Boycott the Occupation, Not the Settlers. Readers, this post appeared today on Open Zion here.
Samuel Lebens cites some familiar arguments against boycotting Israel in general, and boycotting settlers in particular: Boycotts against Israel won’t bring about positive change, he says, but will only harden positions; constructive engagement has a better chance of winning hearts and minds; effective economic boycotts may actually constitute collective punishment; it is wrong to boycott settles who are two-staters, etc.
I would like to make five points about these arguments. First, their empirical basis is thin. Divest From The Israeli Occupation. Norman Finkelstein's disinformation about BDS. Norman Finkelstein continues to spread disinformation about BDS.
In a new interview [1], by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, Finkelstein repeated the accusation that “BDS is a cult,” this time in a measured and composed way, not as an “outburst”. Parenthetically, the interview itself, in its structure and the kind of questions asked and not asked, suggests that Finkelstein himself is fashioning his own persona as a cult leader. Full-scale boycott of Israeli academics is unproductive. At Tel Aviv University I had a lively encounter with the renegade Israeli historian Shlomo Sand, author of the bestselling The Invention of the Jewish People.
And I met a friend, the young Israeli Arabist and historian Ofir Winter. "I have a surprise for you. It's one of the university's hidden gems," he told me as he led me to a poorly lit and rarely visited corner of the campus. Call for Submissions. As the global movement in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for liberation continues to grow, we are calling on graphic designers and artists to submit their work to IMAGING APARTHEID: the Poster Project for Palestine.
The submission call is open. There is no deadline. Every few months the Imaging Apartheid committee will pick a couple of new posters to add to the Imaging Apartheid collection. Works will be selected by a jury of artists, graphic designers and social justice activists. The posters will be selected from submissions collected from around the world. Once selected, the posters will first be silk-screen or offset printed for a launching exhibition in Montreal to be than made available to the Palestinian solidarity movement around the world. These works help to maintain collective and social memory of past anti-colonial struggles while providing inspiration for current movements fighting for social justice worldwide. Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights. The Case for Sanctions Against Israel. Lighting a Torch Within: Anti-colonial Israeli Support for BDS[1] The historic call by Palestinian civil society for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel until it fully complies with its obligations under international law contains a rarely noticed dimension inspired by struggle against South African apartheid.
Boycotting the Equality Forum: Statement by Professor Katherine Franke (Director of Columbia Law School Center for Gender & Sexuality) US-Based Professors Respond to NYT Ad Accusing Professors and BDS Movement of Inciting Murder of Jewish Children. [The following letter to the editor was submitted on 28 April, 2012 to the New York Times in response to an advertisement paid for by the David Horowtiz Freedom Center that appeared in the Op Ed section of the 24 April, 2012 edition of the NYT.
It was also reproduced here. The advertisement is posted below, after the list of signatories to the letter.] Uncovered: Israel's role in planned US lawsuit to fight BDS. A group of pro-Israel activists, backed by StandWithUs, a national US pro-Israel US organization, is planning to take legal action to force the Olympia Food Co-op to rescind its historic decision to boycott Israeli products.
The Electronic Intifada has obtained a copy of a 31 May 2011 letter sent to the Board of Directors of the Olympia Food Co-op in Olympia, Washington, threatening “expensive” legal action if the pro-Israel activists’ “demands” to end the boycott of Israeli products are not met. Other documents, supported by interviews, confirm that the Israeli government has taken part in discussions about, and been given advance knowledge of, the planned lawsuit and another planned action against Evergreen State College in Olympia in response to Palestine solidarity activism by students. Evergreen State is noted for being the school attended by Rachel Corrie, who was killed by an Israeli occupation soldier operating a bulldozer in the Gaza Strip in March 2003.
Finkelstein, BDS and the destruction of Israel. Chicago, IL - In a recent and highly controversial interview, Norman Finkelstein, long a scourge of Israel, turned his guns on Palestinians and their supporters.
He accused the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement of being a "cult", and claimed that its achievements were mostly exaggerated. But what exercised Finkelstein most was his conclusion that if implemented, the demands of the 2005 Palestinian civil society call for BDS, would amount to "the destruction of Israel". 'A level of racist violence I have never seen': UCLA professor Robin Kelley on Palestine and the BDS movement. Robin D.
G. Kelley If there’s one thing the Palestine solidarity movement and Israel lobbyists can agree on, it’s this: American college campuses remain a potent battleground when it comes to the politics of Israel/Palestine. One group, the U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI), certainly recognizes this. Five professors recently back in the U.S. after a USACBI delegation to Palestine have taken that leap, releasing a statement (published on the Electronic Intifada in full) that describes what they saw in Palestine and that calls on their academic colleagues to join the BDS movement. Alex Kane: To begin with, talk about yourself, what you do and what your research focuses on.
Palestinian BDS National Committee. US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel. Israel: Boycott, Divest, Sanction. To end the bloody occupation, Israel must be the target of the same kind of global movement that finally ended apartheid in South Africa.
It's time. Long past time. The best strategy to end the increasingly bloody occupation is for Israel to become the target of the kind of global movement that put an end to apartheid in South Africa. About the Author Naomi Klein Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist, syndicated columnist, fellow at The Nation Institute and author of the... Also by the Author Some of big green's most powerful players still invest in energy companies. Some mainstream environmental organizations are trying to wean themselves from fossil fuel investments—but some aren’t. In July 2005 a huge coalition of Palestinian groups laid out plans to do just that. Every day that Israel pounds Gaza brings more converts to the BDS cause, and talk of cease-fires is doing little to slow the momentum. Yet many still can't go there. Israel is not South Africa. Of course it isn't.
BDS Victory in Japan: Distributor drops Ahava because of the company’s illegal practices. (Image: Codepink) This statement was issued by the Palestine Forum Japan, a coalition partner in the Stolen Beauty Ahava boycott campaign. DaitoCrea, the general agent in Japan for Ahava Dead Sea Laboratories, announced on its website that they would no longer be distributing Ahava products as of January 31, 2012. This decision is the direct result of a concerted campaign by the Palestine Forum Japan starting in 2010 to educate DaitoCrea and Japanese consumers about Ahava’s illegal practices. Activists wrote letters, organized a social media campaign, and eventually had a sit-down meeting with DaitoCrea. Once the Japanese agent was made aware of the legal and ethical issues involved with Ahava’s products, they began to take steps to sever ties with the company.
Caterpillar Removed from TIAA-CREF’s Social Choice Funds. Victory for Pro-divestment Advocates For Immediate Release June 21, 2012- Pension fund giant TIAA-CREF has removed Caterpillar, Inc. from its Social Choice Funds portfolio. As of May 1, 2012, financial data posted on TIAA-CREF’s website valued Social Choice Funds shares in Caterpillar at $72,943,861. Major U.K. supermarket chain boycotts exports from Israeli West Bank settlements.