Tag: BDS

A collection of recent press articles on the Boycott, Divestment Sanctions (BDS) campaign from around the world. Compiled by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI). The links below are all to PACBI site, on which the articles have been reposted, along with links to the original (where available).

PACBI Press Release

Boycott Israel to Stop its War Crimes in Lebanon and Gaza! Palestinian Civil Society Campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel — Acting Steering Committee, July 18, 2006

Calls for boycott, divestment and sanctions

1. Formation of SANCTIONS AGAINST ISRAEL COALITION IN SOUTH AFRICA
Press release | | July 21, 2006

“The crisis caused by the imperialist-backed Israeli state in their collective punishment of the Palestinians and the Lebanese people has demanded an urgent response.”

2. Derry protesters demand Israeli goods boycott
Sarah Brett | Belfast Telegraph | July 21, 2006

“Anti-war protesters will be on the streets of Londonderry tomorrow calling for a boycott of Israeli goods.”

International solidarity

1. Greens to Bush: Press Israel to Stop the Attacks on Lebanon
Green Party, USA | July 20, 2006

“Slaughter of Lebanese and Palestinian civilians is a punishable war crime; use of U.S. weapons for such purposes violates U.S. laws.”

2. Filmmakers Demand Withdrawal of Israeli Government Sponsorship of Film Festival
PACBI | | July 18, 2006

“The following intervention by Arab and other filmmakers has resulted in the Locarno International Film Festival 2006 renouncing financial support from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”

3. NADEL CONDEMNS ISRAEL’S FLAGRANT BREACH OF INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW
NADEL | | July 2006

“The National Association of Democratic Lawyers of South Africa condemns the flagrant breaches of international humanitarian law and the violations of the human rights of Palestinians further exacerbated by the latest attack from Israel on the residents of Gaza in Palestine.”

Related articles and analysis

1. Analysis: could Israel face war crimes charges?
Michael Herman | The [London] Times | July 20, 2006

“A UN warning that Israel’s bombardment of Lebanon may constitute war crimes has legal legs – but with the issue being as much about politics as law, prosecutions are unlikely anytime soon, analysts say.”

2. Film festival drops Israel as sponsor to protest attack
Jim Quilty | The Daily Star | July 21, 2006

“BEIRUT: The organizers of the 2006 Locarno International Film Festival have dropped the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a festival sponsor because of that country’s unremitting bombardment of civilian targets in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.”

3. Israeli Apartheid
Bruce Dixon | The Black Commentator | July 20, 2006

“Imagine, if you will, a modern apartheid state with first, second and eleventh class citizens, all required to carry identification specifying their ethnic origin.”

4. Nothing but anti-Arab racism can fully explain the behaviour of the Israelis
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown | The Independent | July 17, 2006

“Born in Germany, Hugh was from one of those cultured, intellectual Jewish Berlin families crushed by Nazism. He escaped to Britain in the late 1930s to become a world-class scientist. Israel would bring out the worst in his people, he always said, and I argued with him. Survivors of the Holocaust, I believed, were on the side of the angels. “No, my dear,” he would respond, “the Jewish state will make us nationalists, and will one day make us racialists.” I am glad he is not alive to see his prophetic words turned flesh.”

5. Boycott Israeli Dance Companies
Paul Ben-Itzak | The Dance Insider | July 2006

“PARIS — I’d love to be able to start this column with the dance angle, explaining why we should boycott the Israeli companies performing at this month’s Lincoln Center Festival — including Ohad Naharin’s Batsheva, opening tomorrow — but unfortunately, in the face of the dissembling and pandering to the Israel lobby by Senator Hilary Clinton and others, even as Israeli bombs continue to kill Lebanese children (the toll at the end of yesterday: 230 Lebanese civilians killed by Israel, 13 Israeli civilians killed by Hizbullah), I’m afraid some context is in order.”

6. A New Middle East is Born: But not exactly the one Shimon Peres had in mind
Omar Barghouti | Electronic Lebanon | July 19, 2006

“Six long, bloodstained days have passed since Israel launched its barbaric attack on Lebanon without succeeding in exacting a significant military toll on the resistance itself. Six days are exactly what it took Israel to deal a crushing and humiliating military defeat to the largely inferior armies of Egypt, Syria and Jordan in June 1967, and to subsequently occupy the Palestinian Gaza Strip and West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the Syrian Golan Heights, and the Egyptian Sinai peninsula.”

7. Peace With Justice Is Only Way Out
Sam Bahour | OhmyNews International | July 18, 2006

“In case anyone had any remaining doubts, the flawed Middle East peace process and the international community’s half-hearted efforts have miserably failed, culminating in Israel’s most recent aggression in Gaza and Lebanon. Following the Palestinians’ democratic legislative elections which brought Hamas to power, Israel announced that its goal was to topple the Palestinian government at any cost.”

8. Ties with Israel open to debate, says Pahad
Boyd Webb | Cape Times | July 17, 2006

“Pretoria: While the government is not entertaining thoughts of cutting diplomatic ties with Israel or imposing sanctions, it is open to debate on the issue, says Minister in the Presidency Essop Pahad.”

from the South African Broadcasting Corporation, July 10th

The “apartheid Israel state” is worse than the apartheid that was conducted in South Africa, Willie Madisha, the Congress of SA Trade Unions president, said today. He said Palestinians were being attacked with heavy machinery and tanks used in war which had never happened in South Africa. Cosatu and other organisations supporting Palestine have called on government to end diplomatic relations with Israel and establish boycotts and sanctions such as those against apartheid South Africa.

Israel has launched several attacks on Gaza, bombing its main university and firing missiles which have killed Palestinian bystanders. This follows the capture of an Israeli soldier by Palestinians. “We see no justification for this attack,” said Ali Hamileh, Palestinian ambassador to South Africa. He said while the whole world was talking about one Israeli soldier, more than 10 000 Palestinians were being kept in Israeli jails.

“My leadership made it clear the soldier can be released immediately if Israel responds to mediation. The demand for exchange of prisoners is justified by international law. We are not demanding something unacceptable,” he said. Virginia Tilley, the professor of political science, said South Africa, was one of the only places where a vision had been brought forward to address collective punishment of perceived inferiority.

“I can’t imagine a better beacon in that struggle than this country and it has stood back. If there is any moral authority in South Africa, it must come into play now,” she said. Madisha said Israel should be seen as an apartheid state and the same sanctions must be applied that were established against South Africa.

by Sid Ryan, [Canadian] Globe & Mail, July 7th

When our union recently passed a resolution critical of policies of the government of Israel, it was savagely attacked in several quarters and labelled by many as anti-Semitic.

When the Toronto Conference of the United Church of Canada, the largest Protestant church in the country, called for a limited boycott and divestment strategy toward Israel, it, too, faced a barrage of baseless allegations of anti-Semitism (though little was said about the two Jewish organizations, the Alliance of Concerned Jewish Canadians and Jewish Women to End the Occupation, who joined in the church group’s action). Canadian media, with few exceptions, refuse to report on the plight of innocent Palestinians not involved in terrorist activities. They insist on focusing on the minority of Palestinians who inflict despicable violence on innocent civilians. The media refuse to address Israel’s violation of international law, the Geneva Conventions, the rulings of the International Court [of Justice] in The Hague and a number of United Nations resolutions. This lack of reporting leaves the Canadian population with a one-sided view. Israel’s recent bombing campaign and incursion in Gaza has destroyed schools and universities, demolished bridges and roads, and killed several Palestinians. The sonic-boom bombardments wreak havoc on a civilian population, smashing windows and doors and terrorizing children. More damaging, there is no electricity for more than 700,000 people — no lights, no refrigerators, and no fans in the suffocating heat. It means no clean water — the public water supply uses electricity — leading to disease, possibly cholera. It means limited services in hospitals and clinics dependant on electricity.

Were this Northern Ireland, the wrath of the international community would be swift and harsh. Yet when we criticize this behaviour, we are labelled anti-Semites — a convenient tactic used to shut down debate and silence us from any criticism of the state of Israel.

Even Switzerland, renowned for its neutrality, criticized Israel this week. “There is no doubt that Israel has not taken the precautions required of it in international law to protect the civilian population and infrastructure,” said a statement issued by the Swiss Foreign Ministry. The strongest condemnation for the irresponsible Gaza campaign came Tuesday from the editorial page of one of Israel’s most respected newspapers, Haaretz.

In an astonishing moment of frankness and brevity, the newspaper called for the permanent withdrawal of the Israeli Defence Forces from the occupied territories.

“The right always proposes the same recipe, but in ever-increasing doses: If we did not manage to deter them by using force, we need to use more force; and if that fails, then we need to use even more force. The establishment of the settlements was, and remains, a form of using force, as is construction of the fence along a route that harms Palestinian life more than necessary for security purposes,” the editorial stated. “The attempt to topple an elected government by means of tanks and to remove members of an elected parliament by arresting them also constitutes a policy of aggression.”

“At this time, it must be reiterated,” the newspaper said, “and it would be appropriate for the Prime Minister to find the time and the strength of will to do so — that Israel has no option in the long run other than withdrawing from the territories and from the occupation.” There you have it in a nutshell, the essence of CUPE Ontario’s resolution spoken from the pages of Israel’s influential newspaper. I now expect to hear B’nai Brith, the Canadian Jewish Congress and Simon Wiesenthal Centre, together with all their cronies, scream and hurl accusations of anti-Semitism at the editorial board of Haaretz. Or is that treatment is reserved for CUPE and the United Church?

Sid Ryan is president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (Ontario).

Links were added by the ISM Media Group.

Toronto Star reports United Church of Canada’s Toronto branch to unveil boycott of Israeli products, companies doing business with its military to end what it calls ‘illegal occupation of Palestinian lands’; plan calls on Ottawa to require that products originating in the occupied territories be labeled differently from those coming from the rest of Israel. Ynetnews

from Yedioth Ahronoth, 29th June 2006

The United Church of Canada’s Toronto branch was set to unveil Wednesday a boycott of Israeli products and companies doing business with its military to end what it calls the illegal occupation of Palestinian lands, the Toronto Star reported.

The move comes on the heels of a similar controversial move by the Ontario wing of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which last month voted to support an international boycott campaign against Israel to protest its treatment of Palestinian refugees.

“We want to commend that position,” Frances Combs, co-chair of the Toronto Conference of the United Church of Canada’s task force on Israel was quoted by the Toronto Star as saying.

According to the report, the boycott is being undertaken only by the 300-church Toronto conference of the United Church, not the church as a whole.

‘We affirm the right of Israel to exist’

The Toronto Star said Combs’s task force was asked three years ago to devise a plan for implementing a resolution passed by the Toronto conference to pressure Israel to leave the occupied lands. That resolution has never been made public until now.

The plan will call on Ottawa to require that products originating in the occupied territories be labeled differently from those coming from the rest of Israel, the report said, adding that the group will then ask that occupied-territory products be boycotted by church members.

“This is not a boycott against Israel,” Combs told the Toronto Star, adding that only occupied-territory products are to be targeted. “We affirm the right of Israel to exist.”

According to the report, the group also wants the church and its members to divest from companies supplying the Israeli military, and will be pushing for the church as a whole to adopt similar measures at its general council meeting in Thunder Bay in August.

A 20-page resolution to be debated in Thunder Bay also calls on the church to invest in Palestinian companies, the Toronto Star said.
Bruce Gregersen, who heads international programs at the United Church’s national office, told the Toronto Star that the occupation of parts of the West Bank and Gaza since the Six Day War in 1967 has had a destabilizing effect on the entire region.

The church has few investments that would have to be sold off, Gregersen said, since it tends to avoid military suppliers. But a policy of targeting Palestinian companies for investment could have a positive impact on the lives of people in the occupied territories, he told the Toronto Star.