BDS Campaign Update (mid-June 2009 – September 2009)
French activists protest Paris air
show
20 June 2009 - A group of French
activists from the French BDS campaign held a non- violent protest
against Israeli participation in the Paris - Le Bourget Air Show.
Le Bourget Air Show is one of the largest weapons and aerospace
technology fairs in the world. The protest took place outside the
Israeli pavilion, where several Israeli arms companies had come to
sell their military technologies to potential European buyers,
while French president Nicolas Sarkozy was visiting the air show.
Despite forced removals by police, the BDS activists were highly
visible, and distributed several thousand informational leaflets to
the public.
Toronto Palestine Solidarity
Activists Protest Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit
June-July 2009 - The Coalition Against
Israeli Apartheid and Women in Solidarity with Palestine conducted
a campaign of protest against the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), for
their exhibition of the looted Dead Sea Scrolls. For several weeks,
BDS activists conducted successful protests and pickets to inform
the public about the theft of the Dead Sea Scrolls following the
refusal of the museum's directors to make public the documents it
claimed proved the legality of the exhibit, as well as their
refusal to seek a UNESCO opinion on the matter. The campaign called
on the ROM to recognize the Scrolls are looted Palestinian
artifacts and to dissociate itself from the Israeli Antiquities
Authority, which has systematically looted millions of Palestinian
artifacts.
SOAS Students Mobilize against
Normalization with Tel Aviv University
9 July 2009 – The School of Oriental and
African Studies (SOAS – University of London) Student union
overwhelmingly passed a motion criticizing a lecture series
attempting to whitewash Tel Aviv's colonial past and present and
called for the end of SOAS's collaboration with Tel Aviv University
(TAU) in hosting the series on the grounds of its role in giving
key legal, technological and strategic support for maintaining and
expanding Israel's colonial occupation. In response to the
director's failure to acknowledge the serious implications of
collaboration with TAU that undermined the reputation, integrity
and fundamental ethical principles of SOAS, the SOAS Palestine
Society prepared a briefing paper for him and the Governing Body
outlining TAU's intensive, purposive and open institutional
contributions to the Israeli military. Fore more and to download
the report, visit: http://www.bdsmovement.net/?q=node/502
U.K. hits Israel with partial arms
embargo over Gaza war
13 July 2009 - Britain slapped a partial
arms embargo on Israel, refusing to supply replacement parts and
other equipment for Sa'ar 4.5 gunships because they were used in
Operation Cast Lead. The embargo followed a government review of
all British defense exports to Israel, which was announced in April
2009.
HeidelbergCement tries to sell West
Bank mines as BDS pressures grow
13 July 2009 - HeidelbergCement's
subsidiary, Hanson Israel, manufactures ready-made cement,
aggregates and asphalt for Israel's construction industry and
operates a quarry in the occupied West Bank. In March 2009, the
Israeli human rights organization Yesh Din filed a petition with
the Israeli high court demanding a halt to illegal mining activity
in West Bank quarries, including Hanson Israel's Nahal Raba quarry.
Attorneys representing Yesh Din called upon the court to put an end
to this "clearly illegal activity, which constitutes blunt and ugly
colonial exploitation of land we [Israel] had forcefully seized."
In May 2009, Israel ordered a freeze on the expansion of
Israeli-run stone and gravel quarries in the occupied West
Bank.
EU Opens Investigation into Israeli
Settlement Products
14 July 2009 - Hamburg Finance Court
opened an investigation to decide whether Soda-Club devices made in
Ma'ale Adumim can be imported into the European Union exempt of
customs, like all other Israeli industrial products. The Hamburg
court has consulted with the European Court of Justice about
obtaining a "preliminary ruling" that would settle the issue in a
binding manner for all 27 EU member states. If the court decides
that a customs duty can be levied, it will be tantamount to handing
down a decision against Israel's settlement policy, in effect an
implementation of economic sanctions.
Ken Loach withdraws from the
Melbourne International Film Festival over Israeli
funding
18 July 2009 - English filmmaker Ken
Loach withdrew his film Looking for
Eric from the Melbourne
International Film Festival because the festival receives funding
from the Israeli government. In a letter to festival executive
director Richard Moore, he said that "Palestinians, including
artists and academics, have called for a boycott of events
supported by Israel." He cited "illegal occupation of Palestinian
land, destruction of homes and livelihoods" and "the massacres in
Gaza" as reasons for the boycott which is not aimed “at independent
Israeli films or filmmakers," but at "the Israeli
state."
PACBI Issues Guidelines for Applying
the International Cultural Boycott of Israel
20 July 2009 – The Palestinian Campaign
for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) issued
guidelines for applying the cultural boycott. These criteria are
mainly intended to help guide cultural workers and organizers
around the world in adhering to the Palestinian call for boycott,
as a contribution towards establishing a just peace in our region.
Read the Guidelines at: http://www.bdsmovement.net/?q=node/500
CodePink Launch Campaign to Boycott
Ahava
11 August 2009 – Activists from CODEPINK
launched the Stolen Beauty campaign to boycott Israeli cosmetics
corporation Ahava by staging a protest action at the Hilton Hotel
in Tel Aviv. Some put on bikinis, wrote on their bodies with mud NO
AHAVA/NO LOVE, while others carried signs with slogans such as
“There is no love in occupation.” They chanted, sang and made the
Israeli evening news. Visit the campaign website at:
www.stolenbeauty.org
Amnesty International Withdraws from
Leonard Cohen’s Israel Concert Fund
18 August 2009 - Amnesty International
announced that it will abstain from any involvement in the Leonard
Cohen concert in Tel Aviv and will not be party to any fund that
benefits from the concert's proceeds.
European BDS Activists launch Ramadan
Campaign targeting Israeli Dates
20 August 2009 – BDS campaign activists
launched a broad based consumer boycott campaign targeting Israeli
dates that coincided with the beginning of the month of Ramadan in
the Hijri (Islamic) calendar. The campaign targeted Israeli
agricultural export giant Agrexco, which sells flowers, vegetables
and fruit, including dates, produced on both sides of the "green
line." The campaign was launched by solidarity organizations in
Belgium, France, the Netherlands, South Africa and the United
Kingdom.
BlackRock Bank Divests from
Settlement Construction
20 August 2009 - The British bank
BlackRock announced its divestment from Lev Leviev settlement
projects in the occupied West Bank. The divestment decision
followed pressure by three Norwegian financial institutions
(Storebrand, Norwegian-Swedish bank Skandiabanken, and the
Norwegian-Danish Danica Pensjon) marketing BlackRock funds.
BlackRock was second biggest shareholder in the Israeli
firm.
Prominent UK Chef: “Don’t buy West
Bank Produce”
25 August 2009 - Joanna Blythman, a top UK chef and popular food journalist, recently called on retailers and importers not to buy goods from settlements in the West Bank. The “fruit and vegetables grown [in illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank] amount to stolen goods," Blythman wrote in an article published in a food magazine.
25 August 2009 - Joanna Blythman, a top UK chef and popular food journalist, recently called on retailers and importers not to buy goods from settlements in the West Bank. The “fruit and vegetables grown [in illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank] amount to stolen goods," Blythman wrote in an article published in a food magazine.
Norwegian Pension Fund divests from
Israeli military giant Elbit
3 September 2009 - The Norwegian
Ministry of Finance excluded the Israeli company Elbit Systems Ltd.
from the Government Pension Fund – Global, on the basis of the
Council on Ethics’ recommendation. The Council on Ethics found that
investment in Elbit constitutes an unacceptable risk of
contribution to serious violations of fundamental ethical norms as
a result of the company’s integral involvement in Israel’s
construction of a separation barrier on occupied territory. “We do
not wish to fund companies that so directly contribute to
violations of international humanitarian law,” said Minister of
Finance Kristin Halvorsen. The surveillance system that Elbit
supplies to the Israeli authorities is one of the main components
in the separation barrier and its associated control regime. The
surveillance system has been specially designed in close
collaboration with the Israzeli military and has no other
applications. Furthermore Elbit is clearly aware of exactly where
and how the system is intended to be used. While not related to the
Council's decision, it is important to note that Elbit is also
involved in the construction of the wall on the U.S. Mexico border
that aims to block the passage of refugees from Latin America into
the United States.
Ken Loach, Jane Fonda, Danny Glover,
Alice Walker, John Greyson, and many others protest Toronto
International Film Festival's complicity in Israel
re-branding
3 September 2009 – An international
group of more than 50 prominent filmmakers, writers, artists and
academics –including Ken Loach, David Byrne, Naomi Klein, Alice
Walker, Wallace Shawn, and Danny Glover – signed a letter
protesting the Toronto International Film Festival’s decision to
spotlight the city of Tel Aviv and the work of 10 Israeli
filmmakers. The “Toronto Declaration” had a massive effect in
raising the profile of the cultural boycott of Israel, the effect
of Israel's apartheid practices on Palestinian citizens of Israel,
and recent Israeli efforts to “re-brand” and whitewash itself as a
benign entity within both arts communities and the broad public,
particularly in North America.
Legal Action to enforce Human Rights
Conditions in EU-Israel Association Agreement
8 September 2009 – British
parliamentarian Clare Short and the European Campaign to End the
Siege of Gaza launched a legal action to require the European Union
to uphold the human rights conditions entrenched in the EU-Israel
Association Agreement. The action was launched in a letter sent to
President Barroso and Javier Solana, the High Representative for
the Common Foreign and Security Policy, spelling out the way in
which the Treaty conditions are being breached and the way in which
international law applies.
IPSC targets Israeli Dead Sea
Products in Jervis Shopping Centre
12 September 2009 - As part of the
international BDS campaign, the Ireland Palestine Solidarity
Campaign launched an action against Dead Sea Products, an Israeli
cosmetics firm, which has a stall in Jervis Centre in Dublin.
Activists from the IPSC wearing "Boycott Israel" t-shirts
surrounded the Dead Sea Products stall on the top floor in Jervis
Street shopping center, handing out leaflets and asking people not
to buy products from an apartheid country such as
Israel.
U.S. pension fund giant divests from
Africa-Israel
12 September 2009 - The U.S. pension
fund giant, TIAA-CREF, confirmed that it divested from
Africa-Israel Investments, owned by Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev.
The fund's investment in Africa Israel amounted to $257,000, so the
financial effect of the divestment is minimal, but the news of the
divestment came as the Israeli firm announced that it was unable to
meet its liabilities to its bondholders.
Brazilian Parliament Calls for the
Freeze of the Israel - Mercosur Free Trade
Agreement
13 September 2009 - The Brazilian
Parliamentary Commission on Foreign Relations and National Defense
has recommended that the parliament should not ratify the Free
Trade Agreement between Mercosur (the trading bloc of the Latin
American countries) 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. The
decision is an enormous blow for Israel’s economy and foreign
relations as 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. It is
important to also note that Brazil alone, even without a Free Trade
Agreement, is Israel’s third largest export
destination.
Britain’s unions commit to a mass
boycott movement of Israeli goods
17 September 2009 - British trade unions
representing 6.5 million workers overwhelmingly passed a resolution
voting to commit its members to participate in and build a campaign
involving boycott, disinvestment and sanctions against Israel. The
motion was passed at the 2009 annual Trades Union Congress (TUC)
held in Liverpool after being submitted by the Fire Brigades’
Union. The TUC is a coalition of 60 different unions representing
the vast majority of organized British workers. The congress voted
to condemn “Israeli military aggression and end the blockade on
Gaza” and calls for an end on all arms trade with Israel, the
imposition of a ban on the importing of goods produced in Israeli
settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and to support
moves to suspend the E.U.-Israel Association Agreement. It also
calls for the TUC’s main leadership body, the General Council, to
affiliate with the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), to push for
boycott, divestment and sanctions of Israel. The PSC is a major
Palestinian solidarity organization in the U.K. that has worked
with British trade unionists in different capacities to advance
their work on Palestinian-related causes.
Spain boycotts Ariel College for
being on occupied territory
16 September 2009 - The "University
Center of Ariel in Samaria" (AUCS) was excluded from a prestigious
university competition about sustainable architecture that was held
in Spain. "Ariel University Centre of
Samaria" was one out of 21 teams selected last April to compete for
the Solar Decathlon-Madrid 2010, the most prestigious competition
for sustainable architecture in the world, organized by the Spanish
Ministry of Housing together with the Universidad Politécnica de
Madrid. Selected teams, formed by
architects and engineering students are asked to design and build a
real house entirely driven by solar energy. Every house should be
built in one of the 20 sites in the "Solar Villa" planned in Madrid
to host them. To facilitate participation of the various teams, the
Spanish Ministry of Housing allocated a sum of 100,000 Euros to
every project. The decision to exclude AUCS represents the first
case of sanctions against an Israeli academic institution in
Spain.
Bilbao Cooperation Council Adopts
BDS
18 September 2009 – Members of the
Municipal Council for Cooperation of Bilbao voted to join the BDS
Campaign against the State of Israel. The Municipal Council for
Cooperation of Bilbao is an official advisory body to the city's
municipal government representing the different social agencies
working in the field of aid and development in Bilbao. It is
currently made up of forty-five NGOs and representatives of the
four political parties represented in the municipality. Its purpose
is to unite efforts and promote improved management in the work of
solidarity and cooperation.
BDS Activists Occupy Ahava for a
Second Time
19 September 2009 – In coordinated
actions in Code Pink in Washington DC, Jews for Justice for
Palestinians in London and the Bathrobe Brigade in Amsterdam
conducted a coordinated action to confront Ahava. Ahava’s cosmetic
products are manufactured in the illegal settlement of Mizpe
Shalem. Based inside Occupied Palestinian Territory, the Israeli
Settlement has stolen land and natural resources away from
Palestinians. Furthermore, the sale of these products acts to
finance and support war crimes committed by the Israel. For more on
the campaign against Ahava, visit stolenbeauty.org
Large French Trade Union joins the
BDS Campaign
22 September 2009 - The Union
“Solidaires Industry” joined the international campaign for
Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions through a decision of its general
membership. In the BDS resolution, the union delegates stated: “The
rights of Palestinian workers in the 1948 borders or in those of
1967 are not equal to those of other Israeli citizens.
Discrimination is evident, 50,000 Palestinian laborers working in
the settlements and the Jordan Valley without rights, with wages
less than half the minimum wage in Israel...[French company Alstom
continues with] the construction of the tramway in Jerusalem which
will increase discrimination against Palestinians. In Languedoc
Roussillon our fellow workers in Solidaires thirty-four are
struggling against the Israeli company Agrexco, which does not
respect the rights of Palestinians. Industrial action is possible.”
Read the full text of the resolution (in French) at:
http://www.solidaires-industrie.org/Boycott-Israel
PACBI Issues Guidelines for Applying
the International Academic Boycott of Israel
1 October 2009 – The Palestinian
Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI)
issued guidelines for applying the academic boycott. These criteria
are mainly intended to help guide cultural workers and organizers
around the world in adhering to the Palestinian call for boycott,
as a contribution towards establishing a just peace in our region.
Read the Guidelines at: http://www.bdsmovement.net/?q=node/566