There are varying explanations for the uptick in violence in Israel-Palestine over the past few days, but one explanation that appears to have caught on with the Israeli government and much Western media, according to Duke University cultural anthropologist Rebecca Stein, is incitement through social media. As she notes, the word occupation is nowhere to be found in this new narrative.
Activists write New York City mayor Bill De Blasio about his upcoming trip to Israel: “We write to register our concern that you, as Mayor of New York City, are choosing to follow the ritual of New York politicians who travel to Israel—and do so with political blinders on.”
Amnesty International condemns all deliberate attacks on civilians, including Israeli civilians in the OPT, and calls on all sides to end such attacks. Amnesty International also condemns the widespread use of excessive force by Israeli forces against Palestinian demonstrators across the occupied West Bank, and their failure to protect Palestinians from a wave of settler attacks.
On Saturday, October 3, members of Boston Students for Justice in Palestine were removed from a Bernie Sanders rally for holding a sign that read “Will Ya #feeltheBern 4 Palestine?”. The Sanders campaign has since said the activists should never have been kicked out of the rally, but Boston SJP says Sanders needs to do more: “Sanders speaks up for those hurt by low wages, gender inequality, school tuition, corporate power, and climate change. We want him to also speak up for those hurt by US foreign policy and military aid: we want him to speak up on Palestine. ”
“We, as Israeli citizens, are very limited in our ability to create change in the current political climate,” the Israeli group Boycott from Within writes to the Reykjavik City Council in urging it to stand by its decision to boycott Israeli products
Ben Carson and Donald Trump are not alone – the Republican presidential field is composed of candidates who have encouraged religious hatred that is a direct contradiction to bedrock American values, including freedom of religion. –Hillary Clinton website details a dangerous trend.
Activists call on Kanye West to respect the growing international movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions and cancel his September 30 concert in Israel, a racist regime that Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu and other veteran freedom fighters have described as worse than apartheid South Africa.
“Daylight” between the U.S. and Israel over Iran is bound to become a “deeper wedge” over the occupation in coming years as American politicians at last speak up, Rabbi Joseph Berman of Jewish Voice for Peace predicts
“We reached a breaking point when Israel launched the war on Gaza in 2014, killing over 2,000 people including 500 children. Because Israel has been unwilling to engage in real negotiations to bring about a just resolution to the occupation, this is a necessary step for labor to take in order to bring about a peaceful end to the conflicts there,” Carl Rosen, president of UE’s Western Region and a member of the national executive board.
PACBI is convinced that the pressure campaign waged by human rights activists in Spain to cancel this bigoted artist’s performance at this progressive festival is a well justified “common sense” boycott campaign, even though it falls outside the realm of the BDS institutional boycott guidelines.