Noam Chomsky has said something that even Israeli officials haven’t – that Israel would use nuclear weapons to avert the Palestinian right of return. He refers to the “hishtaganu” policy of Israeli leaders, the threat to go crazy, which they have used to intimidate possible opponents. He is invoking that tactic to support boycott of only the settlements, and to question international law regarding refugees.
On World Photography Day, over 40 Portuguese photographers, teachers of photography and photography students have launched a pledge not to accept professional invitations or financing from the State of Israel and to refuse to collaborate with Israeli cultural institutions complicit in Israel’s regime of occupation, colonialism and apartheid.
American Muslims for Palestine has just posted a great new video on the Israel Anti-Boycott Act, Senate 720, making clear the stakes in this legislation: The US Congress is selling out our right to free speech to the highest bidder, and to lobbyists.
Oregon Senator Ron Wyden has turned himself into a knot on the Israel Anti Boycott Act. He wants to defend your right to picnic for BDS, but the ACLU says you could go to jail if you tweet support for a UN boycott, under the bill. Katie Miranda reports from senator’s latest town hall, in Tualatin, Oregon.
The EU embassy in Tel Aviv has launched a campaign to up its image and employs an outspoken advocate for genocide of Palestinians. Avishai Ivri, a well known rightwing pundit, has celebrated the spraypainted slogan “Death to Arabs” and said Israel should kill 5000 Palestinians for every Israeli killed.
NY Senator Kirsten Gillibrand withdrew her name from a bill to impose penalties on supporting boycott of Israel, and Israel lobby group AIPAC, which drafted the bill, promptly expressed disappointment and targeted her for lobbying campaign
The Israeli Supreme Court backed the state in only permitting Gazan music students to take part in the Jordanian part of a workshop and concerts – not the part in Ramallah. And it piously intoned, “[M]usical development…is not necessarily bound by location”.
Israeli activists submitted a FOIA request to unearth the details behind Israel’s apparent blacklist of BDS activists that was given to a German airline earlier this week. Eitay Mack writes, “According to an Israeli law passed in March banning the entry of foreign BDS activists is indeed legal by Israeli rules, but there are grave questions raised by the process in which the decisions on who to ban was made. As well, it is alarming that Israel gave a blacklist to a foreign airline, in this case, Lufthansa, who then prohibited the boarding of U.S. passengers in a U.S. airport. Meaning, the Israeli law to ban BDS activists was actually imposed in the U.S., not in Israel.”
The Anti-Israel Boycott Act was challenged repeatedly at Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s Town Hall in the Bronx on Saturday July 22. Gillibrand promised to take another look at the bill, said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has no vision for peace, and acknowledged that AIPAC has a stranglehold on Congress.
Proponents of law targeting BDS in Massachusetts argue that Israeli companies would leave the state if the legislature fails to pass anti-BDS act. That’s frankly absurd. Israel needs Massachusetts much more than Massachusetts needs Israel.