17 july 2019
Congresswomen Ilhan Omar (C) and Rashida Tlaib (R) with longtime BDS supporter and civil rights leader Angela Davis on 30 April
Resolution comes amid crackdown on Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. By
MEE staff
US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has introduced a bill that seeks to assert Americans' right to participate in boycotts both at home and abroad, a move that would challenge anti-boycott legislation at the federal and state levels across the United States.
Put forward late on Tuesday, HR 496 affirms the First Amendment right of US citizens to participate in boycotts "in pursuit of civil and human rights".
The measure was co-sponsored by Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian-American congresswoman from Michigan, and Democratic Congressman John Lewis, a veteran civil rights leader and longtime member of the US House of Representatives.
"We are introducing a resolution … to really speak about the American values that support and believe in our ability to exercise our first amendment rights in regard to boycotting," Omar told news website Al-Monitor about the proposed legislation.
It comes days after Donald Trump attacked Omar, Tlaib and two other progressive Democrats - congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley - for their criticism of Israel, among other things.
The US president's racist comments were widely decried by lawmakers from both major major US political parties, who passed a House resolution on Tuesday condemning them as an attack on people of colour.
While Omar's bill makes no mention of Israel or Palestine, it would protect US citizens' right to join the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
BDS aims to pressure Israel over its human rights abuses against Palestinians by encouraging the international community to boycott Israeli goods and institutions.
In her interview with Al-Monitor, Omar said the legislation also presents "an opportunity for us to explain why it is we support a nonviolent movement, which is the BDS movement".
Currently, several proposed federal bills - backed by both Democratic and Republican lawmakers - are circulating in the House and Senate that seek to oppose "efforts to delegitimise the State of Israel" and the BDS movement in particular.
BDS has also has come under fire at the state level, as 28 US states have passed legislation that either restricts or bans individuals or companies seeking to do business with the state government from boycotting Israel.
Only eight US states have not introduced some kind of anti-BDS legislation or resolutions.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other rights groups have condemned anti-BDS legislation as unconstitutional, and they have successfully challenged a few pieces of legislation in court.
'Breath of fresh air'
On Wednesday, Omar's bill was sent to the House judiciary committee for consideration by other lawmakers.
The Arab American Institute (AAI) immediately showed its support for the resolution, sharing news of its introduction with the hashtag #Right2Boycott. tweet
"The current efforts to silence advocacy for Palestinian rights put politics above the Constitution," said the group's executive director, Maya Berry, in a statement on Wednesday.
"The need to affirm our values as Americans - that vigorous human rights advocacy is central to who we are - could not be more great," Berry said.
"This statement by the cosponsors is a breath of fresh air, and affirms that all Americans have the right to engage in the political process as equal participants."
Both Omar and Tlaib, the first two Muslim women to ever be elected to Congress, are also the first two congresspeople to ever openly support the BDS movement.
Their position highlights an ongoing shift among Democrats, as progressive representatives are more openly criticising Israeli policies towards Palestinians, a break from the party's longstanding, unwavering support for Israel.
Several top Democrats have been critical of anti-BDS laws, in particular, saying they violate the right to freedom of speech guaranteed under the US Constitution.
In February, Democratic presidential contenders voted against a Senate bill that would encourage state and local governments to sanction contractors who boycott Israel.
"Unquestioning support for Israel has been accepted for a very long time, but now there are limits to how far they are willing to go," Omar Baddar, deputy director at the Arab American Institute, told MEE at the time.
Democrats have also introduced legislation that would bar US financial support to Israel that could be used "for Israel's systematic military detention, interrogation, abuse, torture, and prosecution of Palestinian children".
The bill, called the Promoting Human Rights for Palestinian Children Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Act, was introduced in April and sent to the House Committe on Foreign Affairs.
It currently has 20 co-sponsors, including Omar and Tlaib.
Resolution comes amid crackdown on Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. By
MEE staff
US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has introduced a bill that seeks to assert Americans' right to participate in boycotts both at home and abroad, a move that would challenge anti-boycott legislation at the federal and state levels across the United States.
Put forward late on Tuesday, HR 496 affirms the First Amendment right of US citizens to participate in boycotts "in pursuit of civil and human rights".
The measure was co-sponsored by Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian-American congresswoman from Michigan, and Democratic Congressman John Lewis, a veteran civil rights leader and longtime member of the US House of Representatives.
"We are introducing a resolution … to really speak about the American values that support and believe in our ability to exercise our first amendment rights in regard to boycotting," Omar told news website Al-Monitor about the proposed legislation.
It comes days after Donald Trump attacked Omar, Tlaib and two other progressive Democrats - congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley - for their criticism of Israel, among other things.
The US president's racist comments were widely decried by lawmakers from both major major US political parties, who passed a House resolution on Tuesday condemning them as an attack on people of colour.
While Omar's bill makes no mention of Israel or Palestine, it would protect US citizens' right to join the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
BDS aims to pressure Israel over its human rights abuses against Palestinians by encouraging the international community to boycott Israeli goods and institutions.
In her interview with Al-Monitor, Omar said the legislation also presents "an opportunity for us to explain why it is we support a nonviolent movement, which is the BDS movement".
Currently, several proposed federal bills - backed by both Democratic and Republican lawmakers - are circulating in the House and Senate that seek to oppose "efforts to delegitimise the State of Israel" and the BDS movement in particular.
BDS has also has come under fire at the state level, as 28 US states have passed legislation that either restricts or bans individuals or companies seeking to do business with the state government from boycotting Israel.
Only eight US states have not introduced some kind of anti-BDS legislation or resolutions.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other rights groups have condemned anti-BDS legislation as unconstitutional, and they have successfully challenged a few pieces of legislation in court.
'Breath of fresh air'
On Wednesday, Omar's bill was sent to the House judiciary committee for consideration by other lawmakers.
The Arab American Institute (AAI) immediately showed its support for the resolution, sharing news of its introduction with the hashtag #Right2Boycott. tweet
"The current efforts to silence advocacy for Palestinian rights put politics above the Constitution," said the group's executive director, Maya Berry, in a statement on Wednesday.
"The need to affirm our values as Americans - that vigorous human rights advocacy is central to who we are - could not be more great," Berry said.
"This statement by the cosponsors is a breath of fresh air, and affirms that all Americans have the right to engage in the political process as equal participants."
Both Omar and Tlaib, the first two Muslim women to ever be elected to Congress, are also the first two congresspeople to ever openly support the BDS movement.
Their position highlights an ongoing shift among Democrats, as progressive representatives are more openly criticising Israeli policies towards Palestinians, a break from the party's longstanding, unwavering support for Israel.
Several top Democrats have been critical of anti-BDS laws, in particular, saying they violate the right to freedom of speech guaranteed under the US Constitution.
In February, Democratic presidential contenders voted against a Senate bill that would encourage state and local governments to sanction contractors who boycott Israel.
"Unquestioning support for Israel has been accepted for a very long time, but now there are limits to how far they are willing to go," Omar Baddar, deputy director at the Arab American Institute, told MEE at the time.
Democrats have also introduced legislation that would bar US financial support to Israel that could be used "for Israel's systematic military detention, interrogation, abuse, torture, and prosecution of Palestinian children".
The bill, called the Promoting Human Rights for Palestinian Children Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Act, was introduced in April and sent to the House Committe on Foreign Affairs.
It currently has 20 co-sponsors, including Omar and Tlaib.
14 july 2019
Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) / UK
In a major victory for the Boycott HP campaign, the second largest British and Irish trade union, with 1.2 million members, Unite the Union, joined the campaign. Unite joins Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging (FNV), the Netherland’s largest trade union, with 1.1 million members, which dropped HP as a partner in their offers to their members in April.
The Boycott HP campaign and the trade unions concerns’ focus on HP and HPE’s provision of equipment and technology for Israel’s army and police, and for the population database that Israel uses to enforce its system of racial segregation.
Unite, in its Executive Council meeting in June, passed a resolution to end buying of HP products and replace existing ones. Unite the Union noted this as a step in the direction of setting their standards for solidarity to global campaigns for justice and support for all workers.
Joseph Bleach, a member of Unite the Union, said:
Solidarity with the Palestinian freedom struggle is an essential part of building a just world. While Israel escalates its occupation, apartheid and colonisation against the Palestinian people, Hewlett Packard companies profiteer from this grave violation of international law and Palestinian human rights.
Until HP companies end all such involvement in serious human rights violations, we shall continue to exclude them. Our trade union will continue to stand in solidarity with workers and struggles for justice in Palestine and globally.
Apoorva PG, coordinator with the Palestinian BDS National Committee, which leads the campaign, said:
Palestinians, especially workers, are deeply grateful for this latest expression of Unite the Union’s solidarity with our struggle for justice and liberation.
HP companies have long enabled Israel’s apartheid and criminal policies, and they need to be held accountable for this.
HPE provides the database for Israel’s population registry, the very instrument that enforces apartheid and racial segregation upon Palestinian citizens of Israel and ‘residents’ of occupied Palestinian East Jerusalem. It also maintains the database for illegal Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.
HP Inc provides computers to the Israeli army. HP-branded companies must immediately and unequivocally end these and any other existing complicities in serious violations of international law, and they must pay reparations to their Palestinian victims.
From 10-15 July, the Boycott HP campaign is observing its Global Week of Action. Groups from all over the world are holding actions and sending messages to the HP companies calling on them to fulfil their ethical and legal obligations. Unite the Union’s recent endorsement of the campaign further strengthens this demand.
Trade union solidarity has been at the forefront of the Boycott HP campaign. Unite and FNV are among the growing number of Trade Unions joining the Boycott HP campaign, along with student organizations and churches.
In April 2018, Dublin City Council became the first European capital to endorse BDS and to promise to end its contracts with HP companies and DXC Technology, an HP spin-off.
Boycott HP is one campaign in the growing, Palestinian-led, global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which was inspired by the global movement against apartheid in South Africa.
In a major victory for the Boycott HP campaign, the second largest British and Irish trade union, with 1.2 million members, Unite the Union, joined the campaign. Unite joins Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging (FNV), the Netherland’s largest trade union, with 1.1 million members, which dropped HP as a partner in their offers to their members in April.
The Boycott HP campaign and the trade unions concerns’ focus on HP and HPE’s provision of equipment and technology for Israel’s army and police, and for the population database that Israel uses to enforce its system of racial segregation.
Unite, in its Executive Council meeting in June, passed a resolution to end buying of HP products and replace existing ones. Unite the Union noted this as a step in the direction of setting their standards for solidarity to global campaigns for justice and support for all workers.
Joseph Bleach, a member of Unite the Union, said:
Solidarity with the Palestinian freedom struggle is an essential part of building a just world. While Israel escalates its occupation, apartheid and colonisation against the Palestinian people, Hewlett Packard companies profiteer from this grave violation of international law and Palestinian human rights.
Until HP companies end all such involvement in serious human rights violations, we shall continue to exclude them. Our trade union will continue to stand in solidarity with workers and struggles for justice in Palestine and globally.
Apoorva PG, coordinator with the Palestinian BDS National Committee, which leads the campaign, said:
Palestinians, especially workers, are deeply grateful for this latest expression of Unite the Union’s solidarity with our struggle for justice and liberation.
HP companies have long enabled Israel’s apartheid and criminal policies, and they need to be held accountable for this.
HPE provides the database for Israel’s population registry, the very instrument that enforces apartheid and racial segregation upon Palestinian citizens of Israel and ‘residents’ of occupied Palestinian East Jerusalem. It also maintains the database for illegal Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.
HP Inc provides computers to the Israeli army. HP-branded companies must immediately and unequivocally end these and any other existing complicities in serious violations of international law, and they must pay reparations to their Palestinian victims.
From 10-15 July, the Boycott HP campaign is observing its Global Week of Action. Groups from all over the world are holding actions and sending messages to the HP companies calling on them to fulfil their ethical and legal obligations. Unite the Union’s recent endorsement of the campaign further strengthens this demand.
Trade union solidarity has been at the forefront of the Boycott HP campaign. Unite and FNV are among the growing number of Trade Unions joining the Boycott HP campaign, along with student organizations and churches.
In April 2018, Dublin City Council became the first European capital to endorse BDS and to promise to end its contracts with HP companies and DXC Technology, an HP spin-off.
Boycott HP is one campaign in the growing, Palestinian-led, global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which was inspired by the global movement against apartheid in South Africa.
10 july 2019
Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) / Palestine, US, IsraelToday, Palestinians mark with a mix of alarm and hope the 14th anniversary of the BDS Call, launched by Palestinian society in 2005 in pursuit of freedom, justice and equality.
The growth of our popular resistance and the global, Palestinian-led BDS movement give us hope at a time when Israel’s far-right regime is intensifying its system of apartheid and crimes against our people, in open partnership with the anti-Palestinian Trump Administration, and with the complicity of the European Union and despotic Arab regimes.
Israel’s ongoing Nakba against the Palestinian people is most brutally manifested in its illegal siege and repeated massacres that have reduced Gaza into an uninhabitable ghetto, causing unspeakable suffering to its two million Palestinians.
It is also evidenced in its continued denial of the internationally recognized right of return for millions of Palestinian refugees, its gradual ethnic cleansing of indigenous Palestinians, particularly in Jerusalem, and its adoption of the so-called Jewish Nation-State Law, that makes its decades-old apartheid regime constitutional.
Today also marks the 15th anniversary of the International Court of Justice’s decision to condemn Israel’s wall in the occupied Palestinian territory as illegal and to remind all states of their obligation not to recognize, aid or assist Israel in its violations of international law, and instead act to end them.
Fifteen years since, Israel continues to build its illegal settlements and the apartheid wall, which Trump uses as a model to justify his intended anti-immigrant wall along the Mexican border.
But we are fighting back with the help of unions and social movements representing millions around the world which are joining the BDS movement. They recognize that Israel’s fanatic regime of oppression against Palestinians has become a model for racist, xenophobic and fascist political tendencies in Europe, the US, Brazil, India, the Philippines and beyond.
#Apartheid was the second most popular hashtag trending during Eurovision in apartheid Tel Aviv, partly explaining the contest’s failure to attract more than 5,000, in contrast to the 40,000 to 50,000 that had been expected to show up.
More than 100 commercial, cultural and sporting activities in Italy declared themselves free of Israeli apartheid in June, joining dozens of city councils and cultural spaces in the Spanish state and across Europe.
The Argentinian national football team cancelled last year a friendly match with Israel after receiving appeals from Palestinians and international solidarity groups. During the same year, Natalie Portman, Shakira, Lana del Rey, among other prominent artists, cancelled engagements in Israel to protest its crimes against Palestinians. Dozens of DJs and other musicians joined the cultural boycott of Israel.
Last week, more than 100 artists and cultural figures, including Hollywood names, condemned the McCarthyism of a German festival that cancelled a performance by rapper Talib Kweli because of his refusal to renounce his support for BDS.
Two weeks ago, the British for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES) adopted the academic boycott of Israeli universities over their complicity in planning, implementing and justifying Israel’s grave human rights violations. BRISMES joins a number of American academic associations that have adopted the boycott in recent years. Israeli Apartheid Week 2019 was a big success, despite rising anti-democratic repression in the US and Europe.
FNV, the largest Dutch trade union, with 1.1 million members, dropped Hewlett-Packard as a partner, over the complicity of HP-branded companies in Israel’s apartheid and violations of international law.
The global online action #StopCemex reached over 1 million people, effectively transforming the annual propaganda effort of the cement giant into a powerful campaign against CEMEX’s complicity in Israel’s illegal settlements and wall.
Pressure on governments continues. The National Congress of Chile overwhelmingly voted to ban products from illegal Israeli settlements built on stolen Palestinian land last year, while the campaign to ban settlement products from European markets is ongoing.
Even major financial institutions are bowing to popular pressure. A fully owned subsidiary of the insurance giant AXA divested from Israeli drone manufacturer Elbit Systems, which sells weapons used by the Israeli military in attacks on Palestinians, following a pressure campaign that is continuing until AXA fully divests from Elbit and from Israeli banks that finance Israel’s settlement enterprise.
This comes after HSBC confirmed late last year that it had fully divested from Elbit Systems. Now campaigners are working to ensure HSBC divests as well from Caterpillar, whose equipment is used regularly by Israel’s military and security forces for the demolition of Palestinian homes, schools, orchards, olive groves and other agricultural lands.
In response to Israel’s ongoing Nakba, the most effective way to mark the BDS anniversary is by escalating our BDS campaigning through:
The growth of our popular resistance and the global, Palestinian-led BDS movement give us hope at a time when Israel’s far-right regime is intensifying its system of apartheid and crimes against our people, in open partnership with the anti-Palestinian Trump Administration, and with the complicity of the European Union and despotic Arab regimes.
Israel’s ongoing Nakba against the Palestinian people is most brutally manifested in its illegal siege and repeated massacres that have reduced Gaza into an uninhabitable ghetto, causing unspeakable suffering to its two million Palestinians.
It is also evidenced in its continued denial of the internationally recognized right of return for millions of Palestinian refugees, its gradual ethnic cleansing of indigenous Palestinians, particularly in Jerusalem, and its adoption of the so-called Jewish Nation-State Law, that makes its decades-old apartheid regime constitutional.
Today also marks the 15th anniversary of the International Court of Justice’s decision to condemn Israel’s wall in the occupied Palestinian territory as illegal and to remind all states of their obligation not to recognize, aid or assist Israel in its violations of international law, and instead act to end them.
Fifteen years since, Israel continues to build its illegal settlements and the apartheid wall, which Trump uses as a model to justify his intended anti-immigrant wall along the Mexican border.
But we are fighting back with the help of unions and social movements representing millions around the world which are joining the BDS movement. They recognize that Israel’s fanatic regime of oppression against Palestinians has become a model for racist, xenophobic and fascist political tendencies in Europe, the US, Brazil, India, the Philippines and beyond.
#Apartheid was the second most popular hashtag trending during Eurovision in apartheid Tel Aviv, partly explaining the contest’s failure to attract more than 5,000, in contrast to the 40,000 to 50,000 that had been expected to show up.
More than 100 commercial, cultural and sporting activities in Italy declared themselves free of Israeli apartheid in June, joining dozens of city councils and cultural spaces in the Spanish state and across Europe.
The Argentinian national football team cancelled last year a friendly match with Israel after receiving appeals from Palestinians and international solidarity groups. During the same year, Natalie Portman, Shakira, Lana del Rey, among other prominent artists, cancelled engagements in Israel to protest its crimes against Palestinians. Dozens of DJs and other musicians joined the cultural boycott of Israel.
Last week, more than 100 artists and cultural figures, including Hollywood names, condemned the McCarthyism of a German festival that cancelled a performance by rapper Talib Kweli because of his refusal to renounce his support for BDS.
Two weeks ago, the British for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES) adopted the academic boycott of Israeli universities over their complicity in planning, implementing and justifying Israel’s grave human rights violations. BRISMES joins a number of American academic associations that have adopted the boycott in recent years. Israeli Apartheid Week 2019 was a big success, despite rising anti-democratic repression in the US and Europe.
FNV, the largest Dutch trade union, with 1.1 million members, dropped Hewlett-Packard as a partner, over the complicity of HP-branded companies in Israel’s apartheid and violations of international law.
The global online action #StopCemex reached over 1 million people, effectively transforming the annual propaganda effort of the cement giant into a powerful campaign against CEMEX’s complicity in Israel’s illegal settlements and wall.
Pressure on governments continues. The National Congress of Chile overwhelmingly voted to ban products from illegal Israeli settlements built on stolen Palestinian land last year, while the campaign to ban settlement products from European markets is ongoing.
Even major financial institutions are bowing to popular pressure. A fully owned subsidiary of the insurance giant AXA divested from Israeli drone manufacturer Elbit Systems, which sells weapons used by the Israeli military in attacks on Palestinians, following a pressure campaign that is continuing until AXA fully divests from Elbit and from Israeli banks that finance Israel’s settlement enterprise.
This comes after HSBC confirmed late last year that it had fully divested from Elbit Systems. Now campaigners are working to ensure HSBC divests as well from Caterpillar, whose equipment is used regularly by Israel’s military and security forces for the demolition of Palestinian homes, schools, orchards, olive groves and other agricultural lands.
In response to Israel’s ongoing Nakba, the most effective way to mark the BDS anniversary is by escalating our BDS campaigning through:
- Advocating at all levels of government to cut military and security ties with Israel, and pressuring universities and research centers to end military/security research with Israel.
- Defending the right to advocate for Palestinian rights through the nonviolent tactics of BDS, as a matter of freedom of expression that should be protected in any democracy.
- Joining the growing boycott and/or divestment campaigns against complicit corporations, such as AXA, HP, CEMEX, HSBC and Puma, among others.
- Passing BDS resolutions in more churches, academic associations and cultural spaces.
- Promoting and respecting the Palestinian guidelines for ethical tourism and pressuring Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia and Tripadvisor to end their complicity in normalizing Israel’s illegal settlements and other human rights violations.
