22 nov 2015
The Labor Party in Britain has announced its boycott of an security firm having business ties with the Israeli occupation state, while a department store in Germany decided to remove Israeli products from its shelves.
Maariv newspaper said the British Labor Party decided to stop dealing with the G4S security company, which provided security services to the party's events in recent years.
The company is accused by pro-Palestinian activists in Britain of its involvement in providing security services that facilitate Israel's control over the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Labor Party took its decision following growing protests against G4S by the BDS group, which leads a global boycott campaign against Israel.
For its part, KaDeWe department store in the German capital Berlin said it had removed Israeli products from its shelves in compliance with the European Union's recent decision to label settlement-made products.
However, a spokeswoman for KaDeWe, Europe’s largest department store, told the Der Spiegel magazine that the store would return Israeli products to shelves but "only after fixing the labels."
Maariv newspaper said the British Labor Party decided to stop dealing with the G4S security company, which provided security services to the party's events in recent years.
The company is accused by pro-Palestinian activists in Britain of its involvement in providing security services that facilitate Israel's control over the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Labor Party took its decision following growing protests against G4S by the BDS group, which leads a global boycott campaign against Israel.
For its part, KaDeWe department store in the German capital Berlin said it had removed Israeli products from its shelves in compliance with the European Union's recent decision to label settlement-made products.
However, a spokeswoman for KaDeWe, Europe’s largest department store, told the Der Spiegel magazine that the store would return Israeli products to shelves but "only after fixing the labels."
19 nov 2015
Only a few Israeli companies had moved their manufacturing plants from illegal settlements in the West Bank to areas inside the Green Line long time ago before the European Union issued its recent decision to label settlement-made products, Haaretz newspaper said on Wednesday.
Among those companies were Sodastream, Barkan, Bagel Bagel and Mult-T-Lock, according to the newspaper.
According to a high-ranking Israeli foreign trade source, about 600 factories, including big exporters, owned by Israelis still operate in the occupied West Bank.
The volume of Israeli exports from Israeli settlements to the EU is estimated between 300 and 400 million dollars every year.
Among those companies were Sodastream, Barkan, Bagel Bagel and Mult-T-Lock, according to the newspaper.
According to a high-ranking Israeli foreign trade source, about 600 factories, including big exporters, owned by Israelis still operate in the occupied West Bank.
The volume of Israeli exports from Israeli settlements to the EU is estimated between 300 and 400 million dollars every year.
18 nov 2015
American Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro has said that the labeling of Israeli settlement products is not a boycott.
Ambassador Shapiro was speaking Monday at the Israel Journalists Association conference in the southern city of Eilat. In remarks not part of his official speech, Shapiro was reported by the settler-affiliated new site Arutz 7 to have said that “Our position concerning settlements is clear and has not changed – we oppose them. Yet on the other hand, we oppose boycotts of any kind against Israel. We do not see the labeling of products as boycott – it is information provided to consumers and they can decide alone.”
Shapiro added that “as long as the settlements continue it will not be suprising if there are reactions such as labeling products”.
Shapiro's remarks come on the same morning as those of Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, who told the Israel Council on Foreign Relations that Hungary will not label products originating from Israeli settlements, characterising the EU decision in this matter as “irrational”.
Echoing Israeli hasbara, the Hungarian foreign minister claimed such labels would be detrimental to ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The European Union announced last week guidelines concerning the labeling of products originating from the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Golan Heights. The guidelines, which the EU has described as “technical” and not political, elicited hysterical reactions from both government and almost all opposition parties in Israel.
About the EU guidelines, Mahmoud Nawajaa, general coordinator with the Palestinian BDS National Committee, said "This is a welcome sign that European governments are reacting to public opinion, civil society campaigning and Israeli intransigence and are becoming more willing to take some basic action against Israeli violations of international law.
Yet putting some labels on a small number of Israeli products is hardly a proportionate response to repeated Israeli war crimes, especially given the widespread use of fraud by Israeli exporters to deceive customs officials and retail chains about the origin of their stolen goods."
Ambassador Shapiro was speaking Monday at the Israel Journalists Association conference in the southern city of Eilat. In remarks not part of his official speech, Shapiro was reported by the settler-affiliated new site Arutz 7 to have said that “Our position concerning settlements is clear and has not changed – we oppose them. Yet on the other hand, we oppose boycotts of any kind against Israel. We do not see the labeling of products as boycott – it is information provided to consumers and they can decide alone.”
Shapiro added that “as long as the settlements continue it will not be suprising if there are reactions such as labeling products”.
Shapiro's remarks come on the same morning as those of Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, who told the Israel Council on Foreign Relations that Hungary will not label products originating from Israeli settlements, characterising the EU decision in this matter as “irrational”.
Echoing Israeli hasbara, the Hungarian foreign minister claimed such labels would be detrimental to ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The European Union announced last week guidelines concerning the labeling of products originating from the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Golan Heights. The guidelines, which the EU has described as “technical” and not political, elicited hysterical reactions from both government and almost all opposition parties in Israel.
About the EU guidelines, Mahmoud Nawajaa, general coordinator with the Palestinian BDS National Committee, said "This is a welcome sign that European governments are reacting to public opinion, civil society campaigning and Israeli intransigence and are becoming more willing to take some basic action against Israeli violations of international law.
Yet putting some labels on a small number of Israeli products is hardly a proportionate response to repeated Israeli war crimes, especially given the widespread use of fraud by Israeli exporters to deceive customs officials and retail chains about the origin of their stolen goods."
16 nov 2015
The Santiago de Compostela City Council (capital of Spain's Galicia region) passed a motion declaring itself a space free of discrimination against the Palestinian people and in support of the BDS campaign on 10 November.
According to the Alternative Information Center (AIC), the BDS Galicia group reports that ruling electoral alliance in the City Hall, Compostela Aberta, and two of the groups in the opposition, the Socialist Party (PSdeG-PSOE) and the Galizan Nationalist Bloc (BNG) voted in favour, while the People’s Party (PP) abstained.
Such initiatives were set in motion in 2010 by the South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU), which after the Israeli massacre in Gaza in 2008-09 started spreading this Apartheid Israel Free zone idea.
BDS Galicia provides us with the full text of the motion passed by Santiago City Council:
Emergency motion presented by the Compostela Aberta municipal group at the plenary meeting of the city council regarding the request for Santiago City Council to support the global BDS movement.
Concepción Fernández Fernández, councillor for Social Policy, Diversity and Healthcare, tabled the following emergency motion for approval at the city council plenary meeting:
In July 2005 a broad-based coalition of Palestinian groups launched the Global BDS Campaign (boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israeli settlements, apartheid and occupation) against Israel, urging “people of conscience around the world to impose broad boycotts and implement divestment initiatives against Israel” as a measure designed to help put an end to the increasingly bloody ethnic cleansing inflicted on the Palestinian people.
Trade unions, universities, grassroots organisations, consumer associations, pacifist movements, municipalities, artists, students and professionals from all walks of life and from all around the world have come together in a peaceful, citizen’s movement whose influence increases daily. This global movement has become the touchstone for solidarity with Palestine. It is a global movement that Galiza cannot afford not to be part of.
For these reasons, the Compostela Aberta municipal group tables to following motion before the plenary session of Santiago de Compostela City Council for its approval:
1.- To declare Santiago City Council as a space free from discrimination against the Palestinian people and supporting the BDS Campaign with the following aims:
– To end occupation and settlements in all of the Palestinian territories and to dismantle the wall;
-To recognise the basic rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens living in Israel to full equality;
-To recognise the right of the Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stated in United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194;
2.- To refrain from collaborating with the State of Israel, its public bodies and its official representatives in the Spanish State and in any kind of agricultural, educational, trade, cultural or security projects;
3.- To spread awareness of the BDS Campaign and to support it in all areas (economy, culture, sports, academia and public institutions).
-- --
In related news, Turkish news site, Yenis Afak, recently reported that a Spanish court has found Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and six other senior officials guilty of crimes against humanity for their role in the 2010 raid on Gaza-bound aid ship, Mavi Marmara.
Nine activists were killed, including one Turkish-American, and dozens injured when Israeli commandos boarded the lead ship of a Gaza-bound flotilla, Mavi Marmara, when it attempted to breach the blockade of the Palestinian territory. Spanish activists were also on board the ships.
The Madrid-based Supreme Court has ordered arrest of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, ex-foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman, ex-defense minister Ehud Barak, then-deputy PMs Moshe Ya'alon and Eli Yishai, and then-state minister Benny Begin. Israel's ex-Navy Commander Eliezer Marom is among the co-defendants found guilty by the Spanish judge.
According to the Alternative Information Center (AIC), the BDS Galicia group reports that ruling electoral alliance in the City Hall, Compostela Aberta, and two of the groups in the opposition, the Socialist Party (PSdeG-PSOE) and the Galizan Nationalist Bloc (BNG) voted in favour, while the People’s Party (PP) abstained.
Such initiatives were set in motion in 2010 by the South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU), which after the Israeli massacre in Gaza in 2008-09 started spreading this Apartheid Israel Free zone idea.
BDS Galicia provides us with the full text of the motion passed by Santiago City Council:
Emergency motion presented by the Compostela Aberta municipal group at the plenary meeting of the city council regarding the request for Santiago City Council to support the global BDS movement.
Concepción Fernández Fernández, councillor for Social Policy, Diversity and Healthcare, tabled the following emergency motion for approval at the city council plenary meeting:
In July 2005 a broad-based coalition of Palestinian groups launched the Global BDS Campaign (boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israeli settlements, apartheid and occupation) against Israel, urging “people of conscience around the world to impose broad boycotts and implement divestment initiatives against Israel” as a measure designed to help put an end to the increasingly bloody ethnic cleansing inflicted on the Palestinian people.
Trade unions, universities, grassroots organisations, consumer associations, pacifist movements, municipalities, artists, students and professionals from all walks of life and from all around the world have come together in a peaceful, citizen’s movement whose influence increases daily. This global movement has become the touchstone for solidarity with Palestine. It is a global movement that Galiza cannot afford not to be part of.
For these reasons, the Compostela Aberta municipal group tables to following motion before the plenary session of Santiago de Compostela City Council for its approval:
1.- To declare Santiago City Council as a space free from discrimination against the Palestinian people and supporting the BDS Campaign with the following aims:
– To end occupation and settlements in all of the Palestinian territories and to dismantle the wall;
-To recognise the basic rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens living in Israel to full equality;
-To recognise the right of the Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stated in United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194;
2.- To refrain from collaborating with the State of Israel, its public bodies and its official representatives in the Spanish State and in any kind of agricultural, educational, trade, cultural or security projects;
3.- To spread awareness of the BDS Campaign and to support it in all areas (economy, culture, sports, academia and public institutions).
-- --
In related news, Turkish news site, Yenis Afak, recently reported that a Spanish court has found Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and six other senior officials guilty of crimes against humanity for their role in the 2010 raid on Gaza-bound aid ship, Mavi Marmara.
Nine activists were killed, including one Turkish-American, and dozens injured when Israeli commandos boarded the lead ship of a Gaza-bound flotilla, Mavi Marmara, when it attempted to breach the blockade of the Palestinian territory. Spanish activists were also on board the ships.
The Madrid-based Supreme Court has ordered arrest of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, ex-foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman, ex-defense minister Ehud Barak, then-deputy PMs Moshe Ya'alon and Eli Yishai, and then-state minister Benny Begin. Israel's ex-Navy Commander Eliezer Marom is among the co-defendants found guilty by the Spanish judge.
12 nov 2015
By Khalid Amayreh in Occupied Palestine
"Chutzpah" is a Yiddish word meaning audacity that borders on rudeness. So, if you have chutzpah, you say what you think without worrying about hurting someone's feelings, looking silly, or getting in trouble.
The Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has been lately indulging in this type of brazen behaviors and going beyond the pale of reason, common sense and decency.
A few weeks ago, Netanyahu remarked that Adolph Hitler wouldn't have embarked on annihilating European Jewry had it not been for the Mufti of Jerusalem Hajj Amin al-Husseini, who, according to Netanyahu, incited the German Fuhrer to carry out the holocaust.
Many historians, Jews and non-Jews alike scoffed at Netanyahu's contemptible ranting, calling it silly and ignorant.
A few years ago, Netanyahu charged that Palestinians, including Hamas, were trying to complete what Hitler had started during the Second World War. He utterly ignored that Zionism encapsulated many defining elements of Nazism, including the Master Race-Chosen people ingredient as well as the settlements-Lebensraum analogy.
This week, Netanyahu, a habitual liar by any stretch of imagination, described as shameful the labeling of produces originating in Jewish settlements and colonies in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
But to what extent can we or should we take Netanyahu's remarks seriously, especially coming from a person who seemingly makes no distinction between truth and falsehood or between honesty and dishonesty.
In Proverbs 6:17, There are several things abominable to God, including haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, and Feet that run rapidly to evil.
It is quite plain that all these descriptions apply, absolutely and completely, to Binyamin Netanyahu, who not only lies as often as he breathes the oxygen of life but is also visibly arrogant (haughty), spills innocent blood (the genocidal wars on Gaza as well as the daily killings of Palestinians).
These evil acts make the Israeli premier a murderer, a wicked person par excellence.
That is why it is sad and lamentable that such a person is purportedly the son of a people who taught humanity the Ten Commandments, including: “You shall not murder. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
But this is what Zionism has done and continues to do to Judaism, transforming many Jews from a people committed to justice and honesty, into a people inured to lying, murder and land theft.
Needless to say, such people and such an ideology are a cancer upon the conscience of Judaism and the Torah.
So, what does Netanyahu and his colleagues in government and Knesset know about shame?
How about stealing the Palestinian homeland, destroying Palestinian homes and expelling helpless Palestinians all over the world? Is it an expression of conscientiousness and lofty morality?
How about dispatching hundreds of warplanes to rain death on heavily crowded civilian neighborhoods in Gaza?
What is the difference between sending people to concentration camps and exterminating them by bombing them while in their homes?
Netanyahu and his cohorts seem to think it is an expression of smartness and public relation skillfulness to lie and conceal the truth, lest the world wakes up and discover the truth about Israel's nefarious behavior toward the Palestinians.
But many Israelis, including soldiers and security personnel who come into direct contact with the Palestinians do know the criminal nature of their country's treatment of the Palestinians.
These people, like all criminals, will be sterile from within with nothing to live for.
Netanyahu may well continue to hurl epithets on his critics right and left, but eventually he will discover for himself the utter depravity of his behaviors and utter meaninglessness of a lifetime of murderer and mendacity.
"Chutzpah" is a Yiddish word meaning audacity that borders on rudeness. So, if you have chutzpah, you say what you think without worrying about hurting someone's feelings, looking silly, or getting in trouble.
The Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has been lately indulging in this type of brazen behaviors and going beyond the pale of reason, common sense and decency.
A few weeks ago, Netanyahu remarked that Adolph Hitler wouldn't have embarked on annihilating European Jewry had it not been for the Mufti of Jerusalem Hajj Amin al-Husseini, who, according to Netanyahu, incited the German Fuhrer to carry out the holocaust.
Many historians, Jews and non-Jews alike scoffed at Netanyahu's contemptible ranting, calling it silly and ignorant.
A few years ago, Netanyahu charged that Palestinians, including Hamas, were trying to complete what Hitler had started during the Second World War. He utterly ignored that Zionism encapsulated many defining elements of Nazism, including the Master Race-Chosen people ingredient as well as the settlements-Lebensraum analogy.
This week, Netanyahu, a habitual liar by any stretch of imagination, described as shameful the labeling of produces originating in Jewish settlements and colonies in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
But to what extent can we or should we take Netanyahu's remarks seriously, especially coming from a person who seemingly makes no distinction between truth and falsehood or between honesty and dishonesty.
In Proverbs 6:17, There are several things abominable to God, including haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, and Feet that run rapidly to evil.
It is quite plain that all these descriptions apply, absolutely and completely, to Binyamin Netanyahu, who not only lies as often as he breathes the oxygen of life but is also visibly arrogant (haughty), spills innocent blood (the genocidal wars on Gaza as well as the daily killings of Palestinians).
These evil acts make the Israeli premier a murderer, a wicked person par excellence.
That is why it is sad and lamentable that such a person is purportedly the son of a people who taught humanity the Ten Commandments, including: “You shall not murder. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
But this is what Zionism has done and continues to do to Judaism, transforming many Jews from a people committed to justice and honesty, into a people inured to lying, murder and land theft.
Needless to say, such people and such an ideology are a cancer upon the conscience of Judaism and the Torah.
So, what does Netanyahu and his colleagues in government and Knesset know about shame?
How about stealing the Palestinian homeland, destroying Palestinian homes and expelling helpless Palestinians all over the world? Is it an expression of conscientiousness and lofty morality?
How about dispatching hundreds of warplanes to rain death on heavily crowded civilian neighborhoods in Gaza?
What is the difference between sending people to concentration camps and exterminating them by bombing them while in their homes?
Netanyahu and his cohorts seem to think it is an expression of smartness and public relation skillfulness to lie and conceal the truth, lest the world wakes up and discover the truth about Israel's nefarious behavior toward the Palestinians.
But many Israelis, including soldiers and security personnel who come into direct contact with the Palestinians do know the criminal nature of their country's treatment of the Palestinians.
These people, like all criminals, will be sterile from within with nothing to live for.
Netanyahu may well continue to hurl epithets on his critics right and left, but eventually he will discover for himself the utter depravity of his behaviors and utter meaninglessness of a lifetime of murderer and mendacity.
Ben Gurion airport
The Knesset plenum, on Wednesday, approved a preliminary reading of a bill that would deny entry to the country to anyone urging a boycott of Israel.
According to the bill, which was introduced by MK Yinon Magal (Jewish Home), ”anyone who is not an Israeli citizen or a permanent resident will not be granted any kind of visa or permit if they, or any company, organization or foundation they represent, calls for a boycott of Israel.”
If the bill is passed into law, it will grant the interior minister special authority to issue visas or permits in exceptional cases. According to the documentation accompanying Magal’s bill, ”in recent years, calls for boycotting Israel have intensified. It seems that this is a new front of war against Israel, which the country has yet to sufficiently prepare for. This bill will prevent individuals or representatives of companies, foundations or organizations that call for boycotting Israel from advancing their ideology on Israeli soil.”
Magal said during the plenum session that ”just now we received word that the European Union has approved the labelling of products made in the settlements. This is of course a huge disgrace, but it is hard to be disappointed by those we do not have any expectations from. Unfortunately, there are Knesset members within this House who also call to label the settlers.”
Speaking on behalf of the government, Minister of Internal Affairs Silvan Shalom said the government backs the legislation, on the condition that it is advanced in coordination with the government.
MK Dov Khenin (Joint List) said, ”It`s difficult to describe just how stupid this law is… You view this country as a closed and solitary fortress into which no one enters. The real title for this proposal is `the law to encourage the boycott on the State of Israel`. According to your law, anyone who participates in the labelling of goods cannot enter the country – all of Europe is [kept out]. To protect the settlements you are willing to pay the price of deepening the delegitimizaton and hurting tourism.”
Fifty-five MKs supported the bill in the preliminary vote, while 31 opposed. It will now be transferred to the Internal Affairs Committee.
The Knesset plenum, on Wednesday, approved a preliminary reading of a bill that would deny entry to the country to anyone urging a boycott of Israel.
According to the bill, which was introduced by MK Yinon Magal (Jewish Home), ”anyone who is not an Israeli citizen or a permanent resident will not be granted any kind of visa or permit if they, or any company, organization or foundation they represent, calls for a boycott of Israel.”
If the bill is passed into law, it will grant the interior minister special authority to issue visas or permits in exceptional cases. According to the documentation accompanying Magal’s bill, ”in recent years, calls for boycotting Israel have intensified. It seems that this is a new front of war against Israel, which the country has yet to sufficiently prepare for. This bill will prevent individuals or representatives of companies, foundations or organizations that call for boycotting Israel from advancing their ideology on Israeli soil.”
Magal said during the plenum session that ”just now we received word that the European Union has approved the labelling of products made in the settlements. This is of course a huge disgrace, but it is hard to be disappointed by those we do not have any expectations from. Unfortunately, there are Knesset members within this House who also call to label the settlers.”
Speaking on behalf of the government, Minister of Internal Affairs Silvan Shalom said the government backs the legislation, on the condition that it is advanced in coordination with the government.
MK Dov Khenin (Joint List) said, ”It`s difficult to describe just how stupid this law is… You view this country as a closed and solitary fortress into which no one enters. The real title for this proposal is `the law to encourage the boycott on the State of Israel`. According to your law, anyone who participates in the labelling of goods cannot enter the country – all of Europe is [kept out]. To protect the settlements you are willing to pay the price of deepening the delegitimizaton and hurting tourism.”
Fifty-five MKs supported the bill in the preliminary vote, while 31 opposed. It will now be transferred to the Internal Affairs Committee.
11 nov 2015
The European Commission has introduced on Wednesday a new labeling guidelines for products produced in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The measure requires that producers must explicitly label products that come from settlements built on land occupied by Israel if they are sold in the European Union (EU).
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a host of other Israeli leaders denounced the move as hypocritical because no similar labels were proposed for products from occupied territories elsewhere in the world.
The interpretive notice of the new measures published by the EU today said: "The European Union, in line with international law, does not recognise Israel’s sovereignty over the territories occupied by Israel since June 1967, namely the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and does not consider them to be part of Israel’s territory, irrespective of their legal status under domestic Israeli law. The Union has made it clear that it will not recognise any changes to pre-1967 borders, other than those agreed by the parties to the Middle East Peace Process."
The move drew an angry response from the Israeli government, with the foreign ministry issuing a statement denouncing the EU measure.
Israel summoned the European Union ambassador, Lars Faaborg-Andersen, to the foreign ministry and informed him that Israel was suspending diplomatic talks scheduled for various forums in the coming weeks.
The Israeli Army Minister Moshe Ya’alon had strongly denounced the EU decision against Israeli settlement products.
“Europe should be ashamed of itself, it took an immoral decision,” he said.
In the statement, the Israeli foreign ministry called the EU's decision "exceptional" and "discriminatory".
Writing on his Facebook page, the Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz described the measure as "disguised anti-Semitism."
Under international law, Israel is prohibited from building settlements in the occupied territories. Israel has occupied the Palestinian territories of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem since the 1967 war.
The measure requires that producers must explicitly label products that come from settlements built on land occupied by Israel if they are sold in the European Union (EU).
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a host of other Israeli leaders denounced the move as hypocritical because no similar labels were proposed for products from occupied territories elsewhere in the world.
The interpretive notice of the new measures published by the EU today said: "The European Union, in line with international law, does not recognise Israel’s sovereignty over the territories occupied by Israel since June 1967, namely the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and does not consider them to be part of Israel’s territory, irrespective of their legal status under domestic Israeli law. The Union has made it clear that it will not recognise any changes to pre-1967 borders, other than those agreed by the parties to the Middle East Peace Process."
The move drew an angry response from the Israeli government, with the foreign ministry issuing a statement denouncing the EU measure.
Israel summoned the European Union ambassador, Lars Faaborg-Andersen, to the foreign ministry and informed him that Israel was suspending diplomatic talks scheduled for various forums in the coming weeks.
The Israeli Army Minister Moshe Ya’alon had strongly denounced the EU decision against Israeli settlement products.
“Europe should be ashamed of itself, it took an immoral decision,” he said.
In the statement, the Israeli foreign ministry called the EU's decision "exceptional" and "discriminatory".
Writing on his Facebook page, the Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz described the measure as "disguised anti-Semitism."
Under international law, Israel is prohibited from building settlements in the occupied territories. Israel has occupied the Palestinian territories of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem since the 1967 war.
9 nov 2015
Products of the Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian lands spread across the world in spite of all the boycott campaigns. Such campaigns, which contributed in partially shaking the Israeli economy, did not succeed in halting the marketing of Israeli goods in general and settlements’ goods in particular in various countries even in the Arab countries which have no diplomatic relations with Israel.
According to the data provided by the Palestinian Ministry of Economy, there are about 250 factories in the settlements of the West Bank in various areas of production; as well as nearly 3,000 other facilities, of a variety of farms, companies and shops.
The Ministry's data also show that the settlements produce more than 146 brands in all productive sectors; including about 40 food brands, nearly 50 household brand, and about 56 brands of various products and industries.
Circumvention
The acting general manager of the consumer protection department of the Palestinian Ministry of Economy, Ibrahim al-Qadi, said the settlements' factories market many of their products, especially clothing and shoes, in Palestinian cities and towns as global products to circumvent the national campaign to combat settlement products.
The settlements' factories also resorted to the use of religious names, including "Holy Land” and the use of the slogan "Dome of the Rock," in marketing their products in the West and convince the western consumer that the products are "Israeli" while they are, in fact, produced by the settlements, Qadi elaborated.
He stressed the need to redouble the boycott efforts and continuously expose the origin of those goods and circumvention methods, so that the boycott campaigns would continue to achieve successes.
Some citizens reported, for example, the existence of the "Avocado" product in neighboring Arab countries as a Palestinian product, on which display carton is written: "a Palestinian product" while the Palestinian farmers do not produce "Avocado".
The expansion of the boycott
MP Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi asserts that, despite the methods of circumvention of the Israeli companies and factories working in the settlements, a number of them closed after suffering heavy losses and were forced to move to the Palestinian territories occupied in 1948, to be able to export their production to European markets which boycott the settlements' products.
He stressed that the boycott movement of settlements' products is widely adopted at the national and global levels by the influence of the media, which transmit to the whole world images of the oppressive Israeli racial discrimination and oppressive practices.
Barghouti also stressed that the campaign to boycott settlements' products, as well as Israeli products in general, was spreading and continuing to succeed both domestically and internationally
He pointed to the decision of the largest commercial chain in Luxembourg (Cactus) of refusing to sell Israeli agricultural products. A decision he considered as an additional achievement for the international boycott movement of Israel.
He added that this success is added to other successes such as the decision of 7 million British students to boycott Israeli goods.
According to the data provided by the Palestinian Ministry of Economy, there are about 250 factories in the settlements of the West Bank in various areas of production; as well as nearly 3,000 other facilities, of a variety of farms, companies and shops.
The Ministry's data also show that the settlements produce more than 146 brands in all productive sectors; including about 40 food brands, nearly 50 household brand, and about 56 brands of various products and industries.
Circumvention
The acting general manager of the consumer protection department of the Palestinian Ministry of Economy, Ibrahim al-Qadi, said the settlements' factories market many of their products, especially clothing and shoes, in Palestinian cities and towns as global products to circumvent the national campaign to combat settlement products.
The settlements' factories also resorted to the use of religious names, including "Holy Land” and the use of the slogan "Dome of the Rock," in marketing their products in the West and convince the western consumer that the products are "Israeli" while they are, in fact, produced by the settlements, Qadi elaborated.
He stressed the need to redouble the boycott efforts and continuously expose the origin of those goods and circumvention methods, so that the boycott campaigns would continue to achieve successes.
Some citizens reported, for example, the existence of the "Avocado" product in neighboring Arab countries as a Palestinian product, on which display carton is written: "a Palestinian product" while the Palestinian farmers do not produce "Avocado".
The expansion of the boycott
MP Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi asserts that, despite the methods of circumvention of the Israeli companies and factories working in the settlements, a number of them closed after suffering heavy losses and were forced to move to the Palestinian territories occupied in 1948, to be able to export their production to European markets which boycott the settlements' products.
He stressed that the boycott movement of settlements' products is widely adopted at the national and global levels by the influence of the media, which transmit to the whole world images of the oppressive Israeli racial discrimination and oppressive practices.
Barghouti also stressed that the campaign to boycott settlements' products, as well as Israeli products in general, was spreading and continuing to succeed both domestically and internationally
He pointed to the decision of the largest commercial chain in Luxembourg (Cactus) of refusing to sell Israeli agricultural products. A decision he considered as an additional achievement for the international boycott movement of Israel.
He added that this success is added to other successes such as the decision of 7 million British students to boycott Israeli goods.
8 nov 2015
On Friday morning, activists from BDS Norway staged an intifada against leading arms producer Nammo Raufoss AS, in eastern Norway.
In a symbolic demonstration, the activists protested against the Norwegian direct and indirect arms trade with Israel. According to the Alternative Information Center, the direct action was broadcast live from Tv2 Nyhetskanalen, a national news-channel.
The protest was followed up by a petition to the government, demanding an end to all arms trade with Israel.
In the Israeli arsenal, there are weapons, ammunition and weapons components produced by Nammo AS or Nammo Talley, a subsidiary of Nammo AS in the United States. Israeli forces have killed thousands of Palestinian civilians in the last decade, many of them by using weapons with Norwegian components. Norwegian weapons thus become part of Israel's violation of international law, the oppression of the Palestinians and the Israeli occupation of Palestine (West Bank and Gaza).
Although there are Norwegian laws prohibiting direct arms sales to Israel, Norwegian weapons are sold from the Nammo Group through its subsidiary in the United States, Nammo Talley. We believe that under no circumstances should Norway contribute to the illegal occupation of Palestine. We demand that no Norwegian-produced weapons or weapons components end up in Israel. The Nammo Group is a state-owned company. Therefore, this is a Norwegian political responsibility.
BDS Norway also took action against Nammo AS in August 2014. BDS has resolved to continue demonstrating until Norwegian authorities change both practice and legislation, so that the arms trade and collaboration with Israel ceases. www.bdsnorway.net
In a symbolic demonstration, the activists protested against the Norwegian direct and indirect arms trade with Israel. According to the Alternative Information Center, the direct action was broadcast live from Tv2 Nyhetskanalen, a national news-channel.
The protest was followed up by a petition to the government, demanding an end to all arms trade with Israel.
In the Israeli arsenal, there are weapons, ammunition and weapons components produced by Nammo AS or Nammo Talley, a subsidiary of Nammo AS in the United States. Israeli forces have killed thousands of Palestinian civilians in the last decade, many of them by using weapons with Norwegian components. Norwegian weapons thus become part of Israel's violation of international law, the oppression of the Palestinians and the Israeli occupation of Palestine (West Bank and Gaza).
Although there are Norwegian laws prohibiting direct arms sales to Israel, Norwegian weapons are sold from the Nammo Group through its subsidiary in the United States, Nammo Talley. We believe that under no circumstances should Norway contribute to the illegal occupation of Palestine. We demand that no Norwegian-produced weapons or weapons components end up in Israel. The Nammo Group is a state-owned company. Therefore, this is a Norwegian political responsibility.
BDS Norway also took action against Nammo AS in August 2014. BDS has resolved to continue demonstrating until Norwegian authorities change both practice and legislation, so that the arms trade and collaboration with Israel ceases. www.bdsnorway.net
5 nov 2015
Palestinian organizations in the central West Bank province of Ramallah have launched a campaign to boycott Israeli products.
The campaign comes as part of endeavors to prop up the ongoing Jerusalem intifada, which started in early October.
The campaign launched by governmental and private institutions, along with organizations of the civil society, called for ceasing purchase and sale of Israeli products, including those produced in illegal settlements.
The campaign comes as part of endeavors to prop up the ongoing Jerusalem intifada, which started in early October.
The campaign launched by governmental and private institutions, along with organizations of the civil society, called for ceasing purchase and sale of Israeli products, including those produced in illegal settlements.