29 mar 2020
After 8 months of campaigning to demand that Microsoft drop their investment in AnyVision, the Israeli facial recognition company, the hi-tech giant finally announced its divestment from the former.
"This is a huge and sorely needed victory at a time when corporations and governments have begun to use COVID-19 as an excuse to violate human rights," said a statement by the international campaign to demand Microsoft divestment from AnyVision, adding: "A win against a massive corporation like Microsoft is meaningful and important."
The campaign said that "with Microsoft workers, community leaders in Seattle, MPower Change, and SumOfUs – we can make significant change happen and get a corporate giant to do the right thing."
The campaign explained that as soon as Microsoft announced a $74 million investment in AnyVision last June, a campaign was launched "demanding they drop the facial recognition tech company, which an investigation found was secretly surveilling Palestinians."
"AnyVision's surveillance violates Palestinians' human rights, privacy, and basic dignity.
Over 75,000 people signed our combined petitions to Microsoft, and we held a powerful action at Microsoft HQ where we delivered those names in person."
"This is a huge and sorely needed victory at a time when corporations and governments have begun to use COVID-19 as an excuse to violate human rights," said a statement by the international campaign to demand Microsoft divestment from AnyVision, adding: "A win against a massive corporation like Microsoft is meaningful and important."
The campaign said that "with Microsoft workers, community leaders in Seattle, MPower Change, and SumOfUs – we can make significant change happen and get a corporate giant to do the right thing."
The campaign explained that as soon as Microsoft announced a $74 million investment in AnyVision last June, a campaign was launched "demanding they drop the facial recognition tech company, which an investigation found was secretly surveilling Palestinians."
"AnyVision's surveillance violates Palestinians' human rights, privacy, and basic dignity.
Over 75,000 people signed our combined petitions to Microsoft, and we held a powerful action at Microsoft HQ where we delivered those names in person."
11 mar 2020
Under pressure from the Zionist lobby, the German authorities have decided to prevent Palestinian writer Khaled Barakat from entering the country for four years.
Barakat already failed to have his residency renewed and was forced to leave the country six months ago.
The German police had arrested Barakat in June 2019 while he was in Berlin to participate in a symposium about Trump’s Middle East plan. He was then given one month to leave the country.
The German police claimed in a 24-page statement that Barakat “constitutes a security risk” because of “his beliefs and continuous talking about liberating Palestine from the river to the sea” and “working on a strategy to liberate Palestine” in addition to “insisting that ‘Israel’ has no right to exist”, which German authorities see as anti-Semitic.
The German authorities also claimed that its decision was taken because of Barakat’s intellectual influence on Arabs living in the country.
The reasons cited by the German authorities to justify its measure against Barakat vindicated that their decision was politically motivated and had nothing do with security or law.
Barakat had already been prosecuted by the German authorities over his support for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement (BDS).
The German parliament had adopted a decision in May 2019 criminalizing BDS and labeling it as anti-Semitic, a motion that was seen by human rights groups as a violation against freedom of expression.
Barakat already failed to have his residency renewed and was forced to leave the country six months ago.
The German police had arrested Barakat in June 2019 while he was in Berlin to participate in a symposium about Trump’s Middle East plan. He was then given one month to leave the country.
The German police claimed in a 24-page statement that Barakat “constitutes a security risk” because of “his beliefs and continuous talking about liberating Palestine from the river to the sea” and “working on a strategy to liberate Palestine” in addition to “insisting that ‘Israel’ has no right to exist”, which German authorities see as anti-Semitic.
The German authorities also claimed that its decision was taken because of Barakat’s intellectual influence on Arabs living in the country.
The reasons cited by the German authorities to justify its measure against Barakat vindicated that their decision was politically motivated and had nothing do with security or law.
Barakat had already been prosecuted by the German authorities over his support for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement (BDS).
The German parliament had adopted a decision in May 2019 criminalizing BDS and labeling it as anti-Semitic, a motion that was seen by human rights groups as a violation against freedom of expression.
4 mar 2020
The Ministry of Telecom and Information Technology said today that the American e-commerce giant Amazon will now be delivering items to customers in the occupied Palestinian territories for free.
It said in a statement that this came as an early response after legal actions were taken by the Ministry of Telecom and Information Technology, Ministry of National Economy, Ministry of Finance, the Universal Postal Union and others, against Amazon over its discrimination policy that favors illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories over the indigenous Palestinian population.
Amazon began in November to provide free shipping service to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, while Palestinians living in their towns and villages near the illegal settlements have to pay fees if they put their address as Palestine instead of Israel.
Under Amazon's policy ecommerce policy, free shipping was offered to illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and only to the Palestinians if they listed their country as Israel.
It said in a statement that this came as an early response after legal actions were taken by the Ministry of Telecom and Information Technology, Ministry of National Economy, Ministry of Finance, the Universal Postal Union and others, against Amazon over its discrimination policy that favors illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories over the indigenous Palestinian population.
Amazon began in November to provide free shipping service to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, while Palestinians living in their towns and villages near the illegal settlements have to pay fees if they put their address as Palestine instead of Israel.
Under Amazon's policy ecommerce policy, free shipping was offered to illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and only to the Palestinians if they listed their country as Israel.
1 mar 2020
The Palestinian-led boycott movement has slammed a motion passed by the Austrian parliament that singles out the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign for criticism, the Middle East Monitor reports.
Austria’s national parliament, on Friday, unanimously passed a resolution condemning the BDS campaign as anti-Semitic, and urged that the ‘anti-Israel’ movement not be supported.
Rejecting the claims of anti-Jewish bigotry, the BDS Movement statement affirmed that the campaign is a “human rights movement that rejects all forms of racism, including anti-semitism”.
In addition, the statement continued, “the resolution denies the rights of Palestinians and Austrian citizens to criticise Israeli colonialism and apartheid, and to non-violently boycott complicit businesses and institutions.”
“We call on people of conscience in Austria to defend freedom of expression, including the right to boycott for Palestinian freedom, justice and equality,” the BDS Movement concluded.
Austria’s national parliament, on Friday, unanimously passed a resolution condemning the BDS campaign as anti-Semitic, and urged that the ‘anti-Israel’ movement not be supported.
Rejecting the claims of anti-Jewish bigotry, the BDS Movement statement affirmed that the campaign is a “human rights movement that rejects all forms of racism, including anti-semitism”.
In addition, the statement continued, “the resolution denies the rights of Palestinians and Austrian citizens to criticise Israeli colonialism and apartheid, and to non-violently boycott complicit businesses and institutions.”
“We call on people of conscience in Austria to defend freedom of expression, including the right to boycott for Palestinian freedom, justice and equality,” the BDS Movement concluded.
28 feb 2020
The UN finally published its database this month listing companies which profit from Israel’s brutal military occupation of the West Bank.
This move was only made after years of unexplained delays. Rather helpfully, though, the Zionist Federation – an anti-Palestine, pro-Israel lobby group in Britain — admitted that, “The United States and Israel worked for over three years to stop its publication.” This confirms that such a list is likely to hurt Israel’s economy if suitable action follows its publication.
The Israeli response to the list has thus been predictable. Minister of Strategic Affairs Gilad Erdan reacted by smearing the UN as being guilty of “anti-Semitism”. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to retaliate against the UN, saying that, “Whoever boycotts us will be boycotted.” He announced that he had already withdrawn Israel from the UN body behind the list, the Human Rights Council.
At exactly the same time that Israel’s propagandists in the West want to bamboozle us, by claiming that it is anti-Semitic to even use the term “Israel lobby”, Netanyahu boasted that in recent years he and Trump had “promoted laws in most US states, which determine that strong action is to be taken against whoever tries to boycott Israel.”
The Israel lobby wants to gaslight us into believing that it is both powerful and influential while simultaneously not existing. This really is cloud cuckoo land, a bizarre state of affairs that has not only been adopted by right-wing governments like those led by Netanyahu and Trump, but also by Britain’s supposedly left of centre Labour Party, which is in the grip of the same mass delusion.
Papers sent to me from Labour’s disciplinary bodies earlier this month threatened me with further sanction and punishment should I continue my reporting on Israel and its lobby in Britain. Of course, as always, the facts were not contested by the party. Instead, I was attacked for reporting accurately the fact that the Israel lobby exists, and that it has been at the forefront of the smear campaign against Jeremy Corbyn since 2015. I resigned in protest at this blatant censorship by the dead hand of Labour’s oppressive, right-wing bureaucracy.
Despite all the Israeli bluster about the evil UN supposedly boycotting the state, the database in question is actually quite timid — far too mild, I believe — and does not even call for a boycott of the companies listed. Furthermore, it appears to take a quite narrow view of what constitutes complicity with the Israeli occupation.
For example, the list excludes some longstanding strategic targets of the Palestinian boycott, divestment and sanctions – BDS – movement, including Volvo, Caterpillar, G4S and HP. Nevertheless, it does include many Israeli firms and some well-known international brands, including Airbnb, Booking.com and TripAdvisor, as well as construction equipment maker JCB, estate agent Re/Max and electronics firm Motorola.
The BDS National Committee in Palestine welcomed the UN database as “a very significant first concrete step by any UN entity towards holding to account Israeli and international corporations that enable and profit from Israel’s illegal settlements, which constitute a war crime.” tweet
The committee noted that the database was incomplete. The UN itself is expected to update the list annually. Crucially, companies can be removed from it if they divest from settlements; from their direct involvement in Israeli war crimes. This factor alone makes these companies good targets for strategic, achievable boycott campaigns.
The BDS movement is proving once again that it is the main strategy of the international solidarity movement with Palestinians that can have the single biggest effect over the long term.
This new UN database, although not explicitly part of the BDS movement, can be a useful tool for BDS activists in Britain and around the world.
Another useful new database is explicitly part of the BDS movement; the one produced recently by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign looking at British universities and their investments in companies involved in the occupation of the West Bank.
As part of its impressively detailed research into the universities’ financial affairs, the PSC found a staggering £450 million worth of investments in, and institutional ties with, companies complicit in Israel’s arms trade and illegal settlement economy. The group cross-checked its research with the new UN database and found that a significant number of British universities are implicated.
The PSC announced this week that it has written to 10 British universities, including the University of Manchester, University College London and the London School of Economics, urging them “to immediately end these investments and financial ties, and to take urgent steps to end all investments in companies complicit in Israel’s apartheid regime.”
Student activist should step in to compel their institutions to listen, and then take action by divesting from Israeli apartheid. Listing companies to boycott over Israeli war crimes is a start, but getting them to divest has to be the next step.
This move was only made after years of unexplained delays. Rather helpfully, though, the Zionist Federation – an anti-Palestine, pro-Israel lobby group in Britain — admitted that, “The United States and Israel worked for over three years to stop its publication.” This confirms that such a list is likely to hurt Israel’s economy if suitable action follows its publication.
The Israeli response to the list has thus been predictable. Minister of Strategic Affairs Gilad Erdan reacted by smearing the UN as being guilty of “anti-Semitism”. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to retaliate against the UN, saying that, “Whoever boycotts us will be boycotted.” He announced that he had already withdrawn Israel from the UN body behind the list, the Human Rights Council.
At exactly the same time that Israel’s propagandists in the West want to bamboozle us, by claiming that it is anti-Semitic to even use the term “Israel lobby”, Netanyahu boasted that in recent years he and Trump had “promoted laws in most US states, which determine that strong action is to be taken against whoever tries to boycott Israel.”
The Israel lobby wants to gaslight us into believing that it is both powerful and influential while simultaneously not existing. This really is cloud cuckoo land, a bizarre state of affairs that has not only been adopted by right-wing governments like those led by Netanyahu and Trump, but also by Britain’s supposedly left of centre Labour Party, which is in the grip of the same mass delusion.
Papers sent to me from Labour’s disciplinary bodies earlier this month threatened me with further sanction and punishment should I continue my reporting on Israel and its lobby in Britain. Of course, as always, the facts were not contested by the party. Instead, I was attacked for reporting accurately the fact that the Israel lobby exists, and that it has been at the forefront of the smear campaign against Jeremy Corbyn since 2015. I resigned in protest at this blatant censorship by the dead hand of Labour’s oppressive, right-wing bureaucracy.
Despite all the Israeli bluster about the evil UN supposedly boycotting the state, the database in question is actually quite timid — far too mild, I believe — and does not even call for a boycott of the companies listed. Furthermore, it appears to take a quite narrow view of what constitutes complicity with the Israeli occupation.
For example, the list excludes some longstanding strategic targets of the Palestinian boycott, divestment and sanctions – BDS – movement, including Volvo, Caterpillar, G4S and HP. Nevertheless, it does include many Israeli firms and some well-known international brands, including Airbnb, Booking.com and TripAdvisor, as well as construction equipment maker JCB, estate agent Re/Max and electronics firm Motorola.
The BDS National Committee in Palestine welcomed the UN database as “a very significant first concrete step by any UN entity towards holding to account Israeli and international corporations that enable and profit from Israel’s illegal settlements, which constitute a war crime.” tweet
The committee noted that the database was incomplete. The UN itself is expected to update the list annually. Crucially, companies can be removed from it if they divest from settlements; from their direct involvement in Israeli war crimes. This factor alone makes these companies good targets for strategic, achievable boycott campaigns.
The BDS movement is proving once again that it is the main strategy of the international solidarity movement with Palestinians that can have the single biggest effect over the long term.
This new UN database, although not explicitly part of the BDS movement, can be a useful tool for BDS activists in Britain and around the world.
Another useful new database is explicitly part of the BDS movement; the one produced recently by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign looking at British universities and their investments in companies involved in the occupation of the West Bank.
As part of its impressively detailed research into the universities’ financial affairs, the PSC found a staggering £450 million worth of investments in, and institutional ties with, companies complicit in Israel’s arms trade and illegal settlement economy. The group cross-checked its research with the new UN database and found that a significant number of British universities are implicated.
The PSC announced this week that it has written to 10 British universities, including the University of Manchester, University College London and the London School of Economics, urging them “to immediately end these investments and financial ties, and to take urgent steps to end all investments in companies complicit in Israel’s apartheid regime.”
Student activist should step in to compel their institutions to listen, and then take action by divesting from Israeli apartheid. Listing companies to boycott over Israeli war crimes is a start, but getting them to divest has to be the next step.
25 feb 2020
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders announced, on Monday, that he will not attend a forthcoming conference organized by a pro-Israel lobby group that serves as a platform to “express bigotry,” Anadolu Agency reports.
“The Israeli people have the right to live in peace and security. So do the Palestinian people,” Sanders, a front-runner in the Democratic nomination for US president, wrote on Twitter.
“I remain concerned about the platform AIPAC [American Israel Public Affairs Committee] provides for leaders who express bigotry and oppose basic Palestinian rights. For that reason, I will not attend their conference.”
Sanders reiterated his support for a two-state solution in the region, saying: “As president, I will support the rights of both Israelis and Palestinians and do everything possible to bring peace and security to the region.”
“The Israeli people have the right to live in peace and security. So do the Palestinian people,” Sanders, a front-runner in the Democratic nomination for US president, wrote on Twitter.
“I remain concerned about the platform AIPAC [American Israel Public Affairs Committee] provides for leaders who express bigotry and oppose basic Palestinian rights. For that reason, I will not attend their conference.”
Sanders reiterated his support for a two-state solution in the region, saying: “As president, I will support the rights of both Israelis and Palestinians and do everything possible to bring peace and security to the region.”
