Just before Massachusetts state lawmakers are to vote on an anti-BDS bill, 13 of them were whisked away on an all-expenses paid trip to Israel by a group that is lobbying for the legislation. “The trip is disturbing on many levels,” states Elsa Auerbach of JVP Boston. “First, of course, no public official who is considering a piece of legislation should accept an all-expense paid trip from the very lobbying group that has written the legislation.”
We must translate all this anger worldwide over Trump’s Jerusalem announcement into a plan of action, writes Haidar Eid. It is time to get rid of the racist two state solution, renounce the Oslo Accords, and come up with a democratic alternative. We must use BDS, Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions as the leading torch towards peace with justice in Palestine.
Cycling fans around the world were shocked by the news in September that the first of the three great annual bike races– the Giro d’Italia, which kicks off in May — would start in occupied Jerusalem. A coalition of 120 groups, joined by Noam Chomsky and Richard Falk, are calling on the Giro to move the start, saying that it is an effort to mask Israel’s human rights record and clean up its international image on its 70th birthday.
The BDS Gulf conference, which was welcomed by the speaker of the Kuwaiti parliament and attended by a number of parliamentarians from several GCC countries, called for the adoption of national laws and regulations that would require private entities and public institutions alike to exclude companies complicit in Israel’s regime of occupation, colonialism and apartheid from bids and contracts.
Ron Brummer from Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs and Hasbara, recently confirmed that there is no separate economic system for Israel inside the occupation and outside it. “If you want to divest from the West Bank… you have to divest from Israel.” This is clarifying. Liberal Zionists who have supported settlement boycotts only need to choose sides. Are they for freedom or apartheid?
Brisbane musicians rework Nick Cave’s classic ballad “The Ship Song” to call on him to cancel his upcoming shows in Israel and respect the Palestinian picket line. #BDS
In 2014 when nine activists climbed onto the roof of the Elbit UK drone factory to protest the Israeli war on Gaza, Nick Cave’s support helped spread the news of their protest. Now, those same nine activists write Cave to ask him to support the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions and to cancel his upcoming show in Israel.
Israeli musicians write Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds to ask them to cancel their upcoming show in Israel: “Israel prides itself for being tolerant and culturally open, but in fact uses culture to limit divergent narratives and voices, and to whitewash its crimes. When performing in Israel one should always remember that they play in a country that discriminates huge populations of invisible people that have no citizenship and no freedom of movement, and are subject to a separate (military) court system. When performing in Israel one should always remember that they play only in front of the privileged. By choosing not to perform you can send them a strong message.”
Musicians Roger Waters, Thurston Moore and Tunde Adebimpe, poet Michael Rosen, philosopher Judith Butler and political activist Angela Davis are among many high profile figures who have called on Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds to cancel their concerts in Tel Aviv on November 19 and 20 this year.
Maryland Governor Larry Hogan signed an executive order Monday barring state business with those who support BDS. Saqib Ali, co-founder of Freedom2Boycott and a former Maryland state legislator, said Monday’s executive order shows the hubris of staunchly pro-Israel voices and their disregard for democratic institutions. “You don’t have to be somebody who pays close attention to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to be outraged by this,” Ali told Mondoweiss.