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Thursday, 21 August 2014

Latest BDS news, the whole world joins the boycott of Israel


Israeli ship is blocked from unloading in Oakland for four straight days 

Global BDS 19 Aug 2014 – San Francisco Bay Area activists have not allowed a vessel from Israel’s largest shipping company to unload in the Oakland Port for four consecutive mornings. On Tuesday, 19 August, at 6:45am, activists declared yet another victory against the Zim Line, which has been  trying to make…

Ireland’s biggest food retailer drops Israeli produce, as European boycotts surge 
Global BDS 19 Aug 2014 – Major Israeli food exporters are facing an unprecedented wave of cancelations in orders from Europe as a result of Israel’s  most recent massacre  of Palestinians in  Gaza . SuperValu, the biggest food distributor in Ireland, told  the Irish media  last week that it has withdrawn Israeli products…


Global BDS 19 Aug 2014 – Palestinian efforts to encourage a boycott of Israel, modeled on the South African anti-apartheid global campaign, is gaining momentum as a democratic movement On 9 August, hundreds of thousands of people worldwide took to the streets in response to a call from Palestinian civil society in…

Al-Monitor 19 Aug 2014 – Not only did Israel lose its deterrence edge against Hamas, it also severely exposed its frayed ties with the US and the international community and faces a more comprehensive European boycott of settlement products.

The rise of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
Ahmed Moor, Al Jazeera 8/19/2014

Israel has failed to respond effectively to the rise of the BDS movement internationally.
The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement was founded by a broad coalition of Palestinian civil society groups in 2005. The intervening years have seen BDS develop and gain force in tandem with the emergence of two phenomena that will define the Palestinian fight for freedom for the foreseeable future.

First, the resolution of the conflict will be mediated through grassroots activism rather than through the diplomatic or governmental efforts of political elites. Second, the Palestinian struggle has been internationalised. In other words, the quest for a resolution to the problem of Zionism is no longer the exclusive preserve of the Americans and their client regimes in the Arab world.

Taken together, these structural developments, which both contribute to and are derived from BDS, represent the best chance for delivering freedom in Palestine.
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions

Nearly ten years ago more than 170 organisations – representing political parties, trade unions, NGOs and youth and women’s groups – issued a near-unanimous call for boycotts and sanctions in response to deepening Israeli apartheid and occupation in Palestine. Their mobilisation occurred as a direct response to the apparent inability of Palestinian political elites to produce any positive national achievements on their behalf.more.. e-mail


Hamas hails EU ban on Israeli settlement products
PIC – Hamas Movement’s spokesman Fawzi Barhoum hailed on Monday the European Union’s decision to boycott Israeli settlement products.

EU boycotts Israeli poultry and dairy products
PIC – The European Union decided on Sunday to boycott Israeli poultry and dairy products from settlements in occupied Jerusalem, West Bank, and Golan Heights.

Malaysian Minister leads boycott of British bank to support Gaza
PIC – The Malaysian Minister of Agriculture announced solidarity with Gaza through the decision to boycott the British bank HSBC in response to the bank’s closure of pro-Palestinian activists’ accounts.

Lebanese teachers’ union ends exam correction boycott 
Al-Akhbar News 18 Aug 2014 – The Lebanese teachers’ union has decided to correct state exams while continuing to agitate for the approval of the wage scale, according to a statement released Monday. Following union general assembly meetings across Lebanon, the teachers will press ahead with “all forms of action and escalation”…
Ireland’s Biggest Food Retailer Drops Israeli Produce as European Boycotts Surge
IMEMC – Major Israeli food exporters are facing an unprecedented wave of cancelations in orders from Europe as a result of Israel’s http://electronicintifada.net/tags/gazaunderattackof Palestinians in http://electronicintifada.net/tags/gaza. …

Tricycle Theatre ends boycott of Israeli funds
Jerusalem Post 16 Aug 2014 – After realizing that most of its predominately Jewish sponsors decided to walk away from the organization, it changed its mind.

Mbeki calls for Israel goods boycott 
BBC 12 Aug 2014 – South Africa’s ex-President Thabo Mbeki calls for a boycott of Israeli goods, saying Israel must “pay a price” for the conflict in Gaza.

Mbeki calls for Israel goods boycott 
BBC 12 Aug 2014 – South Africa’s ex-President Thabo Mbeki calls for a boycott of Israeli goods, saying Israel must “pay a price” for the conflict in Gaza.


SAIA York Statement on Gaza
Uruknet 11 Aug 2014 – July 30, 2014 – …We call on the York University Board of Governors to divest from companies involved in Israeli war crimes and military occupation. We demand that the York University Advisory Committee on Responsible Investment press for divestment from…

Report: Flyers calling for boycott of Jewish businesses plastered around Rome
YNet News, 11 Aug 2014 – Pamphlets reportedly say ‘boycotting any type of Jewish product or business is fundamental to stop the massacre in Palestine.’ ….

Boycott Israel?
Mondoweiss – United Nations logo This is part of Marc H. Ellis’s “Exile and the Prophetic” feature for Mondoweiss. To read the entire series visit the archive page. It could be any street in Israel, Jerusalem, Haifa or Tel Aviv. Israeli soldiers guarding the public. Israeli soldiers even…
The world heeds the call of Palestinians in Gaza for pressure on Israel
8/10/2014 – International Solidarity Movement – Occupied Palestine – Update:  Please help us spread the word in Arabic, Italian, French, Hebrew and Spanish via your networks. Hundreds of thousands of people worldwide have taken to the streets in response to a call from Palestinian civil society in the occupied and besieged Gaza strip, and the BDS National Committee (BNC), for a day of rage. The mobilisations come as grassroots pressure mounts on western governments….
Cultural boycotts and the rise of antisemitism | @guardianletters
The Guardian 10 Aug 2014 – I hope that no reader would disagree with your editorial (9 August) that attacks in western Europe on Jewish schools, shops and synagogues indicate vile and contemptible racism which cannot be excused by reference to Israeli…

Posters calling for boycotting Israeli products on Rome streets 
PIC – Residents of the Italian capital Rome were surprised Saturday morning to see posters calling for boycotting Israeli products and merchants pinned to the fronts of Jewish-owned shops.


Garnier Cosmetics Backs Off Pro-Israel Giveaway 
The Foward Breaking News 10 Aug 2014 – The Garnier cosmetics and toiletries firm is facing a boycott threat over a donation of personal care products to female Israeli soldiers serving in the current Gaza operation. Click here for the rest of the article…

Turkey’s exports decrease amid regional tension 
Al-Monitor 10 Aug 2014 – Turkey has suffered unexpected declines in its exports to Iraq, Libya, Egypt, Ukraine and Russia, though Turkish exports to Russia may have more potential following its recent foodstuff import boycott of the United States and European Union.


Amira Howeidy, Al-Ahram Weekly 8/7/2014
A diverse Palestinian delegation withstood irreconcilable differences to push for a ceasefire in Gaza as new internal dynamics came into play.

The abrupt arrival of a Palestinian delegation in Cairo a day after the collapse of a UN brokered ceasefire agreement this weekend (August 2-3) appeared to be an odd development in the apocalyptic scenes emerging out of the complicated Gaza crisis. After announcing the end of the short lived truce, Israel said it was boycotting negotiations mediated by Egypt and was mulling the idea of a unilateral ceasefire as it began redeploying its ground forces in Gaza.

With seemingly nothing to negotiate about in Cairo in light of Israel’s position and absence, Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas announced that a delegation would fly to Egypt anyway, regardless of developments on the ground. As Palestinian delegates landed in Cairo Saturday and Sunday the question posed itself: What are they going to negotiate about when the door has been shut by Tel Aviv?

Scepticism reigned supreme. The Palestinian delegation appointed by Abbas is already heterogeneous with the two main Islamic resistance movements Hamas and Islamic Jihad (whose raison d’etre is fighting Israeli occupation with arms and categorically oppose the conditions of the peace talks) )on the one side and on the other, Azzam Al-Ahmad, Central Committee member of the rival Fatah movement (which leads the PA and now frozen peace talks with Israel), in addition to the Abbas appointed intelligence chief Majed Faraj, who is accused by resistance groups of arresting their fighters in the West Bank, as per the PA’s security commitments with Israel. Delegates from the left-leaning Popular and Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PLFP, DLFP) and the Abbas-allied small socialist Al-Shaab Party, with little influence on the ground, were included to convey an image of a unified all-encompassing Palestinian accord. more.. e-mail

‘Day of Rage’ Protests Against Israeli Aggression in Gaza Held All Over the World 
IMEMC – Following a call by the Palestinian Boycott Divestment and Sanctions National Committee and other Palestinian organizations, supporters of equal rights for Palestinians held protests around the world on Saturday, calling for an end to the Israeli assault on Gaza and an end to the siege that has been strangling the economy of Gaza for 8 years. …

L’Oréal’s Garnier, singer Bruel boycotted for supporting Israel
Jerusalem Post 9 Aug 2014 – French hair care firm, Jewish performer accused of helping IDF.

London’s Tricycle Theatre shames itself
Jerusalem Post 9 Aug 2014 – In the UK, after the shocking but almost inevitable boycott of an Israeli arts company at the Edinburgh film festival, on Tisha Be’av in London Tricycle Theatre took the boycott to its logical conclusion.

‘We are all Palestinian’
Mondoweiss – Today the Day of Rage demonstrations are taking place in cities all over the world, demanding immediate sanctions on Israel. We’re expecting reports to start rolling in, here’s our first one. Nineteen-year-old student and activist Barnaby Raine  has been organizing a “Jewish Bloc against Zionism” in…

Hundreds of thousands set to participate in International Day of Rage for Gaza 
Global BDS 9 Aug 2014 – – Spain announces “provisional” suspension of military exports to Israel and Evo Morales backs BDS – Pressure grows for military embargo and sanctions Follow #GazaDayofRage for updates Hundreds of thousands of people will take to the streets today to demand boycotts and sanctions against Israel as…

Evo Morales endorses BDS, calls Israel a terrorist state 
Global BDS 8 Aug 2014 – The following statement from the Network in Defense of Humanity (REDH) in Bolivia is a translation of the original from http://www.nuestra-america.it/index.php/it/espanol/bolivia/item/998-appello-internazionale-primo-firmatario-presidente-della-bolivia- evo – morales . In Defence of Palestine The Network in Defense of Humanity (REDH), before the tragic events being experienced by our Palestinian brothers in…


‘Day of rage’ tomorrow: Palestinian resistance ‘starts with the tongue’
Mondoweiss – Predictably,  Israel rejected Hamas’ demands “ that Israel agree in principle to end Gaza’s border closure and allow the rebuilding of Gaza” ending a 3 day cease-fire between Israel and Hamas that elapsed today at 8 A.M. this morning. Attacks have resumed.  The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement  has…


University of Cape Town forum calls for adoption of BDS resolution
Jerusalem Post 7 Aug 2014 – University of Cape Town Palestine Solidarity Forum rallies on campus, calling on management, Student Representative Council to adopt resolution to support movement against Israel.

South Africa: Blade – Batting for Palestine 
allAfrica.com 7 Aug 2014 – [Daily Maverick]While there’s a brief reprieve in the conflict in Gaza between Israel and Palestine, the issue continues to heat up in South Africa. On Wednesday, Palestinian supporters met at the University of Johannesburg to discuss boycotting Israel.

Gaza Calling: All out on Saturday 9 August Day of Rage
8/6/2014 – International Solidarity Movement – Call from Palestine, Gaza, Occupied Palestine – Aftermath of Israeli airstrike on Palestinian home in Gaza. Gaza Calling: All out on Saturday 9 August Day of Rage – Join the Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions Movement today. Demand Sanctions on Israel Now. As we face the full might of Israel’s military arsenal, funded and supplied by the United States and European Union, we call on civil….


Diplomatic officials: No decision yet on whether to cooperate with UNHRC investigation
Jerusalem Post 6 Aug 2014 – Liberman has not yet weighed in on call to boycott UN war crimes commission, as it did the Goldstone commission in 2009.

Over 100 Middle East scholars and librarians call for the boycott of Israeli academic institutions
Mondoweiss – We, the undersigned scholars and librarians working on the Middle East, hold that silence about the latest humanitarian catastrophe caused by Israel’s new military assault on the Gaza Strip – the third and most devastating in six years –constitutes complicity. World governments and mainstream media do…

Gaza Calling: All out on Saturday August 9 Day of Rage
Mondoweiss – A BDS logo Join the Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions Movement today. Demand Sanctions on Israel Now. As we face the full might of Israel’s military arsenal, funded and supplied by the United States and European Union, we call on civil society and people of conscience throughout…

Coalition of feminists condemn ‘massacre’ in Gaza, urge support for BDS
Mondoweiss – Supporters of Palestine chant during a rally in Sydney against Israel’s recent attacks on Gaza. (Photo: Getty Images/Lisa Maree Williams) Editor’s note: The following statement in solidarity with Gaza comes from Palestinian, indigenous, women of color, anti-racist, and Jewish feminists. Statement in Solidarity with the  Palestinian…

Occupied Palestine Daily Brief, 6 August 2014 
Sabbah report 6 Aug 2014 – Palestine latest; Gaza and 2nd day of ceasefire; world reactions; ICC and Israeli war crimes; BDS latest; and more… The post: Occupied Palestine Daily Brief, 6 August 2014 appeared first on Sabbah Report § Sign up for our FREE newsletter §

South Africa: SA Support Sought for Israel Boycott 
allAfrica.com 6 Aug 2014 – [CAJ News]Johannesburg -SOUTH Africans are this weekend expected to take to the streets to campaign for a boycott of Israel products owing to that country’s incessant onslaught on Palestine.

UK’s National Union of Students Votes to Support BDS
IMEMC – At a special meeting on Monday, the UK’s National Union of Students (NUS) national executive committee adopted a policy of http://www.bdsmovement.net/call against Israel. …

Israel Boycott Gains Traction as Gaza Assault Continues
Uruknet 5 Aug 2014 – July 25, 2014 – …. The Palestinian response in general to Israel s ongoing massacre in Gaza–and that s what it is; it s a full-fledged massacre of civilians in Gaza–has been more or less united. Even the Palestinian Authority, which…

Irish Artists Pledge to Boycott Israel
IMEMC – European solidarity movement grows As the Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip continues to leave nearly 2,000 Palestinians dead, there has been an upsurge in artists signing on to the Irish Artists’ Pledge to Boycott Israel. …

Boycotts are not the answer
Jerusalem Post 3 Aug 2014 – BDS supporters don’t care that universities in Israel are the one place where Palestinians and Israelis continue to work together.

More US academics join boycott of Israel
Uruknet 3 Aug 2014 – July 22, 2014 – The Critical Ethnic Studies Association announced on its website last week that its conference had formally agreed to “endorse the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement and honor the call of Palestinian civil society with the…

New campaign to boycott Israeli products in West Bank
PIC – Dozens of young activists launched on Wednesday a campaign to boycott Israeli products under the slogan “Do not support Gaza aggressions.”

Action Beyond Condemnation
Samah Jabr, Middle East Monitor (MEMO) 7/30/2014
For those who lament the Palestinians’ use of violence and sigh, “But where is the Palestinian Gandhi?” –here is the answer: Israel delegitimizes all tools of resistance, including non-violence. In 2011, for example, the Israeli parliament passed legislation punishing any public call for an economic, cultural, or academic boycott in response to the Israeli Occupation and its settlements.

A boycott is a very reasonable tool of resistance, one used in the past by many oppressed peoples–the Irish, the Indians, the Jews–against their respective tyrants. With the notable exception of the state of Israel, which persisted in providing the apartheid regime of South Africa with weapons, the imposition of a boycott was even a broadly-supported international policy at one time. At an individual level, surely each person is entitled to choose to give or not to give sustenance to an entity that contradicts his or her personal values.

While Israel’s anti-boycott law is meant to empower its Occupation and its settlers and to intimidate the international movement in solidarity with Palestinians, the law also stimulates many thoughts about the Palestinian reactions to the boycott. After all, some Palestinians have a complex and enmeshed relationship with Israelis.

For myself, I have studied with Israelis. I recently finished a three-year training program at the Israeli Psychoanalytic Society. In East Jerusalem, where I live, many Palestinians work in various Israeli institutions and when they are ill, are treated in Israeli hospitals. Many Palestinians from the West Bank can only find work in Israeli settlements. And let us not forget the tragic reality that the infamous separation wall was built by Palestinian hands.

As a result of these interrelations, it is perplexing for many Palestinians to draw a fine line between the need to survive and the need to resist normalizing the relationship with the occupier…. more.. e-mail

Israel s Gaza massacre boosts boycott calls in South Africa
Uruknet 30 Jul 2014 – July 21, 2014 – With the horrors of Israel s massacre currently bearing down on Gaza, it is hard to see any light at the end of the tunnel. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, at least 522 Palestinians,…

The threat of sanctions worked against Israel in 1956 — and it can work again
Mondoweiss – In 1957, President Eisenhower addressed the US public: “Should a nation which attacks and occupies foreign territory in the face of United Nations disapproval be allowed to impose conditions on its own withdrawal? If we agreed that armed attack can properly achieve the purposes of the…


Ending Israel’s occupation: why BDS is more important now than ever 
Al-Akhbar Opinion 28 Jul 2014 – A demonstrator displays a placard during a rally in Hong Kong on July 27, 2014 calling for an end to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and to show support for the Palestinian people. (Photo: AFP-Dale de la Ray) A demonstrator displays a placard during a rally…


Muslims in India boycott Coke and Pepsi in silent protest against Gaza attacks
The National 27 Jul 2014 – More than a hundred members of the Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association will stop serving Coke and Pepsi at their premises until attacks on Gaza cease.

A Moment to Be Seized?
Uruknet 27 Jul 2014 – July 19, 2014-There was never a better moment for the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement to mass-mobilise for a mega-campaign to not only impact more heavily on the lawless Israeli state but also unmask those in business and public…



Jerusalem Post 24 Jul 2014 – Turkish municipalities across Turkey announce boycott of Israeli products and companies linked to the Jewish state.


Al-Monitor 24 Jul 2014 – Author Mario Levi says although he has been targeted, he has a positive take on these events as it also generated unprecedented support.


YNet News, 23 Jul 2014 – ….


Mondoweiss – The  US Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI)  congratulates both the  Critical Ethnic Studies Association (CESA)  and the African Literature Association (ALA)  following their recent, respective announcements to heed the call from  Palestinian civil society and endorse the academic boycott of Israel ….


IMEMC – In the 2014 African Literature Association (ALA) meeting in Johannesburg, the ALA approved a resolution supporting the academic boycott of Israeli academic institutions. …



FM Liberman calls for boycott of Israeli Arab businesses who strike for Gaza
Jerusalem Post 21 Jul 2014 – “Again, the Foreign Minister that is supposed to be the face of the state of Israel is showing his racist ugly face,” Meretz party head responds.


Uruknet 20 Jul 2014 – July 12, 2014 – We Palestinians trapped inside the bloodied and besieged Gaza Strip call on conscientious people all over the world to act, protest and intensify the boycotts, divestments and sanctions against Israel until it ends this murderous attack…


Ofer Neiman, Alternative Information Center 7/19/2014

The small minority of Israeli peace and human rights activists cannot reverse the horrible reality from within, and our action has primarily brought about accusations that we are traitors, as well as assaults by thugs on our protests. We need support from the outside. 

The following is a letter by an Israeli citizen, published on Friday 18 July by the London Evening Standard:

The Israeli government is committing war crimes in Gaza. The IDF Spokesperson and media sources have reported deliberate attacks against the homes of senior activists in armed Palestinian groups. These houses are not legitimate military targets, and attacking them is a violation of …international humanitarian law. Israel has shelled and destroyed Gaza’s only rehabilitation hospital. All this comes on top of a chronic, Israeli-made humanitarian crisis, which has turned into a catastrophe in the past few days. An unfolding Israeli ground invasion will make things even worse.

The Palestinian people are facing a conspiracy by the governments of Israel, The US, Egypt and others. Under the Orwellian title of “ceasefire”, cynical players epitomized by Tony Blair, are trying to impose the continuation of the siege and the strangulation of Gaza on the Palestinian people.

The small minority of Israeli peace and human rights activists cannot reverse the horrible reality from within, and our action has primarily brought about accusations that we are traitors, as well as assaults by thugs on our protests. We need support from the outside. Concerned citizens all over the world can do a lot. Western governments should be flooded with calls for an arms embargo on Israel. Complicit companies, institutions and officials should be boycotted. Users of social media can stand up to Israel’s odious propaganda, which often portrays the state as a bastion of enlightenment in the middle of a jungle. Finally, stronger efforts should also be made to arrest senior Israeli officials who are suspected of war crimes and bring them to a (fair) trial abroad.” [END]

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian   
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