The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Campaign against Israel is ... working!

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Tue, 2009-03-10 14:26

N.Beltov

The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Campaign against Israel is ... working!

"The growing protest against the atrocities committed by the Israeli military in the Gaza Strip has begun to change something in the Israeli political discourse, and the first indication of this can already be seen in the Israeli economic media. Although the Israeli economic media doesn't concern itself with the moral dimension of the attacks on Gaza, the economic dimension of recent events has created a rising level of concern. "

The Marker, an Israeli magazine for economic news, outlines a number of successes by the BDS campaign.

http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/hever090309.html

Alternative Information Centre: http://www.alternativenews.org/

Wed, 2009-07-01 12:00

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

[url=http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/21807]AIPAC is becoming concerned[/url]

Quote:
AIPAC's call to arms is a grudging recognition of these initial successes of the movement and, above all, of its potential. It is evident that supporters of the Jewish-only Israeli state - be they official lobbyists, powerful government figures, or others - intend to redouble their efforts to smear the BDS movement as anti-Semitic and to suppress public debate of Israel's crimes. Supporters of the rights of Palestinians are responding by uniting with others to defend the right to free speech on these issues and by reaching out to win new support for the boycott-Israel campaign.

[url=http://www.rabble.ca/babble/international-news-and-politics/israeli-expo... thread[/url]

Wed, 2009-07-01 12:05

Jaku

I will never stop drinking Starbucks!!

Wed, 2009-07-01 12:37

remind

I have never drank Starbucks! :D

Wed, 2009-07-01 12:42

Jaku

And my dog loves Purina

Wed, 2009-07-01 12:52

remind

U apparently do not love your dog! ;)

Wed, 2009-07-01 13:07

Jaku

As much as I love my nokia cell phone

Wed, 2009-07-01 13:16

remind

Never had one of them either.

Wed, 2009-07-01 13:47

Jaku

And you probably never watched a Disney or Touchstone movie

Wed, 2009-07-01 13:53

#10

Michelle

Jaku, get on topic or get out. Seriously. You're trolling.

Thu, 2009-07-02 17:37

#11

miles

I am not sure in the days of parts being built in so many different places if we will ever know 100% that no parts used or technology come from either Israel or an Israeli scientist.

As far as touchstone goes. I thought that their was an Israeli business person who was a minority owner of touchstone -- i thought it was the same person who used to own carnival cruise or maybe still does. and since carnival is the largest cruise line in the world (owning something like 10 other lines)

does that mean that almost all cruises would be verboten?

Sat, 2009-08-29 18:20

#12

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

[url=http://www.rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/judes/2009/08/courageous-film-maker-... Canadian film maker John Greyson pulls his film from the Toronto International Film Festival to protest their "spotlight on Tel Aviv".[/url]

Quote:

Let's be clear: my protest isn't against the films or filmmakers you've chosen. I've seen brilliant works of Israeli and Palestinian cinema at past TIFFs, and will again in coming years. My protest is against the Spotlight itself, and the smug business-as-usual aura it promotes of a "vibrant metropolis [and] dynamic young city... commemorating its centennial", seemingly untroubled by other anniversaries, such as the 42nd anniversary of the occupation. Isn't such an uncritical celebration of Tel Aviv right now akin to celebrating Montgomery buses in 1963, California grapes in 1969, Chilean wines in 1973, Nestles infant formula in 1984, or South African fruit in 1991?

Sat, 2009-08-29 19:10

#13

Frustrated Mess Frustrated Mess's picture

Funny a film maker has more moral fortitude than the entire United Church of Canada. Go figure ...

ETA: A very powerful film.

Sat, 2009-08-29 22:50

#14

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

[url=http://dissidentvoice.org/2009/08/boycotts-as-a-legitimate-means-of-resi... Uri Avnery is wrong on the Israel boycott question[/url]

Sun, 2009-08-30 00:17

#15

al-Qa'bong

"Uri Avnery opposes the brutality inflicted on Palestinians. He campaigns for peace with Palestinians. But he also has a Zionist past. He is European born and fought for the terrorist Irgun in perpetration of a holocaust (Nakba) against Palestinans. He later renounced Irgun's tactics. He is antiwar, but he is not anti-the fruits of war. He approves of a two state solution. In other words, Israeli Jews will keep the fruits of their dispossessing others - this while continuing to press for the return of what they were dispossessed."

All Hail the Israeli..hoch...ptui.

Mon, 2009-08-31 11:40

#16

NDPP

TIFF: Celebrating Israeli Colonialism, Ethnic Cleansing and Apartheid

http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=1085

City to City Spotlight on Tel Aviv at the Toronto International Film Festival is disgusting and obscene

Mon, 2009-08-31 11:50

#17

Michelle

Bravo to John Greyson, who has pulled his film from TIFF to protest their tribute to Tel Aviv.

(Full text of his letter included.)

Quote:

Dear Piers, Cameron and Noah

I've come to a very difficult decision --I'm withdrawing my film Covered from TIFF, in protest against your inaugural City-to-City Spotlight on Tel Aviv.

In the Canadian Jewish News, Israeli Consul General Amir Gissin described how this Spotlight is the culmination of his year-long Brand Israel campaign, which includes bus/radio/TV ads, the ROM's notorious Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit, and "a major Israeli presence at next year¹s Toronto International Film Festival, with numerous Israeli, Hollywood and Canadian entertainment luminaries on hand." Gissen said Toronto was chosen as a test-city for Brand Israel by Israel's Foreign Ministry, and thanked Astral, MIJO and Canwest for donating the million-dollar budget. (Astral is of course a long-time TIFF sponsor, and Canwest owners' Asper Foundation donated $500,000 to TIFF). "We've got a real product to sell to Canadians... The lessons learned from Toronto will inform the worldwide launch of Brand Israel in the coming years, Gissin said."

This past year has also seen: the devastating Gaza massacre of eight months ago, resulting in over 1000 civilian deaths; the election of a Prime Minister accused of war crimes; the aggressive extension of illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian lands; the accelerated destruction of Palestinian homes and orchards; the viral growth of the totalitarian security wall, and the further enshrining of the check-point system. Such state policies have led diverse figures such as John Berger, Jimmy Carter, and Bishop Desmond Tutu to characterize this 'brand' as apartheid. Your TIFF program book may describe Tel Aviv as a "vibrant young city... of beaches, cafes and cultural ferment... that celebrates its diversity," but it's also been called "a kind of alter-Gaza, the smiling face of Israeli apartheid" (Naomi Klein) and "the only city in the west without Arab residents" (Tel Aviv filmmaker Udi Aloni).

To my mind, this isn't the right year to celebrate Brand Israel, or to demonstrate an ostrich-like indifference to the realities (cinematic and otherwise) of the region, or to pointedly ignore the international economic boycott campaign against Israel.

Mon, 2009-08-31 11:59

#18

Michelle

Oh, whoops, I didn't notice that M. Spector posted this already above. :)

Thu, 2009-09-03 17:25

#19

NDPP

BDS: Norweigan Pension Fund Divests from Israel's Elbit Ltd.

http://www.bdsmovement.net/?q=node/533

"The Ministry of Finance has excluded the Israeli company Elbit Systems Ltd. from the Government Pension Fund GLobal on the basis of the Council of Ethics recommendation: "we do not wish to fund companies that so directly contribute to violations of International Humanitarian law," says Finance Minister.."

Fri, 2009-09-04 17:21

#20

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

[url=http://torontodeclaration.blogspot.com/2009/09/toronto-declaration-no-ce... Toronto Declaration: No Celebration of Occupation

An Open Letter to the Toronto International Film Festival[/url]

As members of the Canadian and international film, culture and media arts communities, we are deeply disturbed by the Toronto International Film Festival's decision to host a celebratory spotlight on Tel Aviv. We protest that TIFF, whether intentionally or not, has become complicit in the Israeli propaganda machine.

In 2008, the Israeli government and Canadian partners Sidney Greenberg of Astral Media, David Asper of Canwest Global Communications and Joel Reitman of MIJO Corporation launched [b]"Brand Israel," a million dollar media and advertising campaign aimed at changing Canadian perceptions of Israel.[/b] Brand Israel would take the focus off Israel's treatment of Palestinians and its aggressive wars, and refocus it on achievements in medicine, science and culture. An article in Canadian Jewish News quotes Israeli consul general Amir Gissin as saying that Toronto would be the test city for a promotion that could then be deployed around the world. According to Gissin, [b]the culmination of the campaign would be a major Israeli presence at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival.[/b] (Andy Levy-Alzenkopf, "Brand Israel set to launch in GTA," Canadian Jewish News, August 28, 2008.)

In 2009, TIFF announced that it would inaugurate its new [b]City to City program with a focus on Tel Aviv.[/b] According to program notes by Festival co-director and City to City programmer Cameron Bailey, "The ten films in this year's City to City programme will showcase the complex currents running through today's Tel Aviv. Celebrating its 100th birthday in 2009, Tel Aviv is a young, dynamic city that, like Toronto, celebrates its diversity."

The emphasis on 'diversity' in City to City is empty given the absence of Palestinian filmmakers in the program. Furthermore, what this description does not say is that Tel Aviv is built on destroyed Palestinian villages, and that the city of Jaffa, Palestine's main cultural hub until 1948, was annexed to Tel Aviv after the mass exiling of the Palestinian population. [b]This program ignores the suffering of thousands of former residents and descendants of the Tel Aviv/Jaffa area who currently live in refugee camps in the Occupied Territories or who have been dispersed to other countries, including Canada.[/b] Looking at modern, sophisticated Tel Aviv without also considering the city's past and the realities of Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza strip, would be like rhapsodizing about the beauty and elegant lifestyles in white-only Cape Town or Johannesburg during apartheid without acknowledging the corresponding black townships of Khayelitsha and Soweto.

We do not protest the individual Israeli filmmakers included in City to City, nor do we in any way suggest that Israeli films should be unwelcome at TIFF. However, especially in the wake of this year's brutal assault on Gaza, we object to the use of such an important international festival in staging a propaganda campaign on behalf of what South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, and UN General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann have all characterized as an apartheid regime.

This letter was drafted by the following ad hoc committee:

Udi Aloni, filmmaker, Israel; Elle Flanders, filmmaker, Canada; Richard Fung, video artist, Canada; John Greyson, filmmaker, Canada; Naomi Klein, writer and filmmaker, Canada; Kathy Wazana, filmmaker, Canada; Cynthia Wright, writer and academic, Canada; b h Yael, film and video artist, Canada

Endorsed by:

Ahmad Abdalla, Filmmaker, Egypt

Hany Abu-Assad, Filmmaker, Palestine

Mark Achbar, Filmmaker, Canada

Zackie Achmat, AIDS activist, South Africa

Ra'anan Alexandrowicz, Filmmaker, Jerusalem

Anthony Arnove, Publisher and Producer, USA

Ruba Atiyeh, Documentary Director, Lebanon

Joslyn Barnes, Writer and Producer, USA

John Berger, Author, France

Dionne Brand, Poet/Writer, Canada

David Byrne, Musician, USA

Guy Davidi Director, Israel

Na-iem Dollie, Journalist/Writer, South Africa

Igor Drljaca, Filmmaker, Canada

Eve Ensler, Playwright, Author, USA

Eyal Eithcowich, Director, Israel

Sophie Fiennes, Filmmaker, UK

Peter Fitting, Professor, Canada

Jane Fonda, Actor and Author, USA

Danny Glover, Filmmaker and Actor, USA

Noam Gonick, Director, Canada

Malcolm Guy, Filmmaker, Canada

Mike Hoolboom, Filmmaker, Canada

Annemarie Jacir, Filmmaker, Palestine

Fredric Jameson, Literary Critic, USA

Juliano Mer Khamis, Filmmaker, Jenin/Haifa

Bonnie Sherr Klein Filmmaker, Canada

Paul Laverty, Producer, UK

Min Sook Lee, Filmmaker, Canada

Paul Lee, Filmmaker, Canada

Yael Lerer, publisher, Tel Aviv

Jack Lewis, Filmmaker, South Africa

Ken Loach, Filmmaker, UK

Arab Lotfi, Filmmaker, Egypt/Lebanon

Kyo Maclear, Author, Toronto

Mahmood Mamdani, Professor, USA

Fatima Mawas, Filmmaker, Australia

Tessa McWatt, Author, Canada and UK

Cornelius Moore, Film Distributor, USA

Yousry Nasrallah, Director, Egypt

Rebecca O'Brien, Producer, UK

Pratibha Parmar, Producer/Director, UK

Jeremy Pikser, Screenwriter, USA

John Pilger, Filmmaker, UK

Shai Carmeli Pollak, Filmmaker, Israel

Ian Iqbal Rashid, Filmmaker, Canada

Judy Rebick, Professor, Canada

David Reeb, Artist, Tel Aviv

B. Ruby Rich, Critic and Professor, USA

Wallace Shawn, Playwright, Actor, USA

Eyal Sivan, Filmmaker and Scholar, Paris/London/Sderot

Elia Suleiman, Fimmlaker, Nazareth/Paris/New York

Eran Torbiner, Filmmaker, Israel

Alice Walker, Writer, USA

Thomas Waugh, Professor, Canada

Howard Zinn, Writer, USA

Slavoj Zizek, Professor, Slovenia

To add your name to this letter, please send your name, occupation and country to [color=blue]tiff.letter[at]gmail.com[/color]. We will accept signatures until September 8, 2009

Mon, 2009-09-07 09:29

#21

Unionist

[url=http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10752.shtml][color=blue]Ilan Pappe says: A big thank you![/color][/url]

... to the Norwegian minister of finance, Kristin Halvorsen, for personally making the announcement that the Norwegian government would withdraw its investments in the Israeli hi-tech company Elbit, because of its role in the construction of the illegal apartheid Wall:

Quote:
"We do not wish to fund companies that so directly contribute to violations of international humanitarian law."

[Latter quote is from NDPP's link upthread.]

Pappe concludes:

Quote:
This is a clear message for all the good people in the West looking for ways of helping the Palestinians in their moment of nadir. They want to march and sail peacefully to Gaza, they wish to facilitate more meetings between Israelis and Palestinians and are adamant despite all the hurdles to volunteer in the occupied territories. These are all noble actions but changing the public opinion in the West, is what people in the West can do best. And if one government has already shifted significantly the name and the rules of the game -- be it in a very minor decision that may still be revised under the tidal Zionist reaction, others will surely follow. For the time being all we can say is a huge thank you to a brave politician that will enter the pages of history as someone who paved the way to a better future for everyone in Israel and Palestine.

Wed, 2009-09-09 02:55

#22

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

[url=http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10756.shtml]Why we back the boycott call[/url]

Ken Loach, Rebecca O'Brien and Paul Laverty

The Electronic Intifada, 7 September 2009

Quote:
When [b]we decided to pull our film [i]Looking for Eric[/i] from the Melbourne International Film festival following our discovery that the festival was part-sponsored by the Israeli state[/b], we wrote to the director, Richard Moore, detailing our reasons....

This decision was taken by three filmmakers, (director, producer, writer) not in some private abstract bubble, but after a long discussion and in response to a call for a cultural boycott from a wide spectrum of Palestinian civil society, including writers, filmmakers, cultural workers, human rights groups, journalists, trade unions, women's groups and student organizations. As Moore should know by now the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) was launched in Ramallah in April 2004, and its aims, reasons and constituent parts are widely available on the net. PACBI is part of a much wider international movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against the Israeli state....

At a recent BDS event in the West Bank town of Ramallah, author Naomi Klein made a very good point when she argued that there is no exact equivalency between Israel and South Africa. She said, "The question is not 'Is Israel the same as South Africa?' It is, 'do Israel's actions meet the international definition of what apartheid is?' And if you look at those conditions which includes the transfer of people, multiple tiers of law, official state segregation, then you see that, yes, it does meet that definition -- which is different than saying it is South Africa. No two states are the same. It's not the question, it's a distraction." Not long after the Gaza invasion we spoke to the head of a human rights organization there who told us that the Israelis were refusing enough chemicals to adequately treat the civilian water supply; a clear example of vindictive collective punishment delivered to one half of the population.

Wed, 2009-09-09 17:13

#23

Skinny Dipper

Side thought: If I express any criticism of the Israeli educational system, would I be considered anti-Semitic. Would I need to criticize the educational systems of other countries so that I would not be deemed anti-Semitic?

Wed, 2009-09-09 18:27

#24

NDPP

Israel's Arab Citizens Call for General Strike

http://dissidentvoice.org/2009/09/israel's-arab-citizens-call-general-strike/

"The increasingly harsh political climate in Israel under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right wing government has prompted the leadership of the country's 1.5 million Arab citizens to call the first general strike in several years.."

Thu, 2009-09-10 22:02

#25

martin dufresne

Follow-up on the Toronto Declaration:

Toronto Declaration Unstoppable
Despite a week of attacks, artists from around the world rush to sign the
declaration
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Sept. 10, 2009) - The organizers of the
Toronto Declaration - No Celebration of Occupation are pleased to announce
that more than 1000 people from around the world-including many
Israelis-have signed on in protest of TIFF's City-to-City Spotlight on Tel
Aviv. New signatories include music and cinematic legends Harry Belafonte
and Julie Christie. Actor Viggo Mortensen, who will be attending this year's
festival, just added his name. Leading intellectual figures Noam Chomsky,
Judith Butler and Anne McClintock have also recently endorsed the
declaration, along with prominent Canadian writers Rawi Hage, Joy Kogawa,
Dionne Brand, and Kerri Sakamoto. Celebrated local filmmakers Velcro Ripper,
Min Sook Lee and Lynne Fernie have also signed the letter.

International support for the declaration continues to grow despite
denunciations, unfounded personal attacks on earlier signatories Jane Fonda
and Danny Glover, and despite an aggressive campaign of misinformation
regarding the letter's content.

The organizers want to make it clear that the letter does not call for a
boycott of TIFF. Several of the signatories have much anticipated films in
this year's festival and many others plan to attend. Nor is it a protest
against Israeli filmmakers, many of whom signed the letter. It is a
statement of principled opposition to TIFF's highly political decision to
honor the city of Tel-Aviv with a celebratory "spotlight" this year.

Such a celebration, especially in light of the recent Israeli attacks on
Gaza, not only ignores Palestinian suffering, but also helps to whitewash
Israel's continued violations of international law. According to Naomi
Klein, one declaration's co-authors, "Publicly opposing TIFF's decision is
not an act of censorship, but its opposite: the use of cherished rights of
freedom of speech and opinion."

In an effort to promote ongoing critical debate about Tel Aviv, Israel and
Palestine, organizers will be holding a public forum featuring key
signatories on Monday, September 14, 2009. There will be an opportunity for
press to talk to spokespeople prior to the event, beginning at 5pm. Location
and further details to follow.

The full text of the letter, including new signatories is available at:
http://torontodeclaration.blogspot.com/

Fri, 2009-09-11 01:27

#26

martin dufresne

To add your name to this letter, please send your name, occupation and country to [email protected] They will accept signatures until September 14, 2009

For further reading on this issue:

Letter by Canadian filmmaker John Greyson on withdrawing his film from the Toronto International Film Festival in protest against City to City:

http://tiny.cc/tiff_open_letter

Response by TIFF co-director Cameron Bailey to Greyson's withdrawal and this petition:

http://www.tiff.net/livefromthefestival/openlettercitytocity

Report in Israeli daily Haaretz:

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1110750.htmlspages/1110750.html

Report in Guardian newspaper, UK:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/sep/01/israel-palestine-boycott-film

Statement by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel

http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=1085etemplate.php?id=1085

Fri, 2009-09-11 01:48

#27

Fidel

So if they support sanctions and boycott of Israel, they must really be wild about boycotting the larger source of the problem, the USA? Or is it the general plan to continue boycotting whichever frontline state the US decides to prop up? How many countries and decades later will it be before it all ends?

Fri, 2009-09-11 22:05

#28

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

[url=http://www.rabble.ca/columnists/2009/09/we-dont-feel-celebrating-israel-... Klein:[/url] We don't feel like celebrating with Israel this year.

Wed, 2009-09-16 17:31

#29

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

[url=http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10778.shtml]Big step forward for the U.S. BDS campaign[/url]

Quote:

This weekend at the eighth annual US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation national organizers' conference held in Chicago, delegates from the approximately 300 member groups that make up the US Campaign voted in favor of an academic and cultural boycott of Israel. The vote came on the heels of a presentation by Omar Barghouti and myself on behalf of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel and the US Campaign for an Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.

[b]The proposal that "the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation should endorse the principle of cultural and academic boycotts" passed by a landslide[/b] with one abstention and not a single objection. The quasi-unanimous vote, and the deep collective breath of relief that followed, will go down in history as the moment US-based Palestine solidarity activists [b]overcame tactical differences that had long hindered us, to finally come together to confront Israeli apartheid.[/b]

Thu, 2009-09-17 17:54

#30

N.Beltov

Brazilian Parliament recommends freezing out Israelis from third largest export market

Palestine News Network wrote:
The Brazilian Parliamentary Commission on Foreign Relations and National Defense has recommended that the parliament should not ratify the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Mercosur and the State of Israel until "Israel accepts the creation of the Palestinian state on the 1967 borders".

This decision is an explicit act of pressure on the Israeli government to comply with international law, and a rejection of years of incessant Israeli lobbying, pressuring for a vote to ratify the agreement....

This decision is an enormous blow for Israel's economy and foreign relations. It poses a massive stumbling block for the enactment of the agreement, which since its signing in 2007 has been stalled due to a lack of ratification by Mercosur member countries. The Mercosur is one of the world's most quickly expanding markets and the fifth largest economy in the world. Israeli exports to the Mercosur amounted nearly 600 million dollars in 2006.

Thu, 2009-09-17 18:00

#31

N.Beltov

Quote:
London, September 17, 2009 (Pal Telegraph)- In a landmark decision, Britain's trade unions have voted overwhelmingly to commit to build a mass boycott movement, disinvestment and sanctions on Israel for a negotiated settlement based on justice for Palestinians. The motion was passed at the 2009 TUC Annual Congress in Liverpool today (17 September), by unions representing 6.5 million workers across the UK.

Hugh Lanning, chair of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said: ‘This motion is the culmination of a wave of motions passed at union conferences this year, following outrage at Israel's brutal war on Gaza, and reflects the massive growth in support for Palestinian rights. We will be working with the TUC to develop a mass campaign to boycott Israeli goods, especially agricultural products that have been produced in illegal Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank.'

The Palestine Telegraph: Britain's Trade Unions Go For a Mass Boycott Against Israel

Fri, 2009-09-18 16:26

#32

Unionist

Unfortunately, the linked article in the last post is a bit one-sided, and the headline is overly enthusiastic (and misleading). Wish it weren't so, but there you go. In fact, the boycott, which is still historic and an enormous step forward, is only related to goods produced in the illegal settlements, as well as a call for a ban on arms sales to Israel. From an AFP release:

Quote:
The Trade Union Congress (TUC) voiced support Thursday for a boycott of goods from "illegal" Israeli settlements and urged a ban on arms sales to Israel.

In a statement approved by delegates at its annual meeting, the umbrella group of labour unions also condemned the blockade of Gaza and the Israeli offensive on the Palestinian territory at the end of last year. [...]

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber stressed, however, that the TUC is not calling for a wider boycott of Israel.

"We believe that targeted action, aimed at goods from the illegal settlements and at companies involved in the occupation and the wall is the right way forward," he said.

"This is not a call for a general boycott of Israeli goods and services which would hit ordinary Palestinian and Israeli workers, but targeted, consumer-led sanctions directed at businesses based in, and sustaining, the illegal settlements."

[url=http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jYtDwmW4OSWb4S1wANiUV...

Notwithstanding that some of the stronger resolutions weren't adopted, the above step is huge. As a statement of condemnation of Israel and a call to actual mass action, it deserves to be praised and widely publicized.

Sat, 2009-09-19 14:44

#33

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

The Jerusalem Light Rail project, an illegal project that aims at connecting Israeli colonies built on occupied Palestinian territory to the city of Jerusalem, is one of the first major victims of the BDS campaign:

Quote:
The light rail projects for Jerusalem and Tel Aviv are both facing difficulties. In a body-blow to the future Jerusalem light rail, the French company Veolia, which was supposed to run the train system after its construction, is abandoning the project....

Veolia has had to contend not only with the delays and difficulties in building the light rail project itself, but with political pressure at home as well. Two months ago a French court heard a lawsuit by a pro-Palestinian group, demanding that the light rail project be halted.

The organization based itself on an article in French law that allows the court to void business agreements, signed by French companies, that violate international law.

The political pressure on Veolia has been mounting in another direction. According to various reports abroad, the French firm had been losing major projects in Europe because of its involvement in the Jerusalem job. Observers claim that's the real reason Veolia opted out.

[url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1091186.html]Haaretz[/url]

[url=http://dissidentvoice.org/2009/09/boycott-derails-jerusalem%e2%80%99s-tr... Sept. 19, 2009

Wed, 2009-09-23 12:42

#34

NDPP

Brazilian Parliament Recommends Freezing out Israelis from Third Largest Export Market

http://www.bdsmovement.net/?q=node/543

"The Brazilian Parliamentary Commission on Foreign Relations and National Defense has recommended that the parliament should not ratify the Free Trade Agreement between Mercosur and the State of Israel until Israel accepts the creation of a Palestinian state [based] on the 1967 barders...'This decision is an enormous blow for Israel's economy and foreign relations says Jawal Juma of the Stop the Wall Campaign..'"

Mon, 2009-10-05 19:06

#35

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

And speaking of sanctions...

Quote:
An Israeli cabinet minister has cancelled a visit to Britain for fear he might be arrested on allegations he committed war crimes.

Several Israeli officials have been threatened with legal action in Britain under laws allowing heinous crimes to be prosecuted outside the country they were committed.

Last week lawyers for a Palestinian group tried to secure an arrest warrant for defence minister Ehud Barak, who was in Britain, over allegations he committed war crimes by directing the recent offensive in Gaza.

Now, an Israeli vice prime-minister, [b]Moshe Yaalon[/b], has cancelled his own trip after lawyers suggested he could face charges over the assassination of a Hamas leader in 2002.

[url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/10/06/2705666.htm]Source[/url]

Mon, 2009-10-05 23:17

#36

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

More pressure:

Quote:

The Brazilian Parliamentary Commission on Foreign Relations and National Defense has recommended that the parliament should not ratify the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Mercosur and the State of Israel until "Israel accepts the creation of the Palestinian state on the 1967 borders". This decision is an explicit act of pressure on Israel to comply with international law, and a rejection of years of incessant Israeli lobbying, pressuring for a vote to ratify the agreement.

This decision is an enormous blow for Israel's economy and foreign relations. It poses a massive stumbling block for the enactment of the agreement, which since its signing in 2007, has been stalled due to a lack of ratification by Mercosur member countries. The Mercosur is one of the world's most quickly expanding markets and the fifth largest economy in the world. Israeli exports to the Mercosur amounted nearly 600 million dollars in 2006.

[url=http://palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1072]Source[/url]

Mon, 2009-10-12 09:35

#37

NDPP

Israel Arresting BDS Leaders

http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=319511...

Israel has extended the detention of a West Bank campaigner said by activist groups to be the first Palestinian to be imprisoned solely for advocacy of international boycotts against Israel.."

Wed, 2009-10-28 01:16

#38

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

From the [url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/27/olmert-could-face-warcrimes-...

Quote:
Ehud Olmert, Israel's prime minister during the Gaza war, would probably face arrest on war crimes charges if he visited Britain, according to a UK lawyer who is working to expand the application of "universal jurisdiction" for offences involving serious human rights abuses committed anywhere in the world.

Sun, 2010-08-15 01:42

#39

NDPP

Irish Artists Announce Cultural Boycott of Israel

http://alethonews.wordpress.com/2010/08/14/irish-artists-announce-cultur...

"According to IPSC Cultural Boycott officer Raymond Deane, 'These artists are aware of the Israeli Foreign Ministry's statement in 2005 that 'We [Israel} see culture as a propaganda tool of the first rank, and do not differentiate between propaganda and culture.."

Shame on Canadian artists like Egoyan and Atwood for breaking this boycott

Sun, 2010-08-15 11:48

#40

N.Beltov

Atwood may find out, the hard way, just how effective a boycott can be. ha ha

Mon, 2010-08-16 01:16

#41

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

[url=http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000581912]Harvard University divests entire Israeli portfolio – over $38 million[/url]

Mon, 2010-08-16 23:58

#42

NDPP

Hi M.S

well...sort of...

Harvard Says Its Not Ditching Israel

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=139012&sectionid=351020202

"Harvard spokesman John Longbrake said 'the university has not divested from Israel'.."

Fri, 2010-08-20 12:56

#43

Ripple

Speaking of the Irish ...

6,000 Irish shoppers demand supermarket stops stocking Israeli goods: http://bdsmovement.net/?q=node/762

As an activist, this is an aspect of the BDS campaign I've always found challenging - it's difficult (in Canada, anyway) to find consumer goods to organize around. The Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign doesn't seem to have that problem, though: http://www.ipsc.ie/campaigns_consumer_boycott.php

Fri, 2010-08-27 00:47

#44

Ripple

I'm going to post this here, too: http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/video/israeli-ships-not-welcome-vancouver/...

Dozens of activists set up an information picket at Deltaport this morning, designed to slow the transport of containers belonging to the Israeli shipping company Zim. Demonstrators gave truckers and passers-by information about the growing refusal by workers to unload and transport cargo from Israel or shipped by Israeli companies. Vancouver Media Co-op correspondents filed this report.

Photos and stories:

http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/photo/anti-israeli-apartheid-protest-delta...

http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/photo/zim-ships-not-welcome/4508

Tue, 2010-12-28 22:12

#45

NDPP

BDS 2010: A Two Edged Sword - by Eric Walberg

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=22527

"Politically, BDS has coaxed more and more governments to legitimise Palestine, even going so far as to delegitimise an apartheid Israel.."

Mon, 2011-01-17 15:47

#46

Unionist

Remember this rabble TV item from 2009:

[url=http://rabble.ca/rabbletv/program-guide/2009/11/best-net/boycott-ahava-c... of AHAVA cosmetics launched in Montreal[/url]

More good news:

[url=http://www.cjpme.org/DisplayDocument.aspx?DocumentID=1380&SaveMode=0]The Bay drops controversial AHAVA products[/url]

Quote:
Montreal, January 13, 2011—On Jan. 11, The Bay quietly informed customers who had objected to the store stocking AHAVA products that it would no longer be doing so. The store said that “from a business perspective, AHAVA has not been meeting expectations.” However, B’nai Brith has attributed the Bay’s decision to the AHAVA boycott campaign organized by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME), and indirectly accused CJPME of bigotry.

AHAVA is economically linked to Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories. Nearly 45 percent of AHAVA is owned by Mitzpe Shalem and Kalia, two illegal Israeli colonies established near the Dead Sea shorelines of the West Bank. Since AHAVA is partially owned by these colonies, its profits directly benefit the colonies and their residents. Another 18 percent of AHAVA is owned by Shamrock Holdings, a large holding firm not only further entangled in other illegal Israeli colonies but one that also invests in the construction of the illegal wall Israel is building.

Mon, 2011-01-17 16:01

#47

Fidel

NoDifferencePartyPooper wrote:

BDS 2010: A Two Edged Sword - by Eric Walberg

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=22527

"Politically, BDS has coaxed more and more governments to legitimise Palestine, even going so far as to delegitimise an apartheid Israel.."

But the biggest impact on Israel, ironically, has come from the beleaguered Palestinians themselves. The Palestinian Authority (PA) has made it illegal for anything produced in settlements to be sold in Palestinian stores. The West Bank market is worth around $200 million a year to Israeli businesses, with some settlement factories selling up to 30 per cent of their output to the Palestinian market. Seventeen factories in Mishor Adumim, a large industrial estate between East Jerusalem and Jericho, closed as a direct result of the PA boycott.

As 22,000 Palestinians are employed by settlement businesses, the PA has established a $50 million fund to both discourage Palestinians from working in the settlements and help those who lose their jobs due to BDS successes.

Starving international investment was, I believe, what brought down the apartheid regime in S. Africa. But I think the world was less financialized and globalized then. People around the world have to start asking their pension and savings managers where their money is going.

Mon, 2011-01-17 16:06

#48

Dodger718

Unionist wrote:

Remember this rabble TV item from 2009:

[url=http://rabble.ca/rabbletv/program-guide/2009/11/best-net/boycott-ahava-c... of AHAVA cosmetics launched in Montreal[/url]

More good news:

[url=http://www.cjpme.org/DisplayDocument.aspx?DocumentID=1380&SaveMode=0]The Bay drops controversial AHAVA products[/url]

Quote:
Montreal, January 13, 2011—On Jan. 11, The Bay quietly informed customers who had objected to the store stocking AHAVA products that it would no longer be doing so. The store said that “from a business perspective, AHAVA has not been meeting expectations.” However, B’nai Brith has attributed the Bay’s decision to the AHAVA boycott campaign organized by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME), and indirectly accused CJPME of bigotry.

AHAVA is economically linked to Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories. Nearly 45 percent of AHAVA is owned by Mitzpe Shalem and Kalia, two illegal Israeli colonies established near the Dead Sea shorelines of the West Bank. Since AHAVA is partially owned by these colonies, its profits directly benefit the colonies and their residents. Another 18 percent of AHAVA is owned by Shamrock Holdings, a large holding firm not only further entangled in other illegal Israeli colonies but one that also invests in the construction of the illegal wall Israel is building.

I actually have an email from the CEO of The Bay denying this claim.

Apparently, the Ahava company is undergoing a restructuring and rebranding and will be relaunching shortly. The Bay will be carrying the new Ahava products. The CEO of The Bay says they did not give in to boycott demands.

Mon, 2011-01-17 16:18

#49

Dodger718

I did notice something else today, however.

One of the companies being targetted in this campaign is Sabra, which makes hummus and various dips and salads. It's American-made but the company is partly owned by an israel food company. At my local Sobey's at lunchtime, there was not a single tub on the shelf.

Now, it could be they were out of stock. I don't want to jump to conclusions. I am now, however, eating a vastly inferior tub of hummus and not so happy about it.

Mon, 2011-01-17 16:19

#50

Unionist

Dodger718 wrote:

I actually have an email from the CEO of The Bay denying this claim.

What claim?

Did she deny that they have stopped stocking AHAVA products? I don't believe you.

Did she deny that it was because of declining sales over recent years? I don't believe you.

Did CJMPE make any claim other than that? Did they say The Bay has yielded to political pressure and decided to take to the streets in support of justice for Palestinians?

Of course not.

So you, the Canada-Israel Committee, the Canadian Jewish Congress, and B'nai Brith can carry on with your damage control. If and when The Bay resumes its sales from this dirty outlaw outfit, we will resume our campaign.

Mon, 2011-01-17 16:24

#51

al-Qa'bong

</em><em>Dodger718</em><em> wrote:

I actually have an email from the CEO of The Bay denying this claim.

It was just a flesh wound.

And who the bleep buys hommous? Make your own!

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