolution calling for divestment from companies found to be complicit in Israel's violations of Palestinian rights, including Caterpillar, HP, G4S and Motorola.

And student senators at the University of Oregon passed a resolution to ensure that student funds are divested from 10 companies that profit from Israel's violations of Palestinian rights.

A referendum to support divestment passed at Barnard College in New York City. The vote passed in spite of recent and historic attempts by the administration and Israel lobby groups to bully and smear students and faculty supportive of Palestinian rights at Barnard and its partner, Columbia University.

Students at New York University also voted in a landslide in favor of divestment in early December, with more than 60 campus groups and 35 members of faculty supporting the measure.

At the University of Minnesota, students passed a referendum urging the administration to act on its socially responsible investment policy and divest from companies that profit from Israel's human rights abuses as well as from private prisons, immigrant detention centers and corporations that violate the sovereignty of indigenous communities.

The Canadian Federation of Students, the largest student organization in Canada, voted in November to support the BDS movement, to condemn Israel's ongoing occupation and atrocities in Gaza and to provide financial donations to various Palestine solidarity organizations.

The federation, which represents more than 500,000 students across Canada, also said it would support local chapters to begin weapons divestment campaigns targeted towards their individual university administrations.

The Union of Students in Ireland, representing 374,000 students in higher education, voted to join the BDS movement and condemned Israel's "brutal" military occupation and human rights violations.

The union resolved to boycott Israeli institutions which are "complicit in normalizing, providing intellectual cover for and supporting settler-colonialism" and to lobby Irish universities to divest from companies that profit from Israel's rights violations. It also affirmed the right of return for Palestinian refugees expelled by Israel.

The vote followed a March measure passed by students at Trinity College Dublin to support the BDS campaign.

Students leaders at the University of Pisa in Italy also adopted a motion in a near-unanimous vote in the spring, calling for attention by the academic community toward Israel's apartheid policies and to support the academic boycott campaign.

In November, Leeds became the first UK university to divest from firms involved in the Israeli arms trade, after a boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign by Palestine solidarity activists.

Professors also continued to show their support for Palestinian rights in 2018.

In March, a union representing faculty of the Los Rios College Federation in California voted nearly unanimously to back divestment by their pension fund from companies that profit from Israel's occupation.

Two instructors at the University of Michigan resisted Israel lobby attacks and defended their decision not to write recommendation letters for students wishing to join discriminatory study abroad programs in Israel.

And faculty at Pitzer College in California called for the suspension of study abroad in Israel programs with the University of Haifa, citing Israel's policies of discrimination based on ancestry and political speech. The faculty also backed students' rights to support the BDS campaign.

Here's to the victories of 2018, as activists organize for more to come in 2019.

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Temporarily, at least, Democrats in the Senate have blocked legislation that would criminalize the BDS movement.   Emphasis on the word temporarily.

Senate Democrats Block Rubio Mideast Policy Bill That Sparked Heated BDS Debate
https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/senate-democrats-block-rubio-mideast-policy-bill-that-sparked-heated-bds-debate-1.6824813

Nearly all Senate Democrats vote against proceeding debate on bill, which includes U.S. security assistance to Israel and Jordan, and steps against Syrian regime

Amir Tibon  Washington  Jan 09, 2019 2:32 AM

WASHINGTON – Democrats in the Senate blocked a bill on Tuesday regarding Middle East policy proposed by Republican Sen. Marco Rubio that ignited heated debate in Washington about the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement.

Rubio's legislation included a number of bills regarding U.S. security assistance to Israel and Jordan, as well as a set of new steps against the Syrian regime of President Bashar Assad.

It also contained a bill in support of states passing laws against the BDS movement.

Nearly all Senate Democrats, including many who have previously supported legislation against BDS and in favor of security assistance to Israel, voted against proceeding the debate on the bill.

The official party line expressed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is that no bill should come up for a vote until U.S. President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans agree to end the ongoing government shutdown.

Minutes after the vote, the Republican Jewish Coalition put up a tweet attacking the Democrats for blocking it, highlighting the security elements of the bill and the fact that 43 out of 47 Senate Democrats voted against it.

The Jewish Democratic Council of America supported the party line, saying in a tweet that Senate Democrats "are right to insist on reopening the government and ending the" government shutdown. It also criticized Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for "playing politics with Israel."

Rubio criticized Democrats for blocking the bill and said earlier this week that the shutdown was only an excuse for the party to vote against the bill.

According to Rubio, a "significant number of Senate Democrats" actually support the BDS movement against Israel – an accusation that was fiercely denied by Democrats, who noted that no Senator in their party has ever expressed support for BDS.

Before the vote on Tuesday, Rubio pushed back against criticism that his bill against boycotts of Israel and the settlements was harmful to free speech.

"Opposition to our bill isn't about free speech. Companies are free to boycott Israel. But local and state governments should be free to end contracts with companies that do," Rubio wrote on Twitter.

Defending his claim about Democrats in the Senate supporting BDS, Rubio wrote: "Many claim they oppose BDS. But shielding BDS from counter-boycotts is de facto support of BDS."

AIPAC, the powerful pro-Israeli lobby, told Haaretz on Tuesday it won't comment on Rubio's claim that many Senate Democrats support BDS.

The organization takes pride in promoting bipartisan support for Israel and tries to stay away from partisan debates in the Senate. It also strongly supported the legislation Rubio promoted.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InNbAovmtSI

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Long, somewhat balanced report about BDS in the mainstream media, which must be viewed as a success.  If they're not careful, stupid Americans might start to think, and wonder why the fuck Israhell is running their country for the benefit of Israhell.

Israel fights boycott movement as pro-Palestinian campaign gains global support
The campaign is also reverberating in the U.S., where the Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would allow states to punish businesses that take part in Israel boycotts.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/israel-fights-bds-movement-pro-palestinian-campaign-gains-global-support-n965691

JERUSALEM — Gil Sima doesn't support Israel's occupation of the West Bank.

But that hasn't stopped filmmakers from dropping out of his Tel Aviv International LGBT Film Festival to protest the country's policies toward Palestinians.

"We are a very human-rights-oriented film festival. Here in Israel, they think we're left-wing queer weirdos," Sima, its executive director, said. "But outside, it's the same: 'You're from Israel, you're right-wing, you're an occupier.'"

Like many other entertainment and cultural events here, the film festival has been targeted by the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaign.

Founded in 2005, BDS calls for "recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality." It also advocates for the return of millions of Palestinians to the homes their ancestors left or were forced from when Israel was established in 1948.

Israeli officials allege the BDS movement is anti-Semitic and seeks to destroy the country. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has spent at least $15 million on combating BDS since 2015.

"Did freedom destroy Alabama? Did it destroy South Africa?"

The campaign is reverberating in the United States, where the Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would allow states to punish businesses that take part in Israel boycotts.

But despite vigorous efforts to quash BDS, the pressure from those who support it is mounting.

Measures calling for boycotts of Israel, many of which are modeled on the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa, including divesting from companies that sell to Israel's army, are roiling college campuses.

During the summer, more than a dozen performers backed out of Israel's Meteor Festival after headliner Lana Del Rey canceled.

Image: Lana Del ReyLana Del Rey Michael Tran / FilmMagic file
Last month, some 50 artists, including Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters, fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, singer Peter Gabriel, and pop band Wolf Alice published a letter calling for this year's Eurovision song contest to be moved from Tel Aviv because of "Israel's systematic violation of Palestinian human rights."

Scientists, academics and even fruit fans have backed BDS: Grape exports to Europe from the Jordan Valley in the West Bank have fallen by 80 percent since 2007 because of boycotts, according to the head of the regional council there.

Airbnb announced Nov. 19 that it would stop listing some 200 properties in Jewish settlements in the West Bank — an area Israel seized in the 1967 Middle East War. Palestinians and most governments consider growing settlements — thought to house some 435,000 Jewish residents — illegal and a hindrance to peace. Around 3 million Palestinians also live in the West Bank.

The Airbnb decision prompted outbursts from Israeli officials and allies, with Israel's tourism minister calling the decision "hypocritical and disgusting," and threatening the company with legal action.

Senior Airbnb executives visited the West Bank and met with local Israeli officials and the company appeared to waver on its decision. And at the end of January, it was still possible to post new properties, and make and accept reservations on the site.

When asked to comment on its current position, an Airbnb spokesman pointed to a Jan. 17 statement that said it was "working with experts to develop and validate the means to implement our policy."

Michael Oren, an American-born former Israeli ambassador to Washington, was among those who called for a boycott of Airbnb in November. He criticized the company for not applying similar policies to Tibet or to Turkish-occupied Cyprus.

Oren, who also serves as a minister in Netanyahu's government, explained his reaction this way: BDS unfairly singles out Israel and is "designed to take us down."

He referred to the BDS battle as a new stage in an ongoing Palestinian effort to destroy Israel, but not through terrorism. Instead, he argues, the country's enemies want to delegitimize the country.

Oren said that the right of return is "code for the destruction of the state of Israel, flooding us with 6 million Palestinians who claim they are refugees."

He also rejected the notion that the issue revolves around free speech, describing the boycott as "a bigoted assault on an American ally."

Measures barring boycott supporters are another sign of how seriously Israel is taking the issue. In January 2018, the government released a list of 20 organizations whose members it bars from entering Israel because they support BDS. The list includes the American Friends Service Committee (a Quaker organization) which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1947 for rescuing victims of the Nazis, as well as the left-wing Jewish Voice for Peace.

In October, Israel detained for more than two weeks an American student as she tried to enter the country, accusing her of supporting BDS.

Sima Vaknin-Gill, who serves as the director general in Israel's Ministry of Strategic Affairs and Public Diplomacy, and is among those charged with implementing anti-boycott laws, says the BDS campaign could be a "challenge, in the mid-and long term, regarding international public opinion and its perception of Israel about one very critical issue: Israel's right to exist as a Jewish and democratic state."

After Amnesty International on Jan. 30 released a scathing report calling on Airbnb and fellow online travel giants Booking.com, Expedia and TripAdvisor to stop listing in Jewish settlements, including eastern Jerusalem, the minister for strategic affairs Gilad Erdan announced that he had instructed officials to look into ways of barring the London-based human rights group from the country.

Erdan is a very public face in the battle against BDS and has already pushed for Omar Shakir — the Israel and Palestine director of Human Rights Watch — to be deported from the country, citing alleged support for the campaign.

In the U.S., at least 26 states have also passed laws targeting BDS.

Legislation similar to the bill that passed the Senate this week has been opposed by the ACLU and the liberal Jewish advocacy group J Street, as well as Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. It has been backed by major Jewish organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League.

Many of those who oppose the legislation do not back boycotts of Israel.

"While I do not support the BDS movement, we must defend every American's constitutional right to peacefully engage in political activity," Sanders tweeted last month.

Regardless of the pressure on pro-BDS activists and others who criticize Israel over its treatment of Palestinians, one of the movement's founders said he is optimistic.

The election of BDS supporters Rashida Tlaib and Ilham Omar to Congress, and support from senior senators, indicate that the movement has reached a "tipping point," according to Omar Barghouti.

"Major Jewish politicians like Feinstein and Sanders, progressive politicians, are defending the right to BDS," said Barghouti, a Columbia University-trained engineer.

"Israel throws a lot of dirt, hoping some of it will stick. But none of it is really sticking," he said. "Now Israel's battle is with the ACLU, not with us."

He acknowledged that Israeli legal efforts to hobble the organization — for example by forcing the online donation site Donorbox to freeze its account in December — had jolted some supporters into action.

"People took it very seriously, and money started pouring in like never before," Barghouti said. However, he also acknowledged that the case had an "enormous" chilling effect.

Barghouti rejected charges that BDS is anti-Semitic, pointing to its charter and the involvement of a number of Jewish organizations such as Jewish Voice for Peace. Instead, he said, it is simply seeking justice for Palestinians in Israel, the occupied territories and beyond.

"Freedom, justice and equality, if that would destroy Israel, what does that say about Israel?" he said. "Did freedom destroy Alabama? Did it destroy South Africa?"

On Thursday, Amnesty called for Israel to ease travel restrictions on Barghouti, a resident of Israel.

The group said that a "de facto travel ban" was part of long-standing attacks by authorities, citing a March 2016 call for "targeted civil eliminations" of BDS leaders by Yisrael Katz, minister of transport, intelligence and atomic energy. At the same event, Erdan, the strategic affairs minister, said BDS activists and leaders had to "pay the price." Erdan added later that he was not referring to "physical harm."

Earlier this month, the Israeli government released a report claiming to show links between BDS and militant groups.

The report claimed current or former members of Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine — both designated terrorist organizations by the U.S., European Union and Israel — are involved in BDS activity through Palestinian and international nongovernmental organizations.

Most links were based on accusations of affiliation or expressions of sympathy for militant groups, in some case linked to acts that took place years ago.

The BDS movement dismissed the findings as a "wild fabrication."

Shurat HaDin, an organization that represents victims of terrorism, has been on the forefront of the battle against BDS.

The group filed a lawsuit on behalf of Israeli teenagers against New Zealand-based activists who it says persuaded the pop singer Lorde to reconsider performing in Tel Aviv. An Israeli court ordered the activists to pay more than $12,000 in damages.

It is also working with the government to deport Human Rights Watch's Shakir.

Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, Shurat HaDin's founder, said Airbnb's move amounted to "discrimination" under a housing law that prohibits such acts based on race and religion.

However, she insisted that the "BDS movement doesn't have financial effect" on the country, and instead she is combating BDS for the "minds of young people."

"Young people will become professionals and then decision-makers over the next few years," she said. "You don't want poisoned minds to take positions and to start acting against Israel."

Darshan-Leitner believes the battle against BDS is one part of the long-running Israeli-Palestinian struggle.

"We are in a war with them," she said. "We have got to fight back. If they see BDS as a legitimate step they can take, they cannot expect Israel to sit idly by."

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Copenhagen awards BDS activists persecuted in Germany
The Humboldt3 on resisting apartheid, interviewed at the Danish Parliament

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=iJAvGjV9TGU

boycott apartheid
Premiered Feb 8, 2019
Jonathan Ofir interviews the #Humboldt3 (Stavit Sinai, Majed Abusalama and Ronnie Barkan) after they were awarded the 2019 Copenhagen Courageous Award for speaking up against Israeli crimes against humanity.

The three BDS human rights activists face trial in Berlin, which is scheduled for March 4th 2019, for peacefully protesting Israeli parliament member Aliza Lavie's talk at the Humboldt University in Berlin in June 2017. The three – two Israeli-Jewish citizens and a Palestinian from the open-air prison of Gaza – confronted Lavie for her role as a representative of a criminal apartheid regime and her personal responsibility for the 2014 war on Gaza.

Following the protest, a media frenzy ensued which involved slander and false accusations against the activists. The Berlin Intelligence Agency reproduced the fictitious narrative and now they are facing trial for two counts of criminal charges. While the German prosecution is interested in criminalizing their dissenting voices, the three will be taking on the State of Israel in front of the German courts.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0ONvbLgVLc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaitA0dpBa8

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=100&v=p0wsv-2Z9eY

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Students at Brown University voted in favor of BDS, but the university president blocked it.  So, this can be considered a success, because of the student's vote in favor of BDS. 

Brown University president rejects student-approved BDS referendum
https://www.foxnews.com/us/brown-university-president-rejects-student-approved-bds-referendum

A student-approved referendum calling on Brown University to divest from companies "complicit in human rights abuses in Palestine" has been rejected by the president of the Ivy League institution.

"Brown's endowment is not a political instrument to be used to express views on complex social and political issues, especially those over which thoughtful and intelligent people vehemently disagree," Brown president Christina Paxson said in response to the March 21 vote, according to reports.

The vote made Brown the first Ivy League school to approve a boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) referendum, the Forward reported last week. The student government at Barnard College, affiliated with Columbia University, passed a similar measure last year.

The publication reported that student or faculty BDS resolutions have passed at 31 universities across the U.S. since 2015, according to Amcha Initiative, a nonprofit that tracks campus anti-Semitism.

The BDS movement supports Palestinian rights and opposes Israel's occupation of the West Bank. Israeli officials have called the movement anti-Semitic.

Students approved the non-binding referendum in a landslide, 69-39 percent, according to reports.

The referendum urged Brown to divest from nine companies that the student coalition Brown Divest identified as facilitating human rights abuses in Palestine, the student newspaper the Brown Daily Herald, reported Tuesday.

Brown Divest said the referendum's approval was a "historic day for Brown as we take an emboldened and clear stand against the university's complicity in human rights abuses in Palestine and in similar systems of oppression around the world," according to the Forward.

Another student group,, Brown Students for Israel, said the referendum was "a defeat for all students who believe there is a better way to pursue peace between Israelis and Palestinians, who seek intellectually honest discourse about Israel and the conflict, and who prioritize a safe and inclusive community at Brown."

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From PressTV:
BDS' impact on Israeli economy
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2019/01/30/587162/BDS-Impact-On-Israeli-Economy

[jwp=425,344,image]http://217.218.67.233/video//program/20190129/INSIDE20190130EP09.mp4[/jwp]
http://217.218.67.233/video//program/20190129/INSIDE20190130EP09.mp4

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France's Alstom quits settler railway, Israeli partners say

This article contains many links, which can be read here:
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/frances-alstom-quits-settler-railway-israeli-partners-say

Israel having trouble finding global firms willing to expand Jerusalem light rail, which links its illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank to Jerusalem.

Two Israeli companies sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday asking for an urgent extension of the deadline for bids to build the next phase of the Jerusalem light rail.

The Israeli firms, Dan and Electra, asked for the delay after it emerged that French train maker Alstom intends to pull out of their consortium bidding to expand the settler tramway – citing human rights concerns.

This is the latest sign of trouble for Israel's effort to expand the tramway which links Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank to each other and to occupied East Jerusalem.

Israel's construction of settlements in the occupied West Bank is a war crime.

Harmful to human rights
"On Friday, we received with astonishment the official position of Alstom, which in effect prevents Electra and Dan from being able to submit a bid in the tender, as the deadline is tomorrow," the letter states.

"This position is based entirely on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the point of departure presented to Electra and Dan is that the tender and the implementation of the project are ostensibly harmful or liable to harm human rights," the letter adds. "Moreover, Alstom claims that its participation is contrary to French law."

France, despite its strongly pro-Israel policies, warns companies against doing business in settlements.

The French foreign ministry states that trade and business "in or benefiting the settlements entails legal and economic risks tied to the fact that Israeli settlements, under international law, are built on occupied territories and are not recognized as part of Israel."

With the apparent collapse of the bid involving Alstom, another European firm, Barcelona transit operator Moventia, would also be forced out, because it is part of the same consortium.

Stampede for the exit
News of Alstom's planned withdrawal comes just days after The Electronic Intifada revealed that a rival consortium led by Canadian engineering giant Bombardier had also quit the tender.

Bombardier pulled out after Macquarie, the Australian investment fund, withdrew its support from the consortium.

Another consortium which includes Germany's Siemens also dropped out of the competition for the massive contract, citing risks related to Israel's occupation.

This means that the number of consortiums likely to take part has dwindled from an initial eight to no more than 2-4, according to Israeli business publication Calcalist.

But even that may be optimistic, as the remaining bidders face a host of problems.

A consortium bringing together Israeli firm Shafir and Spanish train maker CAF is hampered by the fact that the Spanish firm's official workers council has voted against participation in the settlement project.

The bid from a Greek-led consortium including contractor GEK Terna and state-owned Athens transit company STASY is also in doubt over financing problems.

Calcalist also says that other bidders include Chinese firms operating in Iran, which could pose a problem "against the background of the sanctions imposed by the US government on Iran, and the American criticism of Chinese companies operating in Israel."

One of the consortiums still in the running includes Chinese train maker CRRC, which is developing Iran's high-speed rail network.

The Chinese firm recently dismissed concerns that tightened US sanctions on Iran would affect its work in that country.

The US has been exerting pressure on Israel to limit Chinese investments in the country ostensibly over security and espionage fears.

"Major victory"
Currently the Jerusalem light rail operates a single line, the Red Line.

Under the new project, the Red Line will be extended to penetrate deeper into the occupied West Bank, connecting the settlements of Pisgat Zeev and Neve Yaakov, which are part of the ring of colonies Israel is building to isolate Palestinians in Jerusalem from those in the rest of the occupied West Bank.

The entirely new Green Line is planned to run from Mount Scopus in occupied East Jerusalem to the settlement of Gilo, southwest of Jerusalem.

Alstom has until now been willingly complicit in this project, a key part of Israel's efforts to entrench and expand its colonization of Palestinian land.

Alstom makes the railroad cars for the existing light rail line and its wholly owned subsidiary Citadis Israel has the contract for maintenance for 22 years, monitoring group Who Profits notes.

In 2013, Alstom sold its 20 percent stake in CityPass, the consortium that currently operates the tramway, to an Israeli buyer.

"However, Alstom, along with the Ashtrom Group, remains the engineering and construction contractor for the project," Who Profits states.

In 2015, after a years-long campaign by human rights activists, French firm Veolia also sold its stake in CityPass.

That Alstom is now reconsidering any further involvement in the Jerusalem light rail shows the impact of the growing legal and human rights consensus that doing business with Israel's settlements involves unavoidable complicity in major human rights abuses, including war crimes, and that such trade should be banned.

Palestinian campaigners certainly see it that way.

"Alstom's exit would be a major victory for human rights activists in France, Palestine and several other countries where BDS campaigns have denied the company lucrative contracts and hurt its reputation," the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) said on Sunday.

"Pressure on Alstom must continue until it confirms its withdrawal from the project."

https://twitter.com/BDSmovement/status/1127619279002664960

"Palestinian victims of the Jerusalem light rail, like all other Israeli projects that violate international law, are entitled to reparations for damages incurred to their livelihoods and property," the BNC added.

"Corporate involvement in the crimes of Israel's regime of occupation and apartheid against the Palestinian people is not just morally reprehensible and a legal liability. It hurts business too."

Alstom spokespersons have not responded to requests for comment from The Electronic Intifada.

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Berlin Jewish Museum supports BDS.

BERLIN JEWISH MUSEUM TAKES HEAT FOR TWEETING LINK TO PRO-BDS STORY
https://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Antisemitism/Berlin-Jewish-Museum-takes-heat-for-tweeting-link-to-pro-BDS-story-592217

The Berlin Jewish Museum is under fire for tweeting a link to a pro-BDS story.

At issue is an official tweet sent June 6 by the museum encouraging followers to read an article in the left-wing daily newspaper Taz about a petition in which 240 Jewish and Israeli scholars criticized a May 17 Bundestag resolution labeling the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting Israel as antisemitic.

The nonbinding, nonpartisan resolution bars the BDS movement — and any group deemed antisemitic — from receiving federal funds and using public space.

Facing a storm of criticism the museum, which has come under fire for welcoming anti-Zionists such as scholar Judith Butler and representatives of the Iranian regime, tweeted on June 9 that it merely wanted to call attention to the discussion and "has in no way positioned itself against the resolution of the Bundestag."

On Tuesday, Josef Schuster, head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, slammed the museum for what he called "the last straw."

"The Jewish Museum Berlin seems to be completely out of control. Under these conditions, one has to wonder whether the term 'Jewish' is still appropriate," he wrote.

The Bundestag in its resolution described BDS' "patterns of argumentation and methods" as antisemitic, including disputing Israel's right to exist.

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British Society for Middle Eastern Studies Endorses Palestinian Call to Boycott Complicit Israeli Academic Institutions
https://imemc.org/article/british-society-for-middle-eastern-studies-endorses-palestinian-call-to-boycott-complicit-israeli-academic-institutions/

In an historic vote, the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies joins a growing number of academic associations refusing to be complicit in Israel's grave violations of international law.

We warmly salute the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES) for voting overwhelmingly to support the Palestinian call for a boycott of complicit Israeli academic institutions.

BRISMES joins a growing number of academic societies that are taking a stand for Palestinian rights by refusing to be complicit in Israel's grave violations of international law. Israeli academic institutions play a well-documented role in not only justifying but also planning, implementing and maintaining Israel's system of oppression that denies Palestinians' basic human rights, including the right to education.

This historic vote gives us hope. It is a beautiful act of meaningful solidarity with Palestinian students and faculty who face Israel's institutionalised racism, armed raids on campus, military checkpoints and systemic attempts to undermine Palestinians' basic right to education.

We urge international academic societies worldwide to take similar, effective measures in academia against racism and oppression.

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Workers reject Spanish firm's bid for Israeli settlement project
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/adri-nieuwhof/workers-reject-spanish-firms-bid-israeli-settlement-project

Last month, the workers council of Spanish train manufacturer CAF voted against participation in the Jerusalem light rail.

The council urged the Basque Country-based company to withdraw from the tender for the expansion of the tramway linking Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank to Jerusalem.

"Any transit project in any city in the world, including Jerusalem, must be built while respecting human rights and international law," the workers council stated.

"Both the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council, as well as the International Court of Justice, through different resolutions, have opposed the occupation of the territories through which the tramway will pass."

The transfer of Israel's civilian population to settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as well as to Syria's Golan Heights, is a war crime under international law.

Today, more than 200,000 settlers live in and around East Jerusalem, and more than 400,000 others live in the rest of the West Bank.

The CAF workers can count on the support of ELA, the most influential trade union in Basque Country.

"It is incomprehensible that the management of CAF is bidding for this tender," the trade union stated. "CAF's workers do not deserve to assume the responsibility for carrying out a job rejected by the overwhelming majority of the international community."

Erroneous media reports in recent weeks stated that CAF itself had refused to take part in the project, but this is not the case.

The company "has not refused to participate in the tender of the Jerusalem tram," CAF spokesperson Iñaki Escrig informed The Electronic Intifada by email.

Rather, it is the workers council – the legally mandated framework for labor representation – which has rejected participation.

If the company wins the tender, it could be a prelude to action by the trade unions.

Light rail expansion
Last June, companies were invited to bid for the expansion of the Jerusalem light rail, which includes extending the existing Red line and developing a second line, the so-called Green line.

The extension will penetrate deeper into the occupied West Bank, connecting the settlements of Pisgat Zeev and Neve Yaakov, which are part of the ring of colonies Israel is building to isolate Palestinians in Jerusalem from those in the rest of the West Bank.

The second line will run from Mount Scopus in occupied East Jerusalem to the settlement of Gilo, southwest of Jerusalem.

A consortium of the Israeli company Shapir Engineering and the Spanish train manufacturer CAF is reportedly shortlisted to develop the second line.

Competing consortia include the Canadian engineering giant Bombardier, Australia's Macquarie and Japan's Hitachi.

The bid must cover the operation costs for at least 15 years and the maintenance costs for 25 years.

CAF's spokesperson told The Electronic Intifada that it "does not provide information or publish statements on ongoing bids."

Entrenching settlements
The light rail is part of the 1990 Jerusalem Transportation Master Plan, sponsored by the Israeli government and the occupation authorities running the Jerusalem municipality.

A well-functioning transport system makes living in a settlement even more attractive. The light rail network therefore helps Israel entrench its occupation of the West Bank and the system of apartheid that comes with it.

International human rights organizations and the United Nations have all warned against complicity in Israel's settlements through trade or business.

"Businesses play a key role in facilitating the overall settlement enterprise, contributing to Israel's confiscation of land and the transfer of its population through commercial development," the United Nations human rights office said last year.

That is why CAF should listen to its workers and withdraw its bid to help expand the settler railway on Palestinian land.

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The global campaign to pressure technology giant HP – also known as Hewlett-Packard – to drop its Israel contracts recently won an important victory.

During its executive council meeting last month, Unite the Union resolved to end purchases of HP products and replace its existing products with new ones, according to the Palestinian BDS National Committee.

Unite the Union is the second largest British and Irish trade union. It boasts more than 1 million members, including more than 100 members of the British House of Commons and others in the European Parliament.

https://twitter.com/benabyad/status/1151180497432797186

"Solidarity with the Palestinian freedom struggle is an essential part of building a just world," stated union member Joseph Bleach.

"While Israel escalates its occupation, apartheid and colonization against the Palestinian people, Hewlett Packard companies profiteer from this grave violation of international law and Palestinian human rights," Bleach added.

HP has long been a focus of activists because its businesses have supplied the Israeli military with racial profiling technology for its checkpoints restricting the movement of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Israel also uses HP technology to maintain a population database that it uses to enforce its system of segregation, and HP products are used to support infrastructure in illegal Jewish-only settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Unite's move follows that of Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging, Netherland's largest trade union, which voted to spike HP from its partnerships in April.

Last year, Dublin, Ireland became the first European capital city to endorse the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions and committed the city to discontinue contracts with HP and with its subsidiary, DXC.

In June 2018, the Students Federation of India, with more than 4 million members, passed a resolution endorsing the BDS movement and also joined the Boycott HP campaign.

Dozens of US churches have pledged to boycott HP products.

Much more to read, and many links to connect to, here:
Major UK trade union dumps HP
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora-barrows-friedman/major-uk-trade-union-dumps-hp

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In victory for activists, Vancouver city council votes against adopting IHRA antisemitism definition   
https://mondoweiss.net/2019/07/activists-antisemitism-definition/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=activists-antisemitism-definition

The City of Vancouver, Canada might seem to be an odd place for a battle over the IHRA definition of antisemitism. But that is exactly what happened in the last week, and it all concluded with a temporary victory for free speech, human rights and common sense.

At the end of June, the federal government of Canada endorsed the IHRA definition as part of its new official "Anti-Racism Strategy" announced by minister Pablo Rodriguez. This was a unilateral move by the government which did not involve a vote in the House of Commons. The Israel lobby however, in their ecstatic gloating over the endorsement, made it clear they would be pushing to have the IHRA definition adopted at all levels of government, including provincial and municipal.

Which brings us to the Vancouver City Council, where one Non-Partisan Association (NPA) councillor introduced a motion to be heard at the last meeting before summer break. The motion contained the standard reasoning that one has come to expect from the Israel lobby promoting the IHRA definition and concluded with adoption of the definition and its examples; it also explicitly instructed staff to share the definition with various city departments including the Police Department, School Board, Parks Board and the Public Library for "review and consideration as an additional practical tool". What the outcome would be of this "additional practical tool", especially by the Police Department, one could only speculate. The history of what has transpired so far in other countries regarding the IHRA definition is extremely troubling, and was called out a year ago by over 40 Jewish groups in an open letter. They noted that the definition is "intentionally worded such that it equates legitimate criticisms of Israel and advocacy for Palestinian rights with antisemitism, as a means to suppress the former."

Passing this motion would have set a dangerous precedent of being the first municipal council in Canada to endorse the IHRA definition. Vancouver, however, has a long and proud tradition of being both anti-racist and defending free speech and Palestinian rights. A popular campaign was immediately launched to tell Vancouver City Council why this motion should not be adopted – letter writing, social media and articles in local papers all happened. People from both within the Jewish community and other sectors were adamant in stating that this definition had more to do with squashing criticism of Israel than it did with contributing to the fight against racism. The Palestinian community also pointed out that the definition actually promotes anti-Palestinian racism, as it severely limits and defines what the Palestinian narrative can be. The Vancouver & District Labour Council (VDLC), the BC Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) and civic parties like the Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE) all took the position that adopting the IHRA definition would be divisive and harmful.

The majority on City Council both heard and understood the message. In a vote of 6-5 (the dissenting 5 were all NPA councillors), the Council decided to not proceed with the motion and instead referred it to committee for recommendations on how to combat all forms of racism. Councillor Michael Wiebe was quoted as saying that "we need a policy that tackles all forms of racism, including white supremacy. It's too important to get this wrong."

"THAT Council refer this motion to the Racial and Ethno-Cultural Equity Advisory Committee to provide recommendations to Council on how the City of Vancouver can increase action to combat all forms of racism and hatred, including Antisemitism."

Although referral to committee is often the bureaucratic tactic to not deal with issues, in this case the instructions in the referral made it more meaningful. And most importantly, Vancouver City Council refused to set a precedent as the first Canadian city to endorse the IHRA definition.

Activists know that the struggle will continue at the committee level but the small amount of time they had to prepare for the council vote allowed them to educate many people on the dangers of the IHRA definition; they feel confident that more time is only to their advantage.

Canada's main Israel lobby group, Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), was not happy with the outcome. They had invested heavily in promoting the motion and one of their officials stated he would be at City Hall when it was introduced. They issued a statement expressing their "disappointment", claiming that this was a "setback in the struggle against racism and bigotry". They went on to allege that, "By delaying the initiative to protect Jewish community members at a time of rising antisemitism, those councillors who voted against the motion are on the wrong side of history."

Vancouver residents do not need these lectures by a lobby group that is more interested in punishing critics of Israel than it is in fighting racism. Members of the Jewish community in Vancouver made this exact point in their submissions to Council. The active involvement of many progressive Jews against this motion endorsing the IHRA definition was one of the more uplifting aspects of this campaign, along with the support from broader sections of Vancouver society. This was also reflective of the majority of Canadians who support Palestinian human and national rights.

Palestinian activists have not had many occasions lately to be optimistic, especially in the Canadian political arena. Hopefully, what happened at Vancouver City Council is just the first step in pushing back against the censoring of free speech and the bullying of activists who support Palestinian rights.

[yankeedoodle]

Hydro-Québec ends collaboration with Israeli power firm
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/hydro-quebec-ends-collaboration-israeli-power-firm

Activists in Quebec are celebrating after their national electricity company declined to renew an agreement with its Israeli counterpart.

"This victory is important for us in Quebec," John Philpot, an international lawyer and a member of the Coalition BDS Québec, told The Electronic Intifada.

"We in Quebec are proud of succeeding in our solidarity campaign in support of the Palestinian people, victims of the Zionist and colonialist occupation of their homeland."

In May 2017, the national power generator Hydro-Québec and the Israel Electric Corporation signed a "partnership agreement" to share "best practices" in the field of cybersecurity.

At the time, Hydro-Québec board chair Michael Penner claimed it was "an extraordinary opportunity for Hydro-Québec to join forces with a company with world-renowned cybersecurity expertise."

But campaigners saw it as a collaboration with a state company that is deeply complicit in Israel's violations of Palestinian rights and international law.

The Israel Electric Corporation exploits Palestinians, a captive market due to military occupation and colonization.

It also supplies and profits from Israeli settlements built in the occupied West Bank.

Construction of such settlements is a war crime.

The Israeli company has also implemented cuts to Gaza's already desperately inadequate power supply, a collective punishment and a violation of international humanitarian law.

When asked why the Israel Electric Corporation implemented punitive power cuts affecting hospitals in Gaza that were ordered by the Israeli government, the company's director responded, "It's our job."

It was also an odd choice for Hydro-Québec to partner with any Israeli state firm in pursuit of "cybersecurity."

Israel and its war industry are notorious for electronic espionage that jeopardizes the privacy, security and even the lives of Palestinians as well as of journalists and human rights defenders all over the world.

"Not politically motivated"
Hydro-Québec confirmed Wednesday in an email to The Electronic Intifada that the agreement with the Israeli electricity company has not been renewed.

The Quebec company had also confirmed in an 18 June letter to Coalition BDS Québec that the agreement was allowed to lapse. The Hydro-Québec spokesperson shared a copy of that letter with The Electronic Intifada.

The company's email to The Electronic Intifada states that the decision "was not politically motivated in any way or the result of pressure from BDS Québec."

It added that the agreement "signed in May 2017, lasted two years. It ended, as initially planned, in May 2019."

However, Hydro-Québec's memorandum of understanding with the Israel Electric Corporation – which Philpot only this month succeeded in obtaining under Quebec's freedom of information law – states that the agreement "may be renewed with the written consent of both parties."

In early August, moreover, the company told the Journal de Québec newspaper that it had "learned a lot" from its collaboration with Israel.

Given that threats to cybersecurity are ongoing and evolving, Hydro-Québec could be expected to continue what it claims was a fruitful partnership.

What is clear is that Hydro-Québec did not renew the agreement.

Typically, corporations will say that pulling out of a particular activity is strictly a business decision.

And that is fair: Whether companies acknowledge it or not, reputational damage is a valid business concern, especially when it comes to partnering with major human rights violators.

In 2017, for instance, Air Canada confirmed to Palestine solidarity activists that it had terminated early a maintenance contract with an Israeli military firm.

It did not give a reason why.

Symbol of national pride
Hydro-Québec will be particularly sensitive to its reputation.

It played a key role in the Canadian province's development.

As such it has become a symbol of national pride in Quebec, a province where there has historically been strong solidarity with Palestine.

The firm also has its own colonial history: Indigenous people long resisted Hydro-Québec for its major role in their dispossession and the destruction of their homelands and way of life.

Palestinian solidarity activists hope Hydro-Québec's decision to end its collaboration with the Israel Electric Corporation will pave the way for more wins.

"This small step must be followed by campaigns to end Canadian political and economic support for Zionist policy," Philpot said. "Boycott, divestment and sanctions is one of many ways to defeat Zionism."

[yankeedoodle]

Portland Trail Blazers sever ties with company that supplies IDF with rifle scopes after campaign by activists

read the article and see the tweets here:  https://mondoweiss.net/2019/10/portland-supplies-activists/

[yankeedoodle]

Episcopal Church officially bars investments in companies benefitting from the Israeli occupation
https://mondoweiss.net/2019/10/episcopal-church-bars-investments-in-companies-benefitting-from-the-israeli-occupation/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-ets-email-mailpoet

This week, the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church adopted a human rights investment screen related to Israel and Palestine and will sell its holdings in Motorola Solutions, Caterpillar, Inc., and the Israel Discount Bank.

This is the latest step in response to a July 2018 General Convention Resolution (B016) which committed the Episcopal Church to a similar process taken by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America two years earlier. The action also follows steps previously taken by the Presbyterian Church (USA), the United Methodist Church and the United Church of Christ.

The human rights screen would bar Episcopal Church investments in "any corporation that supports or benefits from denial of human rights in or through the occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem or the Gaza Strip."

The criteria for deciding if a corporation meets this threshold were reported in a media release from the Episcopal Peace Fellowship's Palestine Israel Network:

"1) Does a corporation have a record of any of the following: supplying or doing business or providing goods or services in or to illegal settlements (as defined in international law) or contributing to the construction or maintenance of housing or other facilities in such settlements or seeking otherwise to profit from human rights violations in the OPT, or

2) Does a corporation have a record of directly or indirectly supplying or doing business with or providing goods or services to, or otherwise contributing to, the Israeli Defense Forces as the IDF operates in the OPT."

Acting on a recommendation of the Executive Council's Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility (CCSR), shares in three companies, Caterpillar, Inc., Motorola Solutions and the Israel Discount Bank, will be removed from the Church's investment portfolio and placed on its No Buy List.

In a posting summarizing the Executive Council meetings, the Episcopal News Service noted that the Church has engaged with those companies for years without persuading them to respond as requested to human rights violations in the Palestinian territories. Bishop Doug Fisher, chair of the CCSR noted, "we do take seriously the rights of human beings to live free of human rights violations. We have engaged companies about the occupation since we first filed a shareholder resolution with Motorola in 1994."

The actions adopted by the Council passed with very little debate or disagreement, in sharp contrast with the tension surrounding the resolution at last year's General Convention or even at the Spring 2019 Executive Council meeting when objections were raised to some of the proposal's language. One amendment, which asked the CCSR to investigate an upcoming stock offering by Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil company for possible church engagement, was passed.

Reaction to the Executive Council's action has been positive thus far. The Rev. Gay Clark Jennings, President of the House of Deputies, said, "I appreciate the hard work done for so many decades by so many to promote the Church's commitment to justice for all the peoples of the Holy Land."

In a statement, the Steering Committee of the Palestine Israel Network commended the entire Council for its work to address the Episcopal Church's complicity, through its investment funds, in the Occupation. "This action is timely as prospects for a two-state solution have diminished since the 2018 General Convention. [We have] noted with alarm recent actions taken by the U.S. and Israeli governments, including the Trump Administration's actions to recognize Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel... Israel's sovereignty over the contested Golan Heights, [and] the Nation-State bill passed by Israel," the statement reads in part.

While the total shares to be sold is small, about $1.2 million in Motorola, $125,000 in Caterpillar, Inc., and a smaller amount in the Israel Discount Bank, the symbolism is important. "This is a stewardship issue," said the Rev. Canon C.K. Robertson, canon to the presiding bishop for ministry beyond The Episcopal Church. "The Church does not want to make profits from companies that contribute to the suffering of others."

According to their media release, the Council also directed the Corporate Social Responsibility Committee, "to pursue continued engagement with Facebook, Booking.com, and TripAdvisor, urging them to address human rights violations through complicity in the occupation of the OPT, and seeking to assure that the companies take all necessary steps to end their complicity in the occupation."

Establishing a human rights investment screen for investments related to Israel and Palestine adds to the list of screens used by the Episcopal Church, including tobacco, fossil fuels and certain military contractors.

The 2018 General Convention also passed resolutions calling on its members to work to safeguard the rights of Palestinian children in detention, pursue justice in Gaza, reaffirm Jerusalem as the shared capital of Israel and a future Palestinian State, renew UNRWA aid to Palestinian refugees and support negotiations for a just peace.

[yankeedoodle]

Norway's capital Oslo is the latest municipal government to ban procurement of Israeli settlement goods and services.

Norway's capital says it won't buy Israeli settlement goods
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/norways-capital-says-it-wont-buy-israeli-settlement-goods

Norway's capital is banning goods and services from Israeli settlements from public contracts.

The ban on purchases from Israel's colonies on occupied Palestinian land is contained in the platform of the Oslo city council's new ruling coalition.

In their 2019-2023 plan, the Socialist Left, Green and Labor parties commit to ensuring that public procurement does not include "goods and services produced on territory occupied in violation of international law by companies operating under the permission of the occupying power."

Israeli settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Syria's Golan Heights is a war crime.

"The Palestinian people, who have to deal with the illegal occupation of their territory every single day, deserve international attention and support," Sunniva Eidsvoll, leader of the Socialist Left Party in the Oslo city council, said. "It is a shared global responsibility to help ensure that human rights and international law are not violated."

"I am proud that the Oslo city council is now taking steps to prevent goods and services purchased by the city from supporting an illegal occupation of Palestine or other territories," Eidsvoll added.

The Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), the steering group for the global boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign, welcomed the move.

"A ban on goods and services from Israel's illegal settlements is the very least that government institutions should enact to cut their complicity with Israel's regime of apartheid, settler-colonialism and occupation," the BNC's Alys Samson Estapé said.

Estapé also urged Norway's government to end its arms trade and military collaboration with Israel.

Oslo's ban does not distinguish between Israeli and international corporations that operate in Israel's illegal settlements, the BNC notes.

Five other Norwegian cities including Trondheim and Tromsø have already adopted similar bans on settlement goods and services.

In 2018, the city council in the Irish capital Dublin voted to discontinue contracts with international firms that assist the Israeli military occupation.

A bill to ban trade in settlement goods throughout the Republic of Ireland is making its way through the state's legislative process in the face of stiff opposition from the Irish government, US politicians and the Israel lobby.

There is a growing consensus among human rights defenders and jurists that trading with settlements facilitates war crimes and must be banned.

Last week the UN's independent expert on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories reaffirmed the need for a ban.

Michael Lynk told the General Assembly's human rights committee that the UN must complete and publish its database of "businesses engaged in activities related to the illegal settlements."

The UN Human Rights Council voted for the creation of the database in 2016.

Human rights groups have expressed concern that Michelle Bachelet, the UN human rights chief, has so far failed to publish the database due to political pressure.

[yankeedoodle]

Israeli settlement products must be labeled as coming from occupied lands, top EU court rules
https://www.rt.com/news/473219-eu-label-israeli-products/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=aplication_chrome&utm_campaign=chrome

Any produce made in Israeli-occupied West Bank settlements must be labeled as such so that the European consumer isn't misled by the generic 'Made in Israel' tag, a top EU court said in a landmark ruling.

European Union member states must now mark products originating from Israeli settlements, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled on Tuesday. Such labels are to help consumers make informed choices relating to some "ethical considerations," the ruling reads.

The reasoning is that simply indicating that product is 'Made in Israel' – as it is usually done – could be misleading because, in fact, it comes from an occupied territory. Labeling settlement products will now state explicitly that the Jewish state "is present in the territories concerned as an occupying power and not as a sovereign entity."

The case was pitched up to the court after an Israeli settlement-based winery challenged France's application of a previous 2018 ECJ ruling on the labeling. That decision also enforced the use of identifying labels but wasn't legally binding.

Israel began settling the West Bank and East Jerusalem shortly after it seized both areas during the 1967 Six-Day War in the Mideast. Today, almost 700,000 people live there, amounting to nearly 10 percent of the country's Jewish population.The illegal occupation of the West Bank is recognized internationally; the EU, for its part, does not accept it as part of Israel.

Israel, in turn, doesn't consider those areas occupied, instead referring to them as "disputed." Back in 2012, a three-member committee headed by former Supreme Court justice Edmund Levy wrote in a comprehensive report that Israel's presence in the West Bank is not an occupation in the legal sense. The report was widely condemned outside Israel.

Israel is carrying on building Jewish settlements on occupied lands despite international condemnation. Earlier in June, Israeli officials published construction tenders to build more than 800 new units in the East Jerusalem neighborhoods of Ramot and Pisgat Zeev.

Brussels responded to the news with a strongly-worded statement, pointing out that settlement construction and expansion in the area "continues to undermine the possibility of a viable two state solution with Jerusalem as the future capital of both."

[yankeedoodle]

https://twitter.com/ZeinaHutchison/status/1201634983712088064

More here: 
US University Votes to Divest from Israeli Business
http://www.palestinechronicle.com/us-university-votes-to-divest-from-israeli-business/

[yankeedoodle]

Belgian Trade Delegation to Israel Cancelled
https://imemc.org/article/belgian-trade-delegation-to-israel-cancelled/

The trade mission would have taken place from the 8th to the 11th of December, will not go forward, due to criticism from the political opposition and several activist organizations, leading to its discontinuation, the Palestine News Network (PNN) reported.

The delegation would have consisted of representatives from the Walloon and Brussels governments, which are separate political entities in Belgium, and numerous companies from the respective regions.

The Walloon government had already withdrawn from the delegation at an earlier stage, but now the Brussels government has done the same, effectively leaving the rest of the mission without political representation.

In the last couple of weeks, the general criticism towards the trade mission has grown. Specifically Israel's disregard for international agreements concerning the blockade of the Gaza Strip, sparked the opposition's distaste for the mission.

"We're talking about participating in the Israeli colonization policy," said Stéphanie Koplowicz, member of the Flemish left-wing PVDA-party.

"The UN Human Rights Comittee has complained that over 200 companies do business in these illegal settlements. Does the government want to encourage Brussels' companies to participate in this?"

Violations of the Geneva Convention

Former Belgian prime minister, Elio Di Rupo, of the Walloon socialist Party stated that the reason for the withdrawal from the trade mission was "the lack of progress in the peace process, the lack of progress on the ground and the violations of important parts of the Geneva Convention by Israel".

The Brussels government is now following this line of reasoning.

Joel Rubinfeld, a former leader of Belgian Jewry and president of the Belgian League Against Anti-Semitism, said the move was discriminatory in light of Belgium's trade relations with nations accused of major human rights violations, including Iran and China.

Companies who were going to partake in the mission can still travel to the Middle-East on their own, however, they will have to cover their own expenses.

[yankeedoodle]

New poll shows nearly half of Democratic voters familiar with BDS support it; most voters oppose anti-BDS measures
https://mondoweiss.net/2020/01/new-poll-shows-nearly-half-of-democratic-voters-familiar-with-bds-support-it-most-voters-oppose-anti-bds-measures/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-email-mailpoet


Results from a new University of Maryland Critical Issues Poll on the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

A new University of Maryland Critical Issues Poll gives us further insight into what Americans think about the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

3,016 respondents were asked about BDS as part of the poll. 49% of them said they had heard of the movement. Among those who had heard of it, just 8% of Republicans said they "strongly or somewhat" support BDS. However, 48% of Democrats and 27% of independents said they did.

Respondents were also asked how they felt about two common arguments regarding BDS. "BDS is a legitimate, peaceful way of opposing Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories," reads the first argument, "Inspired by the South African anti-apartheid movement, BDS urges action to pressure Israel to comply with international law. Opposing Israeli policy does not equal anti-Semitism." Overall, 43% disagreed with this argument; 69% of Republicans disagreed and 13% of Democrats.

"Regardless of how BDS defines itself, it is an anti-Israel organization attempting to weaken Israel and to undermine its legitimacy. Some of its supporters are opponents of Israel's very existence and may even be anti-Semitic," reads the other argument. 49% of Democrats disagreed with this statement and just 7% of Republicans did.

When asked about laws that penalize supporters of BDS, the majority of every political group said they were opposed to them: 80% of Democrats, 62% of Republicans and 76% of independents.

The polling indicates that awareness of BDS is growing. A J Street poll from last May found that almost 64% of Democrats had never even heard of the movement. Shibley Telhami is the Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland and the Director of these polls. "For a few years now, the polls have consistently shown a majority of Democrats wanting to take action against Israeli settlements, including imposing sanctions, while Republicans and independents wanted to do nothing or limit opposition to words," he explained in a write-up on the poll results, "But until this fall, I had not asked directly about the BDS movement, as it was not on the radar screen of most Americans. However, the recent debates in Congress and elsewhere have raised the profile of the issue."

A Data for Progress poll from last fall generated similar numbers, finding that 53% of Democratic voters thought the movement was legitimate and 44% supported it. Just 15% of the Democratic voters polled said that they opposed the movement.

All this polling and analysis seems to point to an obvious conclusion: the high-profile BDS battles of 2019 have raised awareness for the movement and that awareness has come with increased support.

[pdf]https://criticalissues.umd.edu/sites/criticalissues.umd.edu/files/UMCIP%20Middle%20East%20Questionnaire.pdf[/pdf]

[yankeedoodle]

Israel advocates lose legal battle over Olympia Food Co-op boycott
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora-barrows-friedman/israel-advocates-lose-legal-battle-over-olympia-food-co-op-boycott

A near decade-long legal battle over the Olympia Food Co-op's decision to boycott Israeli goods has finally been put to rest.

Opponents of Palestinian rights, working in coordination with Israel, lost.

https://twitter.com/theCCR/status/1230534353157009410

https://twitter.com/theIMEU/status/1231077409082036224

On 20 February, a Washington state appeals court upheld a 2018 ruling that dismissed a lawsuit against former board members of the Co-op.

In 2010, the Olympia Food Co-op became the first grocery store in the US to remove Israeli goods from its shelves as part of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign for Palestinian rights.

"As a co-defendant, I am pleased, but not surprised, that the courts have once again found in our favor," said Grace Cox, a former Co-op board member.

Board members like Cox, who supported a measure to ban Israeli products from the store's shelves, were put through years of litigation by several former Co-op members who worked closely with the Israel advocacy group StandWithUs.

The right-wing Israel lobby group helped secretly plan the lawsuit in coordination with Israeli government officials.

The plaintiffs sought to block the store's boycott and secure monetary damages against board members who voted in favor of the measure.

A judge initially dismissed the lawsuit in 2012, saying it violated a state law preventing abusive lawsuits aimed at suppressing lawful public participation, otherwise known as SLAPP suits.

Two years later, an appeals court upheld that judge's ruling and the plaintiffs were ordered to pay $160,000 in statutory damages – $10,000 to each of the 16 co-op board members – as well as other legal fees.

The pro-Israel activists then took their case to the state supreme court, which sent it back to the lower courts in 2015.

In December 2017, co-op board members filed a motion to finally dismiss the lawsuit, which the court did in March 2018.

"When the plaintiffs first threatened to sue us, they promised a nuisance lawsuit, and they have delivered. It is well past time to end this abuse of the legal system by ending this baseless suit," Cox stated last week.

Vindicated
The Center for Constitutional Rights, which has represented the defendants during the entire legal battle, says that during the process of uncovering evidence, emails were revealed between the plaintiffs "celebrating the news from StandWithUs that the lawsuit had successfully discouraged other co-ops from boycotting Israeli goods."

The Israel advocacy group "took credit for filing the case, stating that it was a byproduct of the partnership between StandWithUs and the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs," CCR notes.

"The Court of Appeals properly deferred to the business judgment of the Co-op board in making their boycott decision, which is a fundamental principle of governance that applies to every nonprofit corporation," said Bruce E.H. Johnson, an attorney who also represented co-op board members.

"In the face of widespread assault, the right to advocate for Palestinian freedom, including via the time-honored tradition of boycotts for social change, has again been vindicated," said Maria LaHood, CCR's deputy legal director.

"This victory demonstrates that although the fight can be long, it's necessary in order to achieve justice," she added.

[yankeedoodle]

'A huge and timely BDS victory': Microsoft divests from Israeli tech firm AnyVision
https://mondoweiss.net/2020/03/a-huge-and-timely-bds-victory-microsoft-divests-from-israeli-tech-firm-anyvision/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-email-mailpoet

Microsoft has announced that its divesting its shareholding in the Israeli facial recognition company AnyVision. The move follows an audit which was forced by a BDS campaign targeting the company. Activists say that AnyVision's facial recognition technology is used to spy on Palestinians in the West Bank.

After Microsoft invested in the company last June, NBC News reported that AnyVision "powers a secret military surveillance project" in Palestine. "Face recognition is possibly the most perfect tool for complete government control in public spaces, so we need to treat it with extreme caution – said the ACLU's Shankar Narayan at the time. When NBC reached out to AnyVision CEO Eylon Etshtein for the story, he denied knowledge of the project, insisted that the West Bank wasn't occupied, and implied that the report was being funded by a Palestinian activist group.

During the summer of 2019, Jewish Voice for Peace launched a campaign calling on Microsoft to #DropAnyVision. This year they teamed up with the groups MPower Change, and SumofUs to organize a petition on the issue. It was ultimately signed by over 75,000 people and delivered to company headquarters by activists and Microsoft employees.

In November 2019, Microsoft hired former United States Attorney General Eric Holder (and his team at Covington & Burling) to conduct an audit on AnyVision to determine whether the company practices were in line with Microsoft's ethical principles. The findings concluded that the technology is used at border crossing checkpoints, but that the company "does not currently power a mass surveillance program in the West Bank that has been alleged in media reports."

Nonetheless, Microsoft decided to part ways with AnyVision. "After careful consideration, Microsoft and AnyVision have agreed that it is in the best interest of both enterprises for Microsoft to divest its shareholding in AnyVision," it said in a statement, "For Microsoft, the audit process reinforced the challenges of being a minority investor in a company that sells sensitive technology, since such investments do not generally allow for the level of oversight or control that Microsoft exercises over the use of its own technology."

"Microsoft's decision to dump AnyVision is a huge blow to this deeply complicit Israeli company and a success for an impressive BDS campaign led by Jewish Voice for Peace," said BDS co-founder Omar Barghouti in a statement, "Israel's war crimes against Palestinians, with the complicity of many corporations like AnyVision, continue despite the threat of the coronavirus, so our resistance to them and our insistence on freedom, justice and equality cannot but continue."

"Microsoft's decision to heed the calls of the campaign to drop the Israeli surveillance company AnyVision is a huge and timely BDS victory," tweeted the official account of the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC).

https://twitter.com/BDSmovement/status/1244504679196905472

"Microsoft's decision to divest from AnyVision is an important victory for tech justice activists and the international community in solidarity with the Palestinian people," said MPower Change Campaign Manager Lau Barrios, This decision by Microsoft, a global leader in tech, also reinforces our belief that government, police, and military cannot be trusted with use of surveillance technology like facial recognition, which is increasingly being used in the U.S. and worldwide to monitor, surveil, and further criminalize Black, brown, immigrant, Palestinian, and Muslim communities."