After pressure from local pro-Israel organizations, the New Orleans City Council yesterday voted unanimously to rescind a human rights resolution that the body passed exactly two weeks ago. “The hoods are off. We see the way Zionist organizations like the Anti-Defamation League and Jewish Federation are willing to kill a human rights resolution and undermine entire movements to protect Israel,” Anna Baltzer, Director of Organizing and Advocacy with the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, said.
On Monday the Central Council of the PLO, the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, officially announced its support for the BDS movement and called, for the first time, on the international community to “impose sanctions on Israel” to end its ongoing, grave violations of Palestinian rights as stipulated by international law. This marks the most explicit and official adoption of the BDS movement by the PLO.
A day after the New Orleans City Council unanimously approved a resolution to add a human rights standard into the review process for city contracts, which would include companies profiting off of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory, city officials have started to distance themselves from the politics behind the legislation. The statements come after backlash from the outgoing mayor’s office, and years of local leaders receiving donations and backing from major pro-Israel organizations who lobby against the law.
Israel has long labored to convince its allies that the BDS movement is anti-Semitic, but Nada Elia says the new entry ban reveals Israel’s true concern: “Ultimately, the oddly selective blacklist is not about protecting Israel from anti-Semitic attacks, it is about defending it from the one strategy, BDS, that seems to be working. Shunning the charade of ‘talks’ and ‘process,’ BDS has exposed the racist ideology at the very heart of Zionism, allowed the Palestine solidarity movement to build global alliances and enabled individuals to enact their solidarity in concrete ways that have secured many victories, big and small. No blacklist banning entry into Israel can stop this.”
Rebecca Vilkomerson’s acknowledgment of Israel’s travel ban of Jewish Voice for Peace — “as we at JVP are now feeling the pain of exclusion, we are very aware that Palestinians have always faced profiling and bans on entry to Israel” — recalls Spinoza’s gracious acceptance of his excommunication by Amsterdam Jews in 1656. As history now shines on Spinoza, one day it will shine on Vilkomerson and JVP.
Israel issued a blacklist of 20 organizations that support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Among those barred entry are Code Pink, AFSC, American Muslims for Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace. “We wear this designation as a badge of honor,” said Yousef Munayyer of the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights.
Nada Elia says that when the singer Lorde decided to cancel her concert in Tel Aviv she was not caving to BDS pressure, she was rising to the occasion.
The pop singer Lorde announced on Sunday that she would be canceling her June 5th performance in Tel Aviv after pressure from the Palestinian BDS movement. “I had done a lot of reading and sought a lot of opinions before deciding to book a show in Tel Aviv, but I’m not too proud to admit I didn’t make the right call on this one,” the singer wrote on social media explaining her decision.
Today, the overwhelming majority of the world’s nations at the UN General Assembly voted 128-9 in favor of a resolution calling on the United States to overturn its decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Omar Barghouti, speaking on behalf of the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), responded by saying: “This vote is further proof that the far-right Israeli-Trump alliance is more isolated than ever as the overwhelming majority of nations are finally recognizing its fatal attempt to undermine both Palestinian rights and the very rule of international law. Holding Israel accountable for its egregious, decades-old human rights violations is crucial to upholding both.”
LA Jews for Peace’s Jeff Warner and Dick Platkin make the case that now is the time to advocate for U.S. sanctions on Israel: “a December 2016 Brookings public opinion poll reveals that nearly half of the U.S. public supports sanctions on Israel – including a majority of self-identifying Democrats. This increased support for U.S. government sanctions indicates that now is the time for political groups committed to a just resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict to lead public opinion, not follow or ignore it.”