24 feb 2019
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Danielle Alma Ravitzki explains how the Israeli government uses the Eurovision song contest to whitewash and pinkwash its crimes against Palestinians. This year the contest will take place in Tel-Aviv, and artists from around the world are calling for a boycott.
Video & Transcript MARC STEINER: Welcome to The Real News Network, I’m Marc Steiner. Great to have you all with us. This year, the Eurovision music festival takes place on May the 14th in Tel Aviv. |
Israel won the right to host the Eurovision competition because Israeli singer Netta Barzilai won first place last year. Now, her victory was celebrated with a massive party in Tel Aviv on the very same day that that Israeli forces killed 59 unarmed protesters in Gaza, who are commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Nakba, which is the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948 during what the Israelis see as the war of liberation following the founding of the state of Israel.
For the Israeli public, being part of Eurovision is a huge deal. Even though Israel is not part of Europe, it’s symbolically extremely important. There’s now a worldwide campaign calling on Eurovision not to hold the event in Israel. Dozens of artists in the United Kingdom appealed to the BBC not to cover the contest. Many artists in Australia, Iceland, other nations, have declared they will not compete if Eurovision is held in Tel Aviv. And to celebrate Israel’s hosting Eurovision, last year’s winner, Netta Barzilai, released a brand new song. Now let’s watch a few seconds of that.
Now here to discuss the cultural and political significance of all of this is Danielle Alma Ravitzki. She’s joining us now from New York City. Danielle is a Jewish Israeli human rights activist, a BDS activist, a performer who is currently producing her third album, where she composes music to the words of Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour, who was jailed in Israel, sent to prison for poems she’d published. Alma Ravitzki is also a member of the organization Boycott: Supporting the Palestinian BDS Call from Within.
MARC STEINER: And Danielle, welcome. Good to have you with us here on The Real News.
DANIELLE ALMA RAVITZKI: Hello. Thank you for having me.
MARC STEINER: I can’t wait to hear the entire album. I’m going to play a little cut from it, but we’ll talk about that in a minute or two.
DANIELLE ALMA RAVITZKI: Thank you.
MARC STEINER: So in Israel, the official Israeli line is that this cultural boycott is wrong because culture transcends politics. And a lot of artists who want to participate in Eurovision don’t think they’re making a political decision, they think they’re part of a consciousness. Even some people I’ve talked to have said, “We’re doing this because I can support the Palestinians and still perform, because this is about universal love and performing our music.” So what’s your sense of that conflict?
DANIELLE ALMA RAVITZKI: First of all, as an artist I find this patently false because I think people have this tendency to believe that politics is something that has to do with parliament and government and talking about the specific people within those systems. And that is wrong. Everything is political, everything. You wake up in the morning, you drink coffee, the clothes you wear, your socioeconomic status, you gender, your sexual orientation, everything is political. And I think that art in particular is political. It is a political statement.
And here are plenty of artists that went on stage and spoke about peace and coexistence. First of all, it didn’t lead to any change. And second, the Israeli society is too indoctrinated and too brainwashed to basically bring about change. And it’s very important to realize that Israel is an apartheid state. There are over 65 laws that basically deprive Palestinian citizens of Israel from basic human and civil rights that their Jewish counterparts get to enjoy. And there are separate roads for Jews and for Palestinians in the West Bank, and Gaza is most definitely a ghetto. And so, Israel is an apartheid state. And just like international boycott ended the apartheid regime in South Africa, that would do the same in Israel.
MARC STEINER: So would you, as an artist, as a singer, as a writer, as a composer, would you also not perform in your own country?
DANIELLE ALMA RAVITZKI: I can’t. The BDS calls outsiders and foreigners to basically boycott Israel. I can boycott settlements and I can not purchase settlement goods and settlement product, but the BDS does not aim to speak with Israelis or initiate even with them. It’s about the world and citizens of other countries who boycott Israel.
MARC STEINER: So what is your assessment, very quickly, of where you think this will go? I mean, do you think that there will be a massive number of artists who will not participate in the Eurovision if it’s in Tel Aviv in two months in Israel, or do you think it will fizzle out? I mean, what’s your political sense of what’s going to happen?
DANIELLE ALMA RAVITZKI: I think that the world is much more aware of Israel’s atrocities and human rights violations. And so, first of all, the BDS is something that is now a debate and people talk about it and people see it. And a lot of artists canceled, too. As to Eurovision, Iceland signed a petition calling to boycott Israel as well as Ireland. And so, there is a growing awareness of what Israel is doing. But I think that the fact that people talk about it is quite a success, I believe.
MARC STEINER: So Israel clearly put a lot of money, time, and effort promoting Netta Barzilai’s song Toy last year so they could win, setting up the possibility that Israel would then become the host of the Eurovision. And her music seems to be about women’s empowerment from what I’ve heard. And we just heard a few seconds from it earlier. I mean, do you think that her message coincides with what the Israelis want to see the world see Israel as? Is there something deeper about her music that is actually about women and about more liberation? I mean, is there a contradiction inside of there? And how does it fit into the whole part of what Israel did to push her to become the winner of this contest?
I think there was a great contradiction and I actually think that as a woman and a feminist I’m really disgusted by her cynical use of women to promote a very misogynistic and chauvinistic ideology which is Zionism. And I think that Neda is not an intersectional feminist. She basically promotes white feminism, which is equivalent to white supremacy. And there were so many Palestinian women that Israel murdered. There was a pregnant woman in Qalandiya checkpoint that Israeli soldiers shot to death. And there is Aisha Rabi, who was stoned to death by Israeli settlers.
And even in the song that I composed, Dareen writes about a woman who was basically left bleeding to death by Israeli soldiers. Netta does not address his woman. I don’t think she even cares about them, to be honest. And Palestinian women are the most oppressed in Israel and West Bank and Gaza.
And so, for me, promoting white feminism is the same as promoting white supremacy, especially in an ideology such as Zionism, which is inherently masculine and belligerent and violent and adores the army, which is nothing, there is nothing feminist about it, the complete opposite in fact.
MARC STEINER: So another couple of quick points here just to get through in our conversation. Eurovision is extremely popular in the LGBTQ community around the world and a lot of the artists from that community and saying, “Go to the boycott.” A lot of people are saying, Wait, you can’t do that, because Israel is one of those countries where people who are gay and lesbian and trans and queer have more rights and more abilities to live a life without being beaten, stoned, and killed than they do in other places, so you don’t have this story straight.” So unpack that for us a little bit.
DANIELLE ALMA RAVITZKI: This is what is called pinkwashing. It’s basically the whitewashing of the LGBTQ community. And just like Israel does not promote women’s rights in any way or form, it does not promote LGBTQ rights. And I believe that racism, misogyny, homophobia are a package deal, whether it’s in individuals or states. And usually when one of them is performed, then the other ones are performed too.
And so, Israel deprives the LGBTQ community of basic rights. For example, same sex couples cannot get married in Israel. And also there was this whole debate about rights. And while the debate is indeed worthy and it is something that is problematic, I believe that the fact that it is only applied on heterosexual couples and not on homosexual couples is oppression by definition. And whether you ban it or whether you allow it, you should allow it or ban it from everyone.
And the moment that you take one group of people and you apply a certain law that they can abide by, but it does not apply to another group of people within the same geographical location. This is by definition oppression. And so, Israel is not tolerant towards the LGBTQ community at all.
MARC STEINER: We’re here talking in Danielle Alma Ravitzki about the Eurovision contest that’s coming to Tel Aviv May the 14th and the international movement to boycott that event in Israel. And in a moment, we’re going to come back and finish our conversation with Danielle and explore the work she’s doing as she works with the words of Dareen Tatour, who’s a Palestinian woman put in prison for her poetry. Danielle is composing an album of her work. We’re going to hear a little bit about that when we return, so you don’t want to miss that conversation.
Thanks for being with us. I’m Marc Steiner here for The Real News Network.
For the Israeli public, being part of Eurovision is a huge deal. Even though Israel is not part of Europe, it’s symbolically extremely important. There’s now a worldwide campaign calling on Eurovision not to hold the event in Israel. Dozens of artists in the United Kingdom appealed to the BBC not to cover the contest. Many artists in Australia, Iceland, other nations, have declared they will not compete if Eurovision is held in Tel Aviv. And to celebrate Israel’s hosting Eurovision, last year’s winner, Netta Barzilai, released a brand new song. Now let’s watch a few seconds of that.
Now here to discuss the cultural and political significance of all of this is Danielle Alma Ravitzki. She’s joining us now from New York City. Danielle is a Jewish Israeli human rights activist, a BDS activist, a performer who is currently producing her third album, where she composes music to the words of Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour, who was jailed in Israel, sent to prison for poems she’d published. Alma Ravitzki is also a member of the organization Boycott: Supporting the Palestinian BDS Call from Within.
MARC STEINER: And Danielle, welcome. Good to have you with us here on The Real News.
DANIELLE ALMA RAVITZKI: Hello. Thank you for having me.
MARC STEINER: I can’t wait to hear the entire album. I’m going to play a little cut from it, but we’ll talk about that in a minute or two.
DANIELLE ALMA RAVITZKI: Thank you.
MARC STEINER: So in Israel, the official Israeli line is that this cultural boycott is wrong because culture transcends politics. And a lot of artists who want to participate in Eurovision don’t think they’re making a political decision, they think they’re part of a consciousness. Even some people I’ve talked to have said, “We’re doing this because I can support the Palestinians and still perform, because this is about universal love and performing our music.” So what’s your sense of that conflict?
DANIELLE ALMA RAVITZKI: First of all, as an artist I find this patently false because I think people have this tendency to believe that politics is something that has to do with parliament and government and talking about the specific people within those systems. And that is wrong. Everything is political, everything. You wake up in the morning, you drink coffee, the clothes you wear, your socioeconomic status, you gender, your sexual orientation, everything is political. And I think that art in particular is political. It is a political statement.
And here are plenty of artists that went on stage and spoke about peace and coexistence. First of all, it didn’t lead to any change. And second, the Israeli society is too indoctrinated and too brainwashed to basically bring about change. And it’s very important to realize that Israel is an apartheid state. There are over 65 laws that basically deprive Palestinian citizens of Israel from basic human and civil rights that their Jewish counterparts get to enjoy. And there are separate roads for Jews and for Palestinians in the West Bank, and Gaza is most definitely a ghetto. And so, Israel is an apartheid state. And just like international boycott ended the apartheid regime in South Africa, that would do the same in Israel.
MARC STEINER: So would you, as an artist, as a singer, as a writer, as a composer, would you also not perform in your own country?
DANIELLE ALMA RAVITZKI: I can’t. The BDS calls outsiders and foreigners to basically boycott Israel. I can boycott settlements and I can not purchase settlement goods and settlement product, but the BDS does not aim to speak with Israelis or initiate even with them. It’s about the world and citizens of other countries who boycott Israel.
MARC STEINER: So what is your assessment, very quickly, of where you think this will go? I mean, do you think that there will be a massive number of artists who will not participate in the Eurovision if it’s in Tel Aviv in two months in Israel, or do you think it will fizzle out? I mean, what’s your political sense of what’s going to happen?
DANIELLE ALMA RAVITZKI: I think that the world is much more aware of Israel’s atrocities and human rights violations. And so, first of all, the BDS is something that is now a debate and people talk about it and people see it. And a lot of artists canceled, too. As to Eurovision, Iceland signed a petition calling to boycott Israel as well as Ireland. And so, there is a growing awareness of what Israel is doing. But I think that the fact that people talk about it is quite a success, I believe.
MARC STEINER: So Israel clearly put a lot of money, time, and effort promoting Netta Barzilai’s song Toy last year so they could win, setting up the possibility that Israel would then become the host of the Eurovision. And her music seems to be about women’s empowerment from what I’ve heard. And we just heard a few seconds from it earlier. I mean, do you think that her message coincides with what the Israelis want to see the world see Israel as? Is there something deeper about her music that is actually about women and about more liberation? I mean, is there a contradiction inside of there? And how does it fit into the whole part of what Israel did to push her to become the winner of this contest?
I think there was a great contradiction and I actually think that as a woman and a feminist I’m really disgusted by her cynical use of women to promote a very misogynistic and chauvinistic ideology which is Zionism. And I think that Neda is not an intersectional feminist. She basically promotes white feminism, which is equivalent to white supremacy. And there were so many Palestinian women that Israel murdered. There was a pregnant woman in Qalandiya checkpoint that Israeli soldiers shot to death. And there is Aisha Rabi, who was stoned to death by Israeli settlers.
And even in the song that I composed, Dareen writes about a woman who was basically left bleeding to death by Israeli soldiers. Netta does not address his woman. I don’t think she even cares about them, to be honest. And Palestinian women are the most oppressed in Israel and West Bank and Gaza.
And so, for me, promoting white feminism is the same as promoting white supremacy, especially in an ideology such as Zionism, which is inherently masculine and belligerent and violent and adores the army, which is nothing, there is nothing feminist about it, the complete opposite in fact.
MARC STEINER: So another couple of quick points here just to get through in our conversation. Eurovision is extremely popular in the LGBTQ community around the world and a lot of the artists from that community and saying, “Go to the boycott.” A lot of people are saying, Wait, you can’t do that, because Israel is one of those countries where people who are gay and lesbian and trans and queer have more rights and more abilities to live a life without being beaten, stoned, and killed than they do in other places, so you don’t have this story straight.” So unpack that for us a little bit.
DANIELLE ALMA RAVITZKI: This is what is called pinkwashing. It’s basically the whitewashing of the LGBTQ community. And just like Israel does not promote women’s rights in any way or form, it does not promote LGBTQ rights. And I believe that racism, misogyny, homophobia are a package deal, whether it’s in individuals or states. And usually when one of them is performed, then the other ones are performed too.
And so, Israel deprives the LGBTQ community of basic rights. For example, same sex couples cannot get married in Israel. And also there was this whole debate about rights. And while the debate is indeed worthy and it is something that is problematic, I believe that the fact that it is only applied on heterosexual couples and not on homosexual couples is oppression by definition. And whether you ban it or whether you allow it, you should allow it or ban it from everyone.
And the moment that you take one group of people and you apply a certain law that they can abide by, but it does not apply to another group of people within the same geographical location. This is by definition oppression. And so, Israel is not tolerant towards the LGBTQ community at all.
MARC STEINER: We’re here talking in Danielle Alma Ravitzki about the Eurovision contest that’s coming to Tel Aviv May the 14th and the international movement to boycott that event in Israel. And in a moment, we’re going to come back and finish our conversation with Danielle and explore the work she’s doing as she works with the words of Dareen Tatour, who’s a Palestinian woman put in prison for her poetry. Danielle is composing an album of her work. We’re going to hear a little bit about that when we return, so you don’t want to miss that conversation.
Thanks for being with us. I’m Marc Steiner here for The Real News Network.
21 feb 2019
By Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC)
The EuroAsia Interconnector is projected to link electricity grids in Israel, Cyprus and Greece via the world’s longest submarine power cable.
Crucially, the Interconnector would connect Europe’s electricity grid with Israel’s grid that incorporates the illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem (OPT), implicating Europe in Israel’s war crimes.
The Interconnector is explicitly defined as enabling ‘multi-directional’ and ‘bi-directional transmission of electricity’, thus directly connecting Europe and the illegal Israeli settlements. Israel plans to use the Interconnector to export to Europe electricity produced from its controversial gas discoveries.
At a cost of €3.5 billion, the project’s stated aim is to end the energy isolation of Cyprus and Crete, linking them to the European network, and to create an “energy bridge between the continents of Asia and Europe.” The project claims to enhance “further the three countries’ geopolitical importance in regard to EU energy security and supply.”
Alongside the EuroAsia Interconnector, a subsea ultra high speed fiber-optic cable system will be laid to connect Israel, at one end, and Spain at the other, passing through Cyprus, Greece, Italy and France. The integration of the so-called Quantum cable in the EuroAsia Interconnector project was agreed at a Greece-Cyprus-Israel trilateral summit in June 2017 at a cost of $200 million and expected to go live in 2020.
Laying of the Quantum cable will mean that 60% of the world’s internet traffic – between Europe and Asia – will pass through Israel, raising serious concerns on security and civil rights.
The Israeli media recently revealed the deep involvement of Israel’s cyber-spying technology in helping “world dictators hunt dissidents and gays”. An Israeli company, with full protection from the Israeli government, is accused of enabling the Saudi regime’s tracking of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, eventually leading to his brutal murder.
Construction of the EuroAsia Interconnector is expected to start in June 2019 and end in December 2023.
BNC Briefing – The EuroAsia… by on Scribd
The EuroAsia Interconnector is projected to link electricity grids in Israel, Cyprus and Greece via the world’s longest submarine power cable.
Crucially, the Interconnector would connect Europe’s electricity grid with Israel’s grid that incorporates the illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem (OPT), implicating Europe in Israel’s war crimes.
The Interconnector is explicitly defined as enabling ‘multi-directional’ and ‘bi-directional transmission of electricity’, thus directly connecting Europe and the illegal Israeli settlements. Israel plans to use the Interconnector to export to Europe electricity produced from its controversial gas discoveries.
At a cost of €3.5 billion, the project’s stated aim is to end the energy isolation of Cyprus and Crete, linking them to the European network, and to create an “energy bridge between the continents of Asia and Europe.” The project claims to enhance “further the three countries’ geopolitical importance in regard to EU energy security and supply.”
Alongside the EuroAsia Interconnector, a subsea ultra high speed fiber-optic cable system will be laid to connect Israel, at one end, and Spain at the other, passing through Cyprus, Greece, Italy and France. The integration of the so-called Quantum cable in the EuroAsia Interconnector project was agreed at a Greece-Cyprus-Israel trilateral summit in June 2017 at a cost of $200 million and expected to go live in 2020.
Laying of the Quantum cable will mean that 60% of the world’s internet traffic – between Europe and Asia – will pass through Israel, raising serious concerns on security and civil rights.
The Israeli media recently revealed the deep involvement of Israel’s cyber-spying technology in helping “world dictators hunt dissidents and gays”. An Israeli company, with full protection from the Israeli government, is accused of enabling the Saudi regime’s tracking of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, eventually leading to his brutal murder.
Construction of the EuroAsia Interconnector is expected to start in June 2019 and end in December 2023.
BNC Briefing – The EuroAsia… by on Scribd
France reportedly threatened to boycott the Eurovision song contest to be held in Tel Aviv, in southern Israel, as a form of protest against an Israeli television series which portrays France’s entry in the competition as a terrorist.
Hebrew-language news outlets reported, on Thursday, that the Israeli television series entitled “Douze Points,” portrays a French-Algerian Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) terrorist posing as a homosexual who represents his country at the international song contest, in hopes of carrying out a terrorist attack live on television.
The television series will air the same week as Eurovision 2019, which is being hosted by Israel in mid-May.
Sources added the series has apparently caused tension with French authorities due to France’s contestant at the Eurovision being Bilal Hassani, a homosexual with a Muslim background.
The French TV broadcasting authority has warned the Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation against airing the controversial series and threatened to boycott the contest if it is not cancelled.
Hebrew-language news outlets reported, on Thursday, that the Israeli television series entitled “Douze Points,” portrays a French-Algerian Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) terrorist posing as a homosexual who represents his country at the international song contest, in hopes of carrying out a terrorist attack live on television.
The television series will air the same week as Eurovision 2019, which is being hosted by Israel in mid-May.
Sources added the series has apparently caused tension with French authorities due to France’s contestant at the Eurovision being Bilal Hassani, a homosexual with a Muslim background.
The French TV broadcasting authority has warned the Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation against airing the controversial series and threatened to boycott the contest if it is not cancelled.
20 feb 2019
By Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors and Employees (PFUUPE)
The Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors and Employees (PFUUPE) and The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) urge the Asociación Internacional de Hispanistas (AIH) to move its July 2019 congress from Hebrew University. Holding the conference in any complicit Israeli institution would implicate the association in Israel’s grave violations of international law and Palestinian human rights.
Significant parts of Hebrew University are built on stolen Palestinian land, including illegally seized private Palestinian property in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem.
Holding the AIH congress at Hebrew University whitewashes Israel’s decades-old military occupation and reinforces its unlawful claim of sovereignty over Jerusalem. The UN and the international community, with the notable exception of Trump’s xenophobic and anti-Palestinian administration, do not recognize Israeli sovereignty over any part of Jerusalem.
The AIH congress is sponsored by the Israeli government, which is actively working to rid Jerusalem of its indigenous Palestinian inhabitants, including through systematic home demolitions and forced expulsions. Hebrew University itself has taken legal action to evict Palestinian families and demolish their homes for the construction of campus facilities, in violation of international law.
The conference website lists Israeli hotel accommodations in occupied East Jerusalem and falsely presents prominent Palestinian places of worship in occupied East Jerusalem as part of Israel.
Hebrew University’s complicity is not limited to its location. The university maintains close ties with the Israeli authorities responsible for direct attacks on Palestinian education. Hebrew University provides special privileges to Israeli soldiers and security personnel and directly collaborates with the Israeli army.
The Israeli military has bombed, raided and ransacked Palestinian universities and schools. Palestinian academics and students are forced to endure the indignities of Israeli military checkpoints and are often denied their basic freedom of movement and academic freedom.
Israel regularly denies Palestinians permits to travel abroad to further their research or attend conferences. During the past academic year alone, Israel denied entry or refused visa renewals for dozens of international staff and faculty at Palestinian universities. This systematic attack on the Palestinian right to education is part of Israel’s policy of “scholasticide.”
In July, Hebrew University hosted a recruitment event for Shin Bet, Israel’s notorious secret police, which has been condemned by the UN Committee Against Torture for its frequent use of torture and other illegal interrogation tactics on Palestinian political prisoners and child detainees.
Last spring, Hebrew University held an event organized by several settlement institutions, including Kfar Etzion Field School in the illegal Israeli settlement of Gush Etzion, and a department of Ariel University, which is located in the illegal settlement of the same name.
We urge AIH to relocate its 2019 congress outside of Israel and occupied East Jerusalem until Israel respects Palestinian rights as stipulated in international law.
We call on AIH members to stand in solidarity with Palestinian academics and demand AIH relocate the congress. And to boycott the conference if it is held at any complicit Israeli institution.
Sincerely,
Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors and Employees (PFUUPE)
Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI)
The Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors and Employees (PFUUPE) represents more than 6,000 Palestinian university staff at 13 institutions of higher education in the occupied Palestinian territory.
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) was initiated in 2004 to contribute to the struggle for Palestinian freedom, justice and equality. PACBI advocates for the boycott of Israeli academic and cultural institutions, given their deep and persistent complicity in Israel’s denial of Palestinian rights as stipulated in international law.
The Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors and Employees (PFUUPE) and The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) urge the Asociación Internacional de Hispanistas (AIH) to move its July 2019 congress from Hebrew University. Holding the conference in any complicit Israeli institution would implicate the association in Israel’s grave violations of international law and Palestinian human rights.
Significant parts of Hebrew University are built on stolen Palestinian land, including illegally seized private Palestinian property in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem.
Holding the AIH congress at Hebrew University whitewashes Israel’s decades-old military occupation and reinforces its unlawful claim of sovereignty over Jerusalem. The UN and the international community, with the notable exception of Trump’s xenophobic and anti-Palestinian administration, do not recognize Israeli sovereignty over any part of Jerusalem.
The AIH congress is sponsored by the Israeli government, which is actively working to rid Jerusalem of its indigenous Palestinian inhabitants, including through systematic home demolitions and forced expulsions. Hebrew University itself has taken legal action to evict Palestinian families and demolish their homes for the construction of campus facilities, in violation of international law.
The conference website lists Israeli hotel accommodations in occupied East Jerusalem and falsely presents prominent Palestinian places of worship in occupied East Jerusalem as part of Israel.
Hebrew University’s complicity is not limited to its location. The university maintains close ties with the Israeli authorities responsible for direct attacks on Palestinian education. Hebrew University provides special privileges to Israeli soldiers and security personnel and directly collaborates with the Israeli army.
The Israeli military has bombed, raided and ransacked Palestinian universities and schools. Palestinian academics and students are forced to endure the indignities of Israeli military checkpoints and are often denied their basic freedom of movement and academic freedom.
Israel regularly denies Palestinians permits to travel abroad to further their research or attend conferences. During the past academic year alone, Israel denied entry or refused visa renewals for dozens of international staff and faculty at Palestinian universities. This systematic attack on the Palestinian right to education is part of Israel’s policy of “scholasticide.”
In July, Hebrew University hosted a recruitment event for Shin Bet, Israel’s notorious secret police, which has been condemned by the UN Committee Against Torture for its frequent use of torture and other illegal interrogation tactics on Palestinian political prisoners and child detainees.
Last spring, Hebrew University held an event organized by several settlement institutions, including Kfar Etzion Field School in the illegal Israeli settlement of Gush Etzion, and a department of Ariel University, which is located in the illegal settlement of the same name.
We urge AIH to relocate its 2019 congress outside of Israel and occupied East Jerusalem until Israel respects Palestinian rights as stipulated in international law.
We call on AIH members to stand in solidarity with Palestinian academics and demand AIH relocate the congress. And to boycott the conference if it is held at any complicit Israeli institution.
Sincerely,
Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors and Employees (PFUUPE)
Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI)
The Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors and Employees (PFUUPE) represents more than 6,000 Palestinian university staff at 13 institutions of higher education in the occupied Palestinian territory.
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) was initiated in 2004 to contribute to the struggle for Palestinian freedom, justice and equality. PACBI advocates for the boycott of Israeli academic and cultural institutions, given their deep and persistent complicity in Israel’s denial of Palestinian rights as stipulated in international law.
The African National Congress Youth League has affirmed its support for the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Speaking to Middle East Monitor on Monday, the Secretary General of South Africa’s ruling party, Njabulo Nzuza, stressed that its National Executive Committee (NEC) even took a decision to work together with BDS South Africa (BDS SA).
Over the weekend, a Youth League member, Thembi Siweya, sparked controversy when she published an article titled “BDS SA, undermining South Africa” wherein she criticised the BDS movement. In particular, Siweya made clear that she is against any opposition to an Israeli company’s intended takeover of South Africa’s largest dairy producer, Clover.
“BDS SA ought to listen to what ordinary Palestinians yearn for,” claimed Siweya. “Its messaging on Palestine is not coherent and fails to benefit the Palestinians living in Palestine.” Nzuza was emphatic that Siweya’s views are “not the position of the Youth League.”
Meanwhile, the former Chairperson of International Relations at the South African Parliament, and now spokesperson of BDS SA, Tisetso Magama, also criticised Siweya’s claim. “Just a little research would reveal that the call for the BDS boycott of Israel was made by the largest grouping of Palestinian civil society, including virtually all Palestinian political parties.” It is Siweya, he insisted, who has distorted the views of the ANC and South Africa. “South Africans in general and the ANC in particular are long-time allies of the Palestine solidarity and BDS movement.”
Siweya’s comments followed statements made by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in which he affirmed the country’s support for the people of Palestine during a recent parliamentary address. “Our support for the struggle of the Palestinian people is not merely a product of history,” the President pointed out. “It is a refusal to accept that a people should be continually denied the right of self-determination in violation of international law.”
Israel’s Central Bottling Company is leading a consortium of companies in a takeover of Clover. According to Israeli human rights and research body Who Profits, the Israeli company has unlawful operations in illegal settlements and previously donated to the right-wing Israeli “fascist” organisation Im Tirtzu. Other partners in the intended deal include South African investment firm Brimstone and a Mauritius-registered company, Incubev. The latter’s directors include the former Senior Vice President of Coca Cola, Paul Fourie, and Kodwo Atta-Mills, the son of Ghana’s former President. South African civil society is opposed to the deal.
A spokesperson of the Farm and Allied Workers Union of South Africa, Dominique Martin, explained that the organisation supported pro-Palestinian groups in their rejection of the proposed deal to take over Clover Dairy. “This is based on our organisation’s political beliefs, as well as concerns over food sovereignty and job losses,” said Martin. “It has been a longstanding principle of ours that anything to do with apartheid Israel or associated companies must be rejected in line with isolating and boycotting this regime… It is our firm belief that [Clover] must remain in domestic ownership seeing that the other three major dairy producers — Danone, Parmalat and Nestle — are all foreign-owned.”
~Middle East Monitor/Days of Palestine
Over the weekend, a Youth League member, Thembi Siweya, sparked controversy when she published an article titled “BDS SA, undermining South Africa” wherein she criticised the BDS movement. In particular, Siweya made clear that she is against any opposition to an Israeli company’s intended takeover of South Africa’s largest dairy producer, Clover.
“BDS SA ought to listen to what ordinary Palestinians yearn for,” claimed Siweya. “Its messaging on Palestine is not coherent and fails to benefit the Palestinians living in Palestine.” Nzuza was emphatic that Siweya’s views are “not the position of the Youth League.”
Meanwhile, the former Chairperson of International Relations at the South African Parliament, and now spokesperson of BDS SA, Tisetso Magama, also criticised Siweya’s claim. “Just a little research would reveal that the call for the BDS boycott of Israel was made by the largest grouping of Palestinian civil society, including virtually all Palestinian political parties.” It is Siweya, he insisted, who has distorted the views of the ANC and South Africa. “South Africans in general and the ANC in particular are long-time allies of the Palestine solidarity and BDS movement.”
Siweya’s comments followed statements made by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in which he affirmed the country’s support for the people of Palestine during a recent parliamentary address. “Our support for the struggle of the Palestinian people is not merely a product of history,” the President pointed out. “It is a refusal to accept that a people should be continually denied the right of self-determination in violation of international law.”
Israel’s Central Bottling Company is leading a consortium of companies in a takeover of Clover. According to Israeli human rights and research body Who Profits, the Israeli company has unlawful operations in illegal settlements and previously donated to the right-wing Israeli “fascist” organisation Im Tirtzu. Other partners in the intended deal include South African investment firm Brimstone and a Mauritius-registered company, Incubev. The latter’s directors include the former Senior Vice President of Coca Cola, Paul Fourie, and Kodwo Atta-Mills, the son of Ghana’s former President. South African civil society is opposed to the deal.
A spokesperson of the Farm and Allied Workers Union of South Africa, Dominique Martin, explained that the organisation supported pro-Palestinian groups in their rejection of the proposed deal to take over Clover Dairy. “This is based on our organisation’s political beliefs, as well as concerns over food sovereignty and job losses,” said Martin. “It has been a longstanding principle of ours that anything to do with apartheid Israel or associated companies must be rejected in line with isolating and boycotting this regime… It is our firm belief that [Clover] must remain in domestic ownership seeing that the other three major dairy producers — Danone, Parmalat and Nestle — are all foreign-owned.”
~Middle East Monitor/Days of Palestine
