1 aug 2019
A right-wing Israeli NGO filed, on Wednesday, a petition to have US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar barred from entering Israel, when she arrives for an upcoming tour, because she supports the international boycott of Israel (BDS).
The organization, Shurat HaDin, asked the Israeli Jerusalem District Court, on Tuesday, to demand that Interior Minister Aryeh Deri exercise his power to deny Omar entry.
Omar expressed, during recent weeks, her desire to visit occupied Palestine, along with Palestinian-American Representative Rashida Tlaib, a Democrat from Michigan.
Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer, stated, according to Al Ray, that Israel will not prevent Omar Tlaib from entering Israel, when they arrive for a planned tour, in August.
Shuran HaDin said that its petition included proof of Omar’s activities supporting the BDS movement, including her sponsorship of a bill to allow the boycotting of Israel, earlier this month.
The NGO also cited a recent tweet by US President Donald Trump, calling on Omar and Tlaib to apologize to Israel, the White House and the American people, due to their “horrible statements.
It is noteworthy that the movement of BDS is quite active in the United States, especially in American universities.
Israel considers any anti- Israeli occupation activity as anti-Semitic, although many American Jews are involved in the activity of the boycott movement, because of their opposition to Israeli policies.
The organization, Shurat HaDin, asked the Israeli Jerusalem District Court, on Tuesday, to demand that Interior Minister Aryeh Deri exercise his power to deny Omar entry.
Omar expressed, during recent weeks, her desire to visit occupied Palestine, along with Palestinian-American Representative Rashida Tlaib, a Democrat from Michigan.
Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer, stated, according to Al Ray, that Israel will not prevent Omar Tlaib from entering Israel, when they arrive for a planned tour, in August.
Shuran HaDin said that its petition included proof of Omar’s activities supporting the BDS movement, including her sponsorship of a bill to allow the boycotting of Israel, earlier this month.
The NGO also cited a recent tweet by US President Donald Trump, calling on Omar and Tlaib to apologize to Israel, the White House and the American people, due to their “horrible statements.
It is noteworthy that the movement of BDS is quite active in the United States, especially in American universities.
Israel considers any anti- Israeli occupation activity as anti-Semitic, although many American Jews are involved in the activity of the boycott movement, because of their opposition to Israeli policies.
Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) / Germany[Deutsch]
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) calls on all participating artists in Pop-Kultur Berlin festival to withdraw, due to its ongoing partnership with the Israeli embassy.
Fourteen artists from six different countries withdrew from the last two editions of the festival for this reason, just as they would have withdrawn from an event in Germany partnered with the South African regime during the height of apartheid there.
Indeed, Israel gave constitutional status to its long-established apartheid regime against Palestinians with last year’s “Jewish Nation-State” law.
Emboldened by unprecedented levels of support from the Trump administration, Netanyahu recently declared that “Israel is not a state of all its citizens” and promised to annex the occupied Palestinian West Bank.
UN investigators have said that Israeli snipers’ intentional targeting of unarmed Palestinian protesters in the besieged Gaza Strip, including medics, journalists, children, and those with disabilities, “may constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity”.
Yet Israel has not been held to account. Its brutal siege of two million Palestinians in Gaza continues, and its impunity on the world stage remains intact.
This impunity is why thousands of artists now support the cultural boycott of Israel’s regime and complicit institutions, with Israel lobby groups privately acknowledging its impact and growth.
But regardless of whether or not a particular artist supports or endorses the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement for Palestinian rights, everyone has an ethical obligation to do no harm to nonviolent struggles for human rights by not undermining them and to defend freedom of expression.
Israel’s far-right regime of apartheid, occupation and settler-colonialism explicitly whitewashes its oppression against Palestinians through culture, including by partnering with supposedly progressive festivals.
Yet Pop-Kultur organisers have repeatedly made clear, in stark, vulgar and anti-Palestinian terms, that partnering with Israel is more important than maintaining its own artistic programme.
Indeed, the festival can no longer attract the diverse range of progressive artists that it could just a few years ago. Its organisers are screening all potential artists, excluding all those who might take issue with the festival’s collaboration with Israel’s regime of oppression.
For this reason, we anticipate fewer cancellations this year. But we and our partners in Germany and around the world, including progressive Jewish and Israeli groups and figures, will continue the campaign to boycott Pop-Kultur festival until it ends the partnership.
As the far-right continues to rise across the world, anti-racist movements like BDS are under increasing anti-democratic attack, including in Germany.
We agree with Martin Luther King Jr., that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”. We urge all participating artists to consider the ‘indivisibility of justice’ and to refuse to undermine the peaceful struggle for Palestinian human rights.
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) calls on all participating artists in Pop-Kultur Berlin festival to withdraw, due to its ongoing partnership with the Israeli embassy.
Fourteen artists from six different countries withdrew from the last two editions of the festival for this reason, just as they would have withdrawn from an event in Germany partnered with the South African regime during the height of apartheid there.
Indeed, Israel gave constitutional status to its long-established apartheid regime against Palestinians with last year’s “Jewish Nation-State” law.
Emboldened by unprecedented levels of support from the Trump administration, Netanyahu recently declared that “Israel is not a state of all its citizens” and promised to annex the occupied Palestinian West Bank.
UN investigators have said that Israeli snipers’ intentional targeting of unarmed Palestinian protesters in the besieged Gaza Strip, including medics, journalists, children, and those with disabilities, “may constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity”.
Yet Israel has not been held to account. Its brutal siege of two million Palestinians in Gaza continues, and its impunity on the world stage remains intact.
This impunity is why thousands of artists now support the cultural boycott of Israel’s regime and complicit institutions, with Israel lobby groups privately acknowledging its impact and growth.
But regardless of whether or not a particular artist supports or endorses the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement for Palestinian rights, everyone has an ethical obligation to do no harm to nonviolent struggles for human rights by not undermining them and to defend freedom of expression.
Israel’s far-right regime of apartheid, occupation and settler-colonialism explicitly whitewashes its oppression against Palestinians through culture, including by partnering with supposedly progressive festivals.
Yet Pop-Kultur organisers have repeatedly made clear, in stark, vulgar and anti-Palestinian terms, that partnering with Israel is more important than maintaining its own artistic programme.
Indeed, the festival can no longer attract the diverse range of progressive artists that it could just a few years ago. Its organisers are screening all potential artists, excluding all those who might take issue with the festival’s collaboration with Israel’s regime of oppression.
For this reason, we anticipate fewer cancellations this year. But we and our partners in Germany and around the world, including progressive Jewish and Israeli groups and figures, will continue the campaign to boycott Pop-Kultur festival until it ends the partnership.
As the far-right continues to rise across the world, anti-racist movements like BDS are under increasing anti-democratic attack, including in Germany.
We agree with Martin Luther King Jr., that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”. We urge all participating artists to consider the ‘indivisibility of justice’ and to refuse to undermine the peaceful struggle for Palestinian human rights.
On Tuesday, 30 July, 20 more Palestinian prisoners joined the eight administrative detainees already on hunger strike as Mohammed Abu Aker, Mustafa Hassanat and Huzaifa Halabiya entered their second month without food.
The prison branch of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine announced that 20 prisoners in the Negev desert prison were joining the strike to demand freedom for administrative detainees and an end of imprisonment without charge or trial.
The 20 prisoners who joined the strike were led by Wael Jaghoub, the leader of the PFLP’s prison branch. The full list of the new strikers is as follows:
In joining the strike, the prisoners issued a statement that “the procrastination and evasion of the prison administration and its failure to implement an agreement for the three sriking prisoners: Huzaifa Halabiya, Mohammed Abu Aker and Mustafa al-Hassanat, will receive further escalation and response.” They emphasized that the Israeli prison administration holds full responsibility for the lives and health of the strikers as they enter their second month on hunger strike.
In retaliation for the announcement, Israeli repressive units stormed two sections of the prison, specifically those where PFLP prisoners are held. Their rooms in sections 10 and 13 were raided and searched, while many prisoners were transferred from section to section. In particular, prisoners were threatened with transfer to other prisons if they continue their strike.
Abu Aker turned 25 on 30 July as he ended his first month of hunger strike. A student leader and activist in Dheisheh refugee camp, he is the son of fellow former prisoner, journalist and activist Nidal Abu Aker, who spent approximately 14 years in Israeli prison and launched his own hunger strike against administrative detention in 2015.
He was previously imprisoned for 27 months and has been jailed without charge or trial since November 2018. His father reported that Abu Aker rejected an Israeli offer to release him four months after the end of his current detention order to end his strike. Abu Aker has lost 20 kilos of weight (approximately 44 pounds) since launching his strike on 1 July.
A student at the University of Bethlehem, his education has been repeatedly interrupted by Israeli arrests and imprisonment, this time without charge or trial. He is known for his speeches and clear leftist politics, representing the Palestinian student movement at events and activities at the university. He is currently held under isolation in the Ramle prison clinic.
He is joined by Huzaifa Halabiya, 28, from Abu Dis, Jerusalem. Halabiya is a leukemia survivor who suffered burns over the majority of his body as a child and requires intensive medical care and treatment.
Still, he has launched a hunger strike to demand his freedom after being jailed without charge or trial for over a year, since 10 June 2018. Halabiya is held in isolation at Nitzan Ramle; he has lost 14 kg (approximately 30 pounds) since launching his hunger strike on 1 July.
He is boycotting the prison clinic and refusing to receive medication. When he was arrested by Israeli occupation forces, his wife was pregnant; he is now the father of a 6-month-old girl, Majdal, but has been denied the opportunity to even meet his daughter.
Mustafa Hassanat, 21, also from Dheisheh camp, has been on hunger strike with Abu Aker and Halabiya since 1 July. He has been detained since 5 June 2018 and has been issued two additional administrative detention orders sine the first, jailing him without charge or trial for over a year and sparking his strike.
Also on hunger strike are five more Palestinians jailed without charge or trial:
Two more hunger strikers, Musab al-Abed and Hamza Awad, suspended their strikes on 30 July after an agreement to end their administrative detention.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges all supporters and friends of Palestine everywhere around the world to stand with these courageous prisoners who have put their lives on the line to seek freedom and an end to the unjust system of administrative detention. International solidarity can help them win their struggles, so all of our participation, protests and petitions can play a role in helping them to seize victory for justice and freedom.
Take Action:
1) Organize or join an event or protest for the Palestinian prisoners. You can organize an info table, rally, solidarity hunger strike, protest or action to support the prisoners. If you are already holding an event about Palestine or social justice, include solidarity with the prisoners as part of your action. Send your events and reports to samidoun@samidoun.net.
2) Write letters and make phone calls to protest the violation of Palestinian prisoners’ rights. Demand your government take action to stop supporting Israeli occupation or to pressure the Israeli state to end the policies of repression of Palestinian political prisoners. In particular, demand that your political officials put pressure on Israel to end the policy of administrative detention, the imprisonment of Palestinians without charge or trial.
Call during your country’s regular office hours:
• Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs Marise Payne: + 61 2 6277 7500
• Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland: +1-613-992-5234
• European Union Commissioner Federica Mogherini: +32 (0) 2 29 53516
• New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters: +64 4 439 8000
• United Kingdom Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt: +44 20 7008 1500
• United States President Donald Trump: 1-202-456-1111
3) Boycott, Divest and Sanction. Join the BDS campaign to highlight the complicity of corporations like Hewlett-Packard and the continuing involvement of G4S in Israeli policing and prisons. Build a campaign to boycott Israeli goods, impose a military embargo on Israel, or organize around the academic and cultural boycott of Israel. Learn more about the BDS campaign at bdsmovement.net.
The prison branch of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine announced that 20 prisoners in the Negev desert prison were joining the strike to demand freedom for administrative detainees and an end of imprisonment without charge or trial.
The 20 prisoners who joined the strike were led by Wael Jaghoub, the leader of the PFLP’s prison branch. The full list of the new strikers is as follows:
- Wael Jaghoub
- Thaer Hanani
- Yahya Zahran, sentenced to 22 years, from Askar refugee camp
- Fadi Khaizaran, serving a 26 year sentence, from Balata camp
- Iyad Abu Khait, serving a 24 year sentence, from Askar refugee camp
- Hassan Ahmad Abu Kamel,serving a 22 year sentence, from Askar refugee camp
- Ra’afat Assous, serving a 20 year sentence, from Burin
- Musaab Mahmoud, serving a 24 year sentence, from Beit Umrin
- Muath Kaabi, serving a 3-year sentence, from Balata refugee camp
- Tareq Darwish, serving a 7-year sentence, from Issawiya
- Ahmad Abu Amsha, serving a 6 year sentence, from Zawat, Nablus
- Ismail Alayan, held in administrative detention, from Dheisheh camp
- Mahmoud Hamash, held in administative detention, from Dheisheh camp
- Shehab Mezher, held in administrative detention, from Dheisheh camp
- Shafiq Saabneh, serving an 11-year sentence, from Jenin
- Mohammed al-Rashdi, serving an 11 year sentence, from Shu’afat refugee camp
- Mohammed al-Zaanoun, serving an 18-yea sentence, from Hallal
- Mohammed Firawi, serving an 8 year sentence, from Jerusalem
- Mohammed Abu Hamad, serving a 7 year sentence, from Shu’afat refugee camp
- Sultan Abu al-Hummus, serving a 7 year sentence, from Issawiya, Jerusalem
In joining the strike, the prisoners issued a statement that “the procrastination and evasion of the prison administration and its failure to implement an agreement for the three sriking prisoners: Huzaifa Halabiya, Mohammed Abu Aker and Mustafa al-Hassanat, will receive further escalation and response.” They emphasized that the Israeli prison administration holds full responsibility for the lives and health of the strikers as they enter their second month on hunger strike.
In retaliation for the announcement, Israeli repressive units stormed two sections of the prison, specifically those where PFLP prisoners are held. Their rooms in sections 10 and 13 were raided and searched, while many prisoners were transferred from section to section. In particular, prisoners were threatened with transfer to other prisons if they continue their strike.
Abu Aker turned 25 on 30 July as he ended his first month of hunger strike. A student leader and activist in Dheisheh refugee camp, he is the son of fellow former prisoner, journalist and activist Nidal Abu Aker, who spent approximately 14 years in Israeli prison and launched his own hunger strike against administrative detention in 2015.
He was previously imprisoned for 27 months and has been jailed without charge or trial since November 2018. His father reported that Abu Aker rejected an Israeli offer to release him four months after the end of his current detention order to end his strike. Abu Aker has lost 20 kilos of weight (approximately 44 pounds) since launching his strike on 1 July.
A student at the University of Bethlehem, his education has been repeatedly interrupted by Israeli arrests and imprisonment, this time without charge or trial. He is known for his speeches and clear leftist politics, representing the Palestinian student movement at events and activities at the university. He is currently held under isolation in the Ramle prison clinic.
He is joined by Huzaifa Halabiya, 28, from Abu Dis, Jerusalem. Halabiya is a leukemia survivor who suffered burns over the majority of his body as a child and requires intensive medical care and treatment.
Still, he has launched a hunger strike to demand his freedom after being jailed without charge or trial for over a year, since 10 June 2018. Halabiya is held in isolation at Nitzan Ramle; he has lost 14 kg (approximately 30 pounds) since launching his hunger strike on 1 July.
He is boycotting the prison clinic and refusing to receive medication. When he was arrested by Israeli occupation forces, his wife was pregnant; he is now the father of a 6-month-old girl, Majdal, but has been denied the opportunity to even meet his daughter.
Mustafa Hassanat, 21, also from Dheisheh camp, has been on hunger strike with Abu Aker and Halabiya since 1 July. He has been detained since 5 June 2018 and has been issued two additional administrative detention orders sine the first, jailing him without charge or trial for over a year and sparking his strike.
Also on hunger strike are five more Palestinians jailed without charge or trial:
- Ahmad Ghannam, 42, from Dura near al-Khalil, has been on hunger strike for 17 days against his administrative detention.
- Sultan Khallouf, 38, of Burqin, who has been on hunger strike for 13 days. The Ofer military court postponed a hearing in his case until 8 August on 31 July.
- Ismail Ali, 30, of Abu Dis, Jerusalem, also the hometown of Huzaifa Halabiya, has been on hunger strike for one week against his imprisonment without charge.
- Wajdi Awawda, 20, launched his hunger strike against his imprisonment without charge or trial three days ago. In addition to being held under administrative detention without charge or trial, he needs surgery for a pelvic injury that has been repeatedly denied.
- Tariq Qa’adan, 46, from Jenin, has been on hunger strike for one day against his imprisonment without charge or trial. A former prisoner who has spent 11 years in prison, he has been jailed since 23 February 2019. After his two-month sentence expired, he was transferred to administrative detention rather than being released as scheduled. He launched his hunger strike on 31 July.
Two more hunger strikers, Musab al-Abed and Hamza Awad, suspended their strikes on 30 July after an agreement to end their administrative detention.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges all supporters and friends of Palestine everywhere around the world to stand with these courageous prisoners who have put their lives on the line to seek freedom and an end to the unjust system of administrative detention. International solidarity can help them win their struggles, so all of our participation, protests and petitions can play a role in helping them to seize victory for justice and freedom.
Take Action:
1) Organize or join an event or protest for the Palestinian prisoners. You can organize an info table, rally, solidarity hunger strike, protest or action to support the prisoners. If you are already holding an event about Palestine or social justice, include solidarity with the prisoners as part of your action. Send your events and reports to samidoun@samidoun.net.
2) Write letters and make phone calls to protest the violation of Palestinian prisoners’ rights. Demand your government take action to stop supporting Israeli occupation or to pressure the Israeli state to end the policies of repression of Palestinian political prisoners. In particular, demand that your political officials put pressure on Israel to end the policy of administrative detention, the imprisonment of Palestinians without charge or trial.
Call during your country’s regular office hours:
• Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs Marise Payne: + 61 2 6277 7500
• Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland: +1-613-992-5234
• European Union Commissioner Federica Mogherini: +32 (0) 2 29 53516
• New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters: +64 4 439 8000
• United Kingdom Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt: +44 20 7008 1500
• United States President Donald Trump: 1-202-456-1111
3) Boycott, Divest and Sanction. Join the BDS campaign to highlight the complicity of corporations like Hewlett-Packard and the continuing involvement of G4S in Israeli policing and prisons. Build a campaign to boycott Israeli goods, impose a military embargo on Israel, or organize around the academic and cultural boycott of Israel. Learn more about the BDS campaign at bdsmovement.net.
30 july 2019
Hanan Ashrawi, member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) welcomed the ruling of Canada's federal court on the illegality of labeling wine originating from illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, as products made in Israel.
“This is an important first step for Canada and beyond, as this landmark ruling is an affirmation of the supremacy of the law and Canada's obligation to respect international law, which considers settlements illegal and does not recognize them as part of Israel, said Ashrawi in a statement.
“In light of this important ruling, the Palestinian leadership calls on the Canadian government to act in accordance with Canadian and international laws and amend, without delay, the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act (Bill C-85), which affords products originating from illegal Israeli settlements tariff free status, in flagrant violation of Canada's obligations under international law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention, and United Nations Security Council resolutions, including resolution 2334 (2016).
This ruling now clearly demonstrates that the agreement also violates Canadian law and values,” added the statement.
Ashrawi called on all other states, particularly the European Union, Israel's largest trading partner, to apply EU and international laws to its agreements with Israel. “It is long overdue for the EU to take the minimal step of properly labeling products originating from Israel's illegal settlements and to ensure that its partnership agreements do not further enable or favor the continued looting of Palestinian natural resources and the profiteering from the commission is a war crime, as defined in the Rome Statute.”
Israel's illegal settlement regime is the embodiment of its colonial agenda in Palestine and its determined efforts to deny the Palestinian people their inalienable rights to self-determination and freedom. The obligation of all states to respect international law and the Palestinian people's national rights is absolute.
Such respect can only be ensured by practical steps that deny Israel and complicit companies the ability to profiteer from the colonial occupation and the flagrant violations of international law. Accountability is the shortest and most assured path to justice, the statement concluded.
“This is an important first step for Canada and beyond, as this landmark ruling is an affirmation of the supremacy of the law and Canada's obligation to respect international law, which considers settlements illegal and does not recognize them as part of Israel, said Ashrawi in a statement.
“In light of this important ruling, the Palestinian leadership calls on the Canadian government to act in accordance with Canadian and international laws and amend, without delay, the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act (Bill C-85), which affords products originating from illegal Israeli settlements tariff free status, in flagrant violation of Canada's obligations under international law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention, and United Nations Security Council resolutions, including resolution 2334 (2016).
This ruling now clearly demonstrates that the agreement also violates Canadian law and values,” added the statement.
Ashrawi called on all other states, particularly the European Union, Israel's largest trading partner, to apply EU and international laws to its agreements with Israel. “It is long overdue for the EU to take the minimal step of properly labeling products originating from Israel's illegal settlements and to ensure that its partnership agreements do not further enable or favor the continued looting of Palestinian natural resources and the profiteering from the commission is a war crime, as defined in the Rome Statute.”
Israel's illegal settlement regime is the embodiment of its colonial agenda in Palestine and its determined efforts to deny the Palestinian people their inalienable rights to self-determination and freedom. The obligation of all states to respect international law and the Palestinian people's national rights is absolute.
Such respect can only be ensured by practical steps that deny Israel and complicit companies the ability to profiteer from the colonial occupation and the flagrant violations of international law. Accountability is the shortest and most assured path to justice, the statement concluded.
28 july 2019
Middle East Eye quotes Yousef Munayyer, USCPR executive director, in an article covering the responses of Palestinian advocates to H. Res. 246, a non-binding resolution that condemns BDS and is intended to chill speech for Palestinian rights. H. Res. 246 passed the House of Representatives on July 23, with 398 votes for the resolution, 17 against, and 17 abstentions.
Yousef Munayyer, executive director of the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR), rebuked US lawmakers for passing the resolution “as Israel commits war crimes against Palestinians and their soldiers laugh & pose with civilian homes they destroyed”.
Munayyer was referring to the Israeli destruction of nearly a dozen buildings in the Palestinian village of Sur Bahir earlier this week. Those demolitions were widely condemned, with rights groups accusing Israel of committing a war crime.
“What they don’t get is, this is precisely why civil society boycotts continue to grow; the abject failure of govt to hold Israel accountable,” Munayyer wrote on Twitter.
Yousef Munayyer, executive director of the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR), rebuked US lawmakers for passing the resolution “as Israel commits war crimes against Palestinians and their soldiers laugh & pose with civilian homes they destroyed”.
Munayyer was referring to the Israeli destruction of nearly a dozen buildings in the Palestinian village of Sur Bahir earlier this week. Those demolitions were widely condemned, with rights groups accusing Israel of committing a war crime.
“What they don’t get is, this is precisely why civil society boycotts continue to grow; the abject failure of govt to hold Israel accountable,” Munayyer wrote on Twitter.
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