Feb 26, 2012

#BDS: Video: Students Physically Attacked for Interrupting Israel Talk in New Mexico


A group of University of New Mexico students "mic checked" anIsrael Alliance talk on their campusThursday night, when audience members got up out of their seats and physically attacked the protesting students.
"Mic check! Nonie Darwish speaks for Israeli apartheid!," yell the students at around 15 seconds into the video.  "And genocide at the hands of the IDF [Israeli army]!” From there, older male audience members begin to slowly walk their way up to the students (some of them young women), and start physically pushing and attacking them. At 55 seconds in, you can see one of the students goes flying over a row of seats.
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#BDS Global Day of Action to mark Land Day on March 30

"Campaigners for Palestinian rights are again gearing up for the BDS Global Day of Action, an annual wave of protests, creative actions and media outreach in support of the movement for boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it complies with international law.

The BDS National Committee (BNC), the Palestinian civil society coalition that leads the BDS movement, has also called on activists to use the BDS Global Day of Action to mobilise for the World Social Forum Free Palestine, a potentially historic gathering of the international solidarity movement due to take place in Port Alegre, Brazil, in November 2012."

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#BDS: Israeli Apartheid Week ( #IAW) in #Gaza - March 12-22

"The One Democratic State Group (ODSG), The Palestinian Students’ Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel (PSCABI)  and BDS Campaign in Gaza are pleased to announce the launch of Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) in Gaza for the third time March 12-2510, 2012 along with more than 90 cities around the world. Since it was first launched in 2005, IAW has grown to become one of the most important global events in the Palestine solidarity calendar. It includes lectures, film screenings, round- table discussion and workshops in response to the call of Palestinian civil society for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel.

We urge international solidarity groups and individuals during this week to create a week of action against Israeli Apartheid that echoes the height of South African Apartheid Movements in the 70s and 80s."

Read more and check program here

#BDS: Public appeal to international writers: do not partake in celebrating apartheid Jerusalem!

"We are writing to you from the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) to urge you in the strongest terms to cancel your participation in the International Writers'  Festival to be held in Jerusalem (Mishkenot Sha'ananim) from May 13-18, 2012Doing otherwise would inadvertently lend a stamp of approval to Israeli policies of colonialism, apartheid and occupation.  This is especially given the festival's ties to the Israeli political and cultural establishment, which uses the festival as an opportunity to rebrand Israel as a normal country by showing its “prettier face”--its vibrant cultural and artistic community. [1]  Israel, however, is not a normal country and should not be admitted into the global cultural arena until it respects international law and recognizes the Palestinian people's right to freedom, equality and justice."


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#BDS: المقاطعة لدولة الاحتلال تتضاعف في زمن حكومة نتنياهو


كشف مركز رصد في تل أبيب أن المقاطعة لدولة الاحتلال في العالم اتسعت بشكل كبير في السنوات الثلاث الأخيرة، من عمر حكومة بنيامين نتنياهو، بسبب الجمود في المفاوضات مع الفلسطينيين.

وقال رئيس المنظمة، نفتالي راز، إن هذه المقاطعة تضاعفت في هذه الفترة. ولكن الجمهور "الإسرائيلي" لا يعرف مدى حجمها، بسبب تجاهل وسائل الإعلام لها. 

وأضاف راز: «مجتمعنا يفضل دفن رأسه في الرمل حتى لا يرى ما الذي يحدث لنا. فلدينا حكومة تشغلنا بتكريس الجهود لبناء مزيد من الاستيطان وتفضيل المستوطنات والمستوطنين على استئناف مفاوضات السلام مع الفلسطينيين. ولا ننظر كيف تبدو صورتنا في الرأي العام العالمي. ولكن العالم لا ينتظر. وهو يتخذ مواقف عملية تلحق بنا الضرر».


إقرأ\ي المزيد

#BDS: TAKE ACTION: STOP #JCB EQUIPMENT DESTROYING HOMES IN SILWAN

"At 6am on Monday February 13th, the Israeli authorities demolished the Madaa creative centre and children’s playground in Silwan, East Jerusalem. The demolitions, which will make way for a controversial tourist site, were carried out using UK-made JCB equipment.


WAR ON WANT HAS WRITTEN TO JCB demanding an investigation of the use of JCB equipment to demolish Palestinian homes and communities in Jerusalem. We're asking supporters to show solidarity with Silwan by EMAILING JCB and writing on the JCB FACEBOOK PAGE."

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#BDS: Norcal Activists take on #Veolia

"The North Coast Coalition for Palestine  in the San Francisco North Bay are preparing to present a letter to the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors opposing the county's contract with Veolia. The French multinational company currently operates the county's bus system and has come under international pressure due to its involvement in a light rail line in Occupied East Jerusalem. Activists plans to collect signatures and present the letter to the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors."


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Israeli delegates set out to counter #IAW #BDS

"With the BDS campaign broadening its reach - last year 97 cities participated in Israeli Apartheid Week activities - Israel has created a new program to counter the movement.

New York City native Avi Abelow is leaving his job, his wife and four children in Efrat to visit the state of California for 10 days. His plan - and that of nearly 100 other Israelis who are boarding flights this week to 20 cities in Europe, Africa and North America - is to talk. And to talk a lot."
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#BDS: Norman Finkelstein: From Hezbollah To ‘Zionist Bully’?

"Norman Finkelstein, the son of Holocaust survivors whose anti-Israel statements and actions got him barred from the country until 2018 for suspected ties to Hezbollah terrorists, has now become the darling of pro-Israel bloggers — sort of — and a traitor to Palestinian supporters.
The Brooklyn political science professor stunned supporters Feb. 9 when in a taped interview at the Imperial College London he derided the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign for concealing the fact that it is out to destroy Israel."
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#BDS: Judge to rule Monday whether Olympia Co-op's lawsuit is legal

"A judge will decide Monday whether a lawsuit aimed at nullifying the Olympia Food Co-op’s boycott of Israeli goods is illegal and should be dismissed.
During a hearing Thursday, Thurston County Superior Court Judge Thomas McPhee heard about two hours of impassioned argument from attorneys for plaintiffs and defendants. He announced that he’d rule Monday on whether the lawsuit is a “Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation,” or SLAPP.
More than 100 people attended the hearing, and some were turned away from the courtroom amid concerns of overcrowding."
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#BDS roundup: US Presbyterian church one step closer to major divestment policy

"This week on global news from the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, an Israeli dance company faces boycott actions for its role in the “Brand Israel” campaign; more musicians face calls to cancel their upcoming appearances in Israel; and the Presbyterian Church USA moves one step closer to divesting from three US companies that profit from Israel’s military occupation of Palestine."


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#BDS Victory: Japanese distributor drops #Ahava, #Japan

" DaitoCrea, Japanese agent of AHAVA, announced on their website
that they have ended the sales of AHAVA cosmetics
in January 31, 2012.
http://www.ahava.jp/

This decision is the result of the almost two years boycott-campaign,
in which we demanded to stop the dealings with
AHAVA, which produces their goods in the illegal settlement
located in the occupied Palestine."

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#BDS: Anti-Israel group urges boycott of #Sears, #Canada

"Supporters of the campaign to boycott Israel are once again targeting Canadian retailers, and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) has launched a counter-campaign.
The latest call for a boycott of Israeli products is aimed at Sears Canada.
A group called Canadians for Peace and Justice in the Middle East (CPJME) has asked the retail giant to drop several Israeli-made products that it carries, including Ahava cosmetics, Keter Plastic and Stanley Israel products. The group says that many of the firms’ “products are sourced and manufactured in illegal colonies located in the occupied Palestinian territories,” it wrote in a Jan. 17 letter erroneously addressed to former Sears president and CEO Dene L. Rogers."
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#BDS: Hundreds of administrative Palestinian prisoners boycott Israeli courts

"Hundreds of Palestinian detainees, imprisoned in Israeli jails without charge or trial under so-called administrative detention, have decided to boycott Israeli military courts in an effort to battle their imprisonment.
According to a statement issued by the Palestinians Prisoners’ Club on Wednesday, more than 300 Palestinian prisoners would cease recognizing the courts from next month.

The move came after imprisoned Palestinian prisoner, Khader Adnan, ended 66 days of hunger strike on Tuesday after Israeli authorities promised to release him in April."

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