Stephany WESTBROOK: "Scholars in Italy debate Israel boycott despite censorship" (The Electronic Intifada, April 13, 2016): click here!
Academics in Italy held the country’s first scholarly discussions about boycott, divestment and sanctions measures on Israel in support of Palestinian rights — in spite of attempts at censorship during a major Middle East studies conference in Sicily.
As feminist scholars, activists, teachers, and public intellectuals we recognize the interconnectedness of systemic forms of oppression. In the spirit of this perspective, we cannot overlook the injustice and violence, including sexual and gender-based violence, perpetrated against Palestinians and other Arabs in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, within Israel and in the Golan Heights, as well as the colonial displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians during the 1948 Nakba.
...the absence of professional organizations representing scientists is hard to miss. The failure of the campus’s other half to engage collectively in any way with the growing movement contrasts sharply with the situation in the spring of 2002, when, in the wake of the Israeli reoccupation of the West Bank, two petitions, precursors of the BDS movement, were initiated by scientists in Britain and France and collected hundreds of signatures.
"European call: Stop the criminalisation of the BDS movement for justice in Palestine! Support grassroots human rights activists across Europe!" (European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine, April 12, 2016): click here!
As Israel is increasingly unable to defend its regime of apartheid and settler colonialism over the Palestinian people and its regular massacres of Palestinians in Gaza, it is seeking supportive governments in Europe and the US to undermine free speech as a way of shielding it from criticism and measures aimed at holding it to account for its gross violations of international law.
"Amnesty International - Israeli Government must cease intimidation of human rights defenders, protect them from attacks" (AURDIP, April 12, 2016): click here!
Israeli authorities must take immediate steps to provide protection necessary for HRDs in Israel/OPT to carry out their work freely and without fear of attacks and harassment. Attacks and threats against HRDs must be investigated and those responsible must be held to account.
Nada ELIA: "As threats against BDS grow, it is time for ‘sumoud’ in activist communities" (Mondoweiss, April 11, 2016): click here!
The attacks on BDS, and BDS organizers, are intensifying globally. “The BDS organizations will have no rest,” warned Gilad Erdan at the recent “Stop BDS” conference in Occupied Jerusalem.
"Letter to Ms Federica Mogherini regarding the israeli government threats against Palestinian human rights defenders" (AURDIP, April 11, 2016): click here!
Dear Ms Mogherini, The participation of Mr Lars Faaborg-Andersen, head of the EU delegation to Israel, in the “Stop the Boycott” Conference in Jerusalem on 28 March has had very unfortunate consequences which you should be aware of.
Allison DEGER: "After wins abroad, BDS conference in West Bank sees local traction" (Mondoweiss, April 10, 2016): click here!
Tamam Abdul, 60, sells Israeli goods in her West Bank supermarket, but she would rather not. “All of the products we receive are Israeli, unfortunately,” she said Saturday outside of Ramallah at a fifth conference about the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel, otherwise known by the initials BDS.
Ali ABUNIMAH: "EU envoy refuses to condemn Israeli threats against BDS activists" (The Electronic Intifada, April 8, 2016): click here!
Ambassador Lars Faaborg-Andersen, who heads the EU diplomatic mission to Israel, was responding to questions about the threats made by Israeli intelligence minister Yisrael Katz and other top officials against activists and leaders in the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement.
A letter signed by more than 100 writers, including Junot Díaz, Richard Ford, Eileen Myles and Rachel Kushner, calls on PEN American Center to reject support from the Israeli government for its annual World Voices Festival.
"Unlawful Participation of Israeli Arms Companies in Horizon 2020 Exposed" (ECCP, April 7, 2016): click here!
In a European Parliamentary session that took place on March 1st and was sponsored jointly by S&D, EPP and ALDE MEPs, it was exposed that two Israeli arms companies have circumvented European regulations on participation in the Horizon 2020 project by introducing military research, and by including products which have been tested in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).
Susan ABULHAWA: "PEN should not accept Israeli propaganda money to fund festival" (Middle East Eye, April 7, 2016): click here!
Why does an organisation championing free expression accept money from a state that persistently tramples on Palestinian human rights?
"Israeli Anthropologists Support the Boycott" (Anthropologists for the Boycott of Israeli Academic Institutions, April 6, 2016): click here!
Jeff SCHUHRKE: "American and Palestinian Unionists Build International Solidarity To Win ‘Freedom’ for Palestine" (In These Times, April 6, 2016): click here!
In an address on Middle East policy last month, Bernie Sanders —the first Jewish American to win a presidential primary—did something virtually unheard of in contemporary U.S. politics when he called for an end to “what amounts to the occupation of Palestinian territory” by Israel.
The Edinburgh University Students’ Association passed a motion backing a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions resolution against Israel. The nonbinding motion passed Thursday by a vote of 249 to 153, with 22 abstentions, the London-based Jewish Chronicle reported. The motion also called for an academic boycott of Israel.
Akiva ELDAR: "Why Israeli companies are fleeing West Bank settlements" (Al Monitor, March 29, 2016): click here!
EU and UN decisions to label settlement products and identify firms doing business there are driving companies to relocate from West Bank settlements across the Green Line.
"Italian students launch the "Studenti Contro Il Technion Campaign" to support BDS" (Mondoweiss, April 1, 2016): click here!
During the IAW (Israeli Apartheid Week) 2016, students’ associations and groups across Italian campuses have initiated the “Studenti Contro Il Technion” campaign, embracing Michel Foucault’s claim: “Knowledge is not for knowing, it is for cutting”. However, the events organized for this occasion have been met with a clear “closure” attitude by their universities.
Omar BARGHOUTI: "Israeli Ministers Call For "Civil Targeted Killing" of BDS Activists" (The Citizen, April 3): click here!
As was reported in the Israeli media, Israeli Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz said (Hebrew) at the largest Israeli anti-BDS conference, held ​on ​March 28 in Jerusalem, that Israel should engage in “targeted civil eliminations” of BDS "leaders" with the help of Israeli intelligence, intentionally using language that plays on the Hebrew term for “targeted assassinations.” My name was mentioned in this context.
Richard SILVERSTEIN: "Israeli Minster Calls for “Civil Targeted Killings” of BDS Leaders". (Tikun Olam, March 30, 2016: click here!
The Yediot Achronot conference attacking BDS has become a veritable carnival of hate. Everyone from delusional Hollywood celebrities (Roseanne Barr) to cabinet ministers, to the leader of the Opposition have pledged fealty to the cause. Two of the speakers are under criminal investigation for corrupt political or financial dealings.
The first ever anti-BDS conference in Israel brought together politicians of all stripes to show their commitment to the fight against boycotts. In doing so, however, they showed just how effective the boycott movement really is.
"EU complicit in Israeli war crimes”, says leadership of global BDS Movement. Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), March 28, 2016: click here!
“The European Union has once again abandoned its own policies that consider Israel’s settlements illegal. By failing to vote at the UN Human Rights Council for establishing a UN registry of companies implicated in Israel’s occupation regime and by joining the far-right Israeli government’s fight against BDS, the largest nonviolent Palestinian-led human rights movement, the EU is underlining its already well-known hypocrisy and declaring its disregard for human rights.”
"Boycotting Israel is a free speech right". Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) (The Electronic Intifada, March 18, 2016): click here!
Efforts by the Palestinian-led boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement to hold Israel accountable for its serious violations of international law and to end international complicity in these violations are more widely supported and impactful than ever before.
The main objective behind BDS, an entirely non-violent movement that is championed by civil society across the globe, is not to punish ordinary Israelis, but to raise awareness of the suffering of Palestinians and to create a moral threshold that must be achieved if a just peace is ever to be realized.